Festival Chorus Conductor

Dr. Julie Yu (She/Her/Hers) is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University and the Artistic Director of Canterbury Voices, Oklahoma’s premier symphony chorus.

She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the University of Central Oklahoma, Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Oklahoma State University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from the University of North Texas. Before joining OCU and Canterbury Voices, she taught at Norman North High School in Oklahoma, San José State University, and Kansas State University.

She has given presentations, conducted, and/or her choirs have performed for state and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, and the European Music Educators Association. She is the past president of the Southwestern Region of the American Choral Directors Association and served as an International Conducting Exchange Fellow to Kenya in 2019.

Her favorite area of research and performance is working as a guest clinician/conductor for various honor choirs and professional organizations.

To learn more about Dr. Yu, visit: https://www.okcu.edu/faculty/dr-julie-yu.

Children’s Honor Choir Conductor

JAMIE HILLMAN is a Canadian and American musician, active as a conductor, singer, pianist, music educator, and composer-arranger. He holds the endowed Elmer Iseler Chair in Conducting at the University of Toronto where he is Director of Choral Studies and an Associate Professor. He conducts the U of T MacMillan Singers and leads the master's and doctoral degree programs in Choral Conducting. Professor Hillman is also cross listed as an adjunct faculty member in Emmanuel College's Master of Sacred Music program. In 2024, Dr. Hillman received the Faculty of Music's Teaching Award which recognizes excellence, commitment, and innovation in teaching.

In Fall 2022, Hillman began an additional role as Associate Conductor and Director of Community Engagement of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.

Dr. Hillman has served on the faculties of Boston University Metropolitan College/Prison Education Program, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Kodály Music Institute, Longy School of Music of Bard College, and Toronto Summer Music. As a Boston University Prison Arts Scholar, Hillman co-initiated an innovative vocal music program in the Massachusetts prison system.

​Dr. Hillman is an examiner for Conservatory Canada and has adjudicated, guest conducted, performed, and presented throughout the United States and Canada, and in Brazil, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Portugal, and Taiwan. He has led All-State, festival, or honor choirs in Alberta, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Saskatchewan, Taiwan, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. Most recently he made three appearances at Carnegie Hall conducting national festival choruses with Manhattan Concert Productions and National Concerts. In 2026, he conducts at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver with Manhattan Concert Productions. Hillman has conducted world premieres by Shireen Abu Khader, Matthew Emery, Sarah Quartel, and Marie-Claire Saindon, among others. 

Dr. Hillman has adjudicated for ACDA Pearl Prize, Alberta Music Festival Association, Allerton Vocal Chamber Festival, Bandung International Choir Competition (Indonesia), Canada's Top Choirs, Cantabile Choirs BIPOC Song Competition, Cantando Music Festival, Carowinds Festival of Music, Chronos Vocal Ensemble Choral Composition Competition, Contemporary Showcase, Fantastic Festivals, Festivals of Music, 14th World Choir Festival on Musical and Competition (Thessaloniki, Greece), Great East Festivals, Kings Dominion Festival of Music, Kitchener-Waterloo Kiwanis Music Festival, Kiwanis Music Festival of Guelph, Kiwanis Music Festival Windsor-Essex County, Lacombe and District Performing Arts Festival, Lambton County Music Festival, Loyola Marymount University Invitational Choral Festival, Manitoba ChoralFest, Marietta Public Schools (Georgia), Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association, Massachusetts Music Educators Association, MusicFest: The Nationals, Music in the Parks, National Collegiate Choral Organization, National Endowment for the Arts, New Brunswick Federation of Music Festivals, New England Music Festival Association, Oilsands Rotary Music Festival, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Music Festivals Association Provincials, Ontario Vocal Festival, Peel Music Festival, Providence College High School Choral Festival, Roberts Wesleyan University Invitational Choral Competition, Rhythms International, San José State University Invitational Choral Festival, Sherwood Park Music Festival, Stratford Kiwanis Festival for the Performing Arts, Tomohon International Choir Competition, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Choral Composition Competition, Rhode Island ACDA, Windsor Choral Festival, and WorldStrides. Recent conference presentations include Association for Moral Education, College Music Society, Louisiana Music Educators Association, Massachusetts Music Educators Association, Music Conference Alberta, New Jersey Music Educators Association, North Carolina Music Educators Association, Utah Music Educators Association, Nova Associação Brasileira de Regentes de Coros, and World Choral Expo. 

Dr. Hillman has given lectures, masterclasses, and workshops and spoken on panels at a number of universities including Acadia University, Anna Maria College, Dalhousie University, Harvard University, Hong Kong Baptist University, Loyola Marymount University, Northwestern Polytechnic, Roberts Wesleyan University, San José State University, Shu-Te University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Regina, and Western University. 

As a tenor soloist, Hillman has recently performed major choral-orchestral works by Beethoven, R. Nathaniel Dett, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Ramirez, Saint-Saëns, Schubert, and Schütz with choruses and orchestras in the United States, Canada, and Southeast Asia. As a professional choral singer, he has sung with Beckenhorst Singers, Canadian Chamber Choir, Elmer Iseler Singers, Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Soundstreams Choir 21, Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, and Vox Futura.

Dr. Hillman's schedule of upcoming engagements includes conducting honor choirs and festival choirs in British Columbia, Manitoba, North Dakota, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and United Kingdom; serving on the international juries of the 14th World Choir Festival on Musical and Competition (Thessaloniki, Greece), Thailand International Choral Festival (Bangkok), and Bali International Choir Competition (Indonesia); and residencies at several Canadian and international universities. He is the curator and editor of The Jamie Hillman Choral Series published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing. His co-editorial work includes numerous editions of Arabic, Asian, Latin American, and Western choral pieces published by Earthsongs and Hinshaw Music. Choral pedagogical curriculum that he has co-written with composer Dan Forrest is published for Beckenhorst Press. He is also co-editor of Beckenhorst Press' Concert Series. Hillman has written articles on choral literature and choral pedagogy that have been published in International Choral Bulletin, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal, and Mass Sings. 

Hillman earned an associate diploma (ARCT) from the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto) and a Bachelor of Music from Western University (London, Canada). In 2024, he was inducted to Western's Don Wright Faculty of Music's Alumni Wall of Fame. He completed his Master of Music at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Doctor of Musical Arts at Boston University, where he studied with Ann Howard Jones. He is the 2012 laureate of the Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting from the Ontario Arts Council. 

To learn more visit: http://www.jamiehillman.net/.

Headliner

Jeffrey Benson is currently Director of Choral Activities at San José State University and Artistic Director of Peninsula Cantare, community chorus based in Palo Alto,CA. The Washington Post hails his choirs for singing “with an exquisite blend, subtlety of phrasing, confident musicianship and fully supported tone.”

Dr. Benson made his international conducting debut with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the SJSU Choraliers in Limerick, Ireland in 2016, and he made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut in 2015 with the SJSU Choirs and the New York Festival Orchestra. He has served as cover conductor for the Grammy award-winning Washington Chorus, where he helped to prepare the ensemble for Maestros Leonard Slatkin and Marvin Hamlisch. Choirs under his direction have performed at multiple state and regional choral conferences and have toured throughout the United States and Europe, including invited performances at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The White House and Washington National Cathedral. Recently Dr. Benson’s choirs have been invited to perform with the Rolling Stones, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, the Los Angeles Festival Orchestra and the Skywalker Orchestra.

Dr. Benson is a published composer and arranger, and is editor of the Jeffrey Benson Choral Series with Gentry Publications. He has compositions published with Colla Voce Music and Santa Barbara Music Publishing, under the Charlene Archibeque Choral Series.

Dr. Benson currently serves as Immediate Past President of the California Choral Directors Association (CCDA) and on the National Advocacy and Collaboration Committee for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). In addition, he is an active member of the National Association for Music Education and the National Collegiate Choral Organization. ACDA recognized Benson with the first annual Colleen Kirk Award for his outstanding achievement as a young conductor.

Benson received his Masters degree and his Doctorate in Choral Conducting/Music Education from The Florida State University and his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from New York University.

To learn more visit: https://www.sjsu.edu/music/faculty-staff/directory/jeffrey-benson.php