Conductor Fellowship

2024-2025 Conducting Fellowship – Applications are closed for the 2024-2025 season. Please check back in the summer of 2025 for more details.

With questions about the fellowship application process, email rhagemeier@cantonsymphony.org

Further your conducting career.

The Canton Symphony Orchestra Conductor Fellowship was established to give is open to recent graduates of a Masters Degree program in orchestral conducting who are looking for opportunities to further their career as they begin to search for employment in the profession. The fellows will be invited to conduct an educational concert and serve as cover conductors for the MasterWorks series. The fellow will work with the CSO Music Director, musicians, and staff throughout their time as a fellow in planning the concert and rehearsing with the orchestra for the educational concert, and will receive constructive feedback from the Music Director and members of the orchestra.

Two candidates will be selected for the 2024-2025 season.

Application consists of:

      • Resume/Cover Letter
      • Recommendation Letters
      • Up to 15 minutes of conducting footage, including rehearsal footage if available. This may be submitted via any electronic method, including YouTube/Vimeo links or uploads to platforms such as WeTransfer or Google Drive. Video must show the front of the conductor, as if from the perspective of the orchestra.
      • A video of yourself reading the sample script excerpt on page 3 of the fellowship description.

2024-2025 Fellow

Alison Norris

Alison Norris is a recent graduate of the Manhattan School of Music’s orchestral conducting program and currently serves as a 2024 Conducting Fellow with the Canton Symphony Orchestra. At MSM, they gained experience as a cover and preparatory conductor, working with notable conductors like Leonard Slatkin and Robert Kapilow. An advocate for contemporary music, Norris has collaborated with living composers for premieres and performances, including recent projects with the Tactus Ensemble and the MSM Symphony Orchestra. Prior to moving to New York, they were a cover conductor for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Madison Ballet, and held various leadership roles at UW-Madison. Norris has also founded and conducted the STEM Wind Ensemble and conducted premieres during a tour in China. Their mentors include renowned conductors like George Manahan and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Alison holds a Professional Studies diploma from MSM, a Master of Music from UW-Madison, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Valparaiso University.

2024-2025 Fellow

Alicia Lieu

Alicia Lieu is a New York City-based conductor and composer known for her innovative programming, including the interactive “Dance-it-Yourself Nutcracker.” She leads the chamber ensemble Musikapiphany and has participated in various festivals. After her private conducting studies, she founded the New York Conducting Institute and Women Conductors Workshops to support fellow conductors. A composer trained under Nadia Boulanger, Alicia has received grants for her work and established the Composers Collective and Pitches Brew non-profit organizations. She created “The 48-Hour Musical” event and has extensive experience in arts education, serving as a teaching artist at several institutions. Alicia holds degrees in music composition and orchestral conducting from various prestigious schools.

2024 Spring Fellow

Andrew Samlal

Andrew Samlal is Conductor of the Temple University OWLchestra and Conducting Apprentice with the Philadelphia Ballet. He will also serve as the Music Director for the Delaware Valley Opera Company’s Spring production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. He recently graduated from Temple University with a master’s degree in Collaborative Piano with a focus in Operatic Coaching. At Temple, Samlal worked as Assistant Conductor for the Temple Symphony Orchestra, Vice President and Artistic Director of the Temple Repertory Orchestra and Assistant Conductor and Coach with the Temple Opera Theater on Le Nozze Di Figaro, Hansel und Gretel and Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters (2012). Samlal has been privileged to work with notable conductors and artists including Markand Thakar, Beatrice Affron, Jose Luis Dominguez, Thomas Hong and Lambert Orkis. 

Visit Andrew’s website HERE.