Anna Binneweg has distinguished herself in the areas of symphonic and operatic conducting early in her career. She is the Music Director/Conductor of the orchestra at Anne Arundel Community College where she also serves as Assistant Professor of Music, and is the newly appointed Music Director/Conductor of the Londontowne Symphony Orchestra. In Chicago, she is the Music Director/Conductor of OperaModa—a company that is committed to producing and performing modern American opera featuring young artists. She holds a doctor of music degree in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University where she studied with Victor Yampolsky, and has served on the conducting faculties at American University (Washington, DC), Loyola University (Chicago, IL) and the Sherwood Conservatory of Music (Chicago, IL).

In 2005, Dr. Binneweg made her conducting debut at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra and currently serves as one of their cover conductors. She has worked with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Daniel Barenboim, Robert Spano, James Paul, Michael Morgan, Duaine Wolfe, Nurhan Arman and David Effron through various engagements sponsored by the American Symphony Orchestra League, the Conductors Guild, the Conductors Institute of New York and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

She is a graduate of the Meadows School of the Arts of Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) where she completed a double master’s degree in conducting and music education while serving as the assistant conductor of the Meadows Symphony Orchestra. Her youth orchestra experience includes various guest conducting/clinician appearances with orchestras throughout the United States and Canada, along with former positions with the Houston Youth Symphony (Houston, TX) and the San Luis Obispo Youth Symphony (San Luis Obispo, CA) where she fulfilled her undergraduate degree in music at Cal Poly State University. Dr. Binneweg is a native of Lake Tahoe, California.

Madeline Adkins was appointed to the position of Associate Concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra by Maestro Yuri Temirkanov in 2005. She joined the orchestra in 2000 as Assistant Concertmaster. She has appeared frequently as soloist with the BSO, performing works by Beethoven, Vaughan Williams, Bach, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Prokofiev. Most recently she was featured as the soloist and leader for a conductor-less program of Vivaldi, Handel, and Biber. Other recent engagements include a recital as part of the Embassy Series at the Romanian Embassy in Washington DC.

The daughter of noted musicologists, Ms. Adkins is the youngest of eight children including four violinists, two cellists, and a soprano. The siblings, who include titled players in the National, Dallas, and Houston Symphonies, join together to perform several times a year as the Adkins String Ensemble. She received her Bachelor’s summa cum laude from the University of North Texas and her Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory where she studied with James Buswell.

She has served as guest concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony, and the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, as well as concertmaster of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa. Ms. Adkins won first prize in a number of competitions, including the Stulberg International String Competition, the ASTA National Solo Competition, and the New England Conservatory Concerto Competition. She was also a second prize winner in the Irving Klein International String Competition. Since 1989, Ms. Adkins has been active in early music, having performed baroque violin with the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, the Dallas Bach Society, and currently with Pro Musica Rara of Baltimore.

American pianist, William Bloomquist has performed in many of the nation's major concert halls, including the Kennedy Center, Boston's Jordan Hall and New York City's Merkin Concert Hall. His international touring has included Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Venezuela. The Washington Post has described his playing as "sparkling", "breathtaking", and "demonstrating an exquisite sense of vocal phrasing." The Post review of his recital at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC mentioned his "deft musicianship and enormous technical prowess.....resulted in a cheering standing ovation." A versatile chamber musician, Dr. Bloomquist's collaborations have included cellists Bernard Greenhouse, Leslie Parnas, saxophonist Gary Louie, and clarinetist Charles Stier, with whom he recorded two CD's, which include works by Brahms, Reger and Weber.

William Bloomquist won first prizes in the National Symphony Collegiate Artists Competition and the Shreveport Symphony's Wideman Competition. He was also a prize winner in the New Orleans International Piano Competition and semifinalist in the San Antonio International Piano Competition. He has been a staff accompanist for the Wideman Competition for many years. Dr. Bloomquist performed the Mozart Piano Concerto K. 488 with LSO in 2007 and the Carnival of the Animals in 2008.

Dr. Bloomquist is Worship Pastor at Riva Trace Baptist Church in Annapolis, Maryland. He is also immediate past president of the Anne Arundel County Music Teachers Association and maintains a private teaching studio.

Baritone, Jeffrey Williams is a second-year Masters of Music student studying with Steven Rainbolt. Originally from Bangor, Pennsylvania, Jeffrey graduated magna cum laude from Muhlenberg College with a Bachelors Degree in Music completing concentrations in Theory, History, and Performance. In his junior year, he studied abroad at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, studying voice with Didier Frederic of Opera Australia.

While at Muhlenberg, Jeffrey was awarded the Lillian and Anthony Fiddler Memorial Award in Music, the Woman’s Auxiliary of Muhlenberg College Music Scholarship for a Junior, and recognized by Who’s Who Among Students in America’s Colleges and Universities. He performed in productions of The Pirates of Penzance and The Beggar’s Opera, along with their Opera Workshop as Figaro, Escamillo, among others.

Jeffrey was seen last year as the Armchair/Tree in Peabody’s production of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges. AGMA affiliated, he has performed as a member of the Baltimore Opera Chorus in La Forza del Destino, Washington National Opera Chorus in Rigoletto, and this season in Baltimore Opera’s Aïda. He recently returned from Middlebury College’s prestigious German School and German for Singers program where he studied with Drs. James and Ruth Ann MacDonald.