GW University Orchestra - A NEXT Music Ensemble Showcase

A. Scott Wood is Director of Orchestral Activities at The George Washington University’s Corcoran School of Arts and Design. He is also Music Director and Conductor of the Arlington Philharmonic and the Amadeus Orchestra. The Virginia Commission for the Arts lauded him as “an incredible talent.” In 2023 the International Conductor’s Guild met in Valencia, Spain, and elected Wood to their board of directors.

In demand as a guest conductor, Maestro Wood recently led the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion in Tel Aviv. He performed with Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated film composer Terence Blanchard and led the Wolf Trap Orchestra with legendary Bollywood singer Asha Bhosle. Other guest appearances have included the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, the Brevard (North Carolina) Philharmonic, the Rutgers Sinfonia, the University of Houston Orchestra and Chorale (at the Kennedy Center) and the Washington Symphonic Brass. He has collaborated with Bowen-McCauley Dance, conducted the Kennedy Center’s popular Messiah Sing-Along and worked with many choral ensembles, including the Army Chorus, the Navy Sea Chanters, the National Cathedral Singers, the Vienna Choral Society, the Reston Chorale, the Fairfax Choral Society, and Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists.

Sought after as an educator, Wood is the distinguished holder of the Roeckelein Chair in Music at the National Cathedral School and St. Albans School, where he serves as Director of Instrumental Music. The school also awarded him a fellowship in recognition of outstanding teachers and their lifelong impact on students. He has influenced aspiring young musicians in the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shenandoah Valley, Potomac Valley, Chesapeake, Prince William, and D.C. Youth Orchestras, as well as George Mason University’s Potomac Arts Academy. Wood’s work in the area of music education earned him the Fairfax Symphony Serage Award for Music Education. He has been honored by the Arlington branch of the American Association of University Women for his contributions to the arts in Arlington.

Maestro Wood has also been engaged as a lecturer for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and National Philharmonic at the Strathmore Performing Arts Center, and has spoken at the Smithsonian Institution, the Goethe-Institut, the Concurso di Canto Lirico in Peru, for Encore Learning, Johns Hopkins University’s OASIS, and the Borders College of Classical Knowledge. He has advised the prestigious Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition—a biennial international event—and served as judge for the Washington Area Music Awards (the “Wammies”) and OnStage Korea at the Korean Cultural Center. In 2021, the Voice of America spotlighted Maestro Wood to tell the story of orchestras returning to live performances in the wake of the COVID pandemic (https://tinyurl.com/VOAOrchestraReturns).

Born into a military family, Wood traveled extensively as a young man and learned piano and trumpet in a German Musikverein. While attending the University of Illinois, he went to London as a finalist in the International Trumpet Guild Solo Competition and toured extensively in Europe and Russia. He subsequently was a fellow at the International Conductors Workshop in the Czech Republic, was the recipient of the first-ever conducting fellowship given jointly by the League of American Orchestras and Chorus America, and received a grant for study in Italy.

Held every spring as an end-of-year thesis and capstone show, NEXT Festival showcases the work of Corcoran students in celebration of contemporary art and scholarship. This year, the school is continuing the new festival format that broadens the depth and breadth of its programming, with performances, exhibitions, and symposia across campus.

Our students create music seven days a week both individually and through ensembles. They perform in venues on and off campus, in D.C. and beyond. Through our curriculum, which includes courses in performance, history & culture, computer music, and theory, students get to know each other and enjoy encouraging and productive relationships with faculty members. Our Bachelor of Arts in Music degree fosters musicianship, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. A major in music prepares students for a wide variety of career choices, both in music-centered professions and beyond.Our majors and minors are encouraged to join ensembles to develop performance experience and expand their repertoire.

Opportunities for Non-Majors: GW students with a background in music are welcome and encouraged to audition to participate in our ensembles. Membership in these ensembles is composed of the varied and talented GW community and is not limited to those registered as a music major or minor.

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Host or Publisher The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at The George Washington University