Artistic Staff

ISO Alum (’86) Robert L. Johnston’s association with ISO began in 1985, as principal bassist of what is now the ISO Symphony. When not directing the Morningside and ISO at Turtle Bay Orchestras, he is Director of String Studies at St. Francis Preparatory School, guiding a program that includes three orchestras and beginner classes this year numbering 145 students. Over the last three seasons, Prep Orchestras under Mr. Johnston’s direction have presented forty-nine performances of 19 different concert programs. Last October, Prep’s Chamber Orchestra participated in the live telecast of the school’s 150th Anniversary Mass, and that December, presented a Christmas concert for The Prayer Channel (NET). Prep’s Chamber Orchestra also participates in an annual side-by-side rehearsal with the Morningside and ISO at Turtle Bay Orchestras, mentoring their young counterparts in alternate years. In addition to his teaching duties, he has served on numerous committees, mentored new teachers, and is currently Prep’s Co-Internal Coordinator for their upcoming Middle States Association Re-accreditation.

Mr. Johnston’s ensembles (and some of his arrangements and compositions) have been featured on Good Day New York, Nickelodeon, and The Prayer Channel. Mr. Johnston’s students have performed for the Queens Borough President, officials from the United Nations, the Bishops of Brooklyn and Rockville Center, and in April 2008, countless dignitaries including His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, President and then Senator Clinton, Vice-President and Mrs. Cheney and Mayor Bloomberg. Prep’s Chamber Orchestra ended last season with a performance for His Excellency, Archbishop Timothy Dolan. His ISO orchestras have been featured in Ari L. Goldman’s New York Times article “Big Cello, Little Cello,” and David E. Myers’ “Beyond Tradition II,” originally published by the American Symphony Orchestra League.

Mr. Johnston was graduated from The Manhattan School of Music with undergraduate and graduate degrees in Classical Performance, where he also earned the Pablo Casals Award for Musical Accomplishment and Human Endeavor. He went on to earn a Masters of Arts degree in Teaching Music from Lehman College. His professional engagements as a bassist include The New Philharmonic of New Jersey and The Magic Circle Opera Repertory Company, for whom he recorded on the Newport Classics label. He has performed with artists ranging from Peter Serkin and Leon Fleisher to John Faddis and Gunther Schuller. He is also a member of the original progressive band, The Wild Koba. Mr. Johnston studied bass with Orin O’Brien (New York Philharmonic) and Donald Palma (Orpheus Chamber Orchestra), and conducting with Paul Dunkel (American Composer’s Orchestra), Anthony Maiello (George Mason University) and Robert F. Swift (Plymouth State College). Most recently, Mr. Johnston was the 2008 recipient of St. Francis Preparatory School’s Recognition for Education Excellence Award, and last May, received a New York State Senate Certificate of Merit in recognition of exceptional service as a teacher. He was also sponsored by Prep to study in Assisi and Rome, Italy during July 2008. He is Vice-President of The Bergen Youth Orchestras and this March, will be guest conducting the BYO Symphony.

Email: Mr. Robert Johnston

Yoon Jae Lee

Yoon Jae Lee, conductor for Carnegie Hill Orchestra, enjoys a multi-faceted career as a conductor, arranger, and pianist. He is the Founder & Artistic Director of Ensemble 212, an exciting new orchestra comprised of young freelance musicians from the New York area. Under his baton, Ensemble 212 has performed works ranging from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony to Schwantner's Sparrows. Mr. Lee currently conducts the Seminar Orchestra at the C.W. Post Chamber Music Festival at Long Island University and is a Resident Conductor at the Strings International Music Festival. Recently, Mr. Lee was appointed Music Director and Conductor of the Old York Road Symphony Orchestra. In addition to conducting, Mr. Lee maintains an active accompanying and teaching schedule. In January 2008, he joined the faculty of City College of New York (CUNY). Mr. Lee has made highly acclaimed chamber versions of Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and Mahler's Fourth Symphony. Following the September 11 tragedy, his orchestration of the theme from "New York, New York" was performed at Salzburg's Cathedral (Dom) during a special benefit concert for St. Paul's Chapel in lower Manhattan.

A native of New York City, Mr. Lee began studying the violin at age 5 and piano at age 6. He played in the ISO Symphony throughout high school and studied violin, viola, and conducting with Jonathan Strasser. At age 17, he started conducting professionally and just 2 years later, participated in a masterclass by Kurt Masur at Alice Tully Hall. He received degrees in piano and conducting from the Mannes College of Music studying conducting with Samuel Wong, David Hayes, and Michael Charry. Upon graduation, he received the N.T. Milani Memorial Conducting Fellowship and the Peter M. Gross Fund. Mr. Lee also studied at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria under the tutelage of Dennis Russell Davies. During that time, he appeared as guest conductor with the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Bruckner Orchester Linz, and was appointed Assistant Conductor to the Salzburger Kammerphilharmonie.

Among the music festivals he has attended include the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival, where he studied with David Zinman, Murry Sidlin, and conducted a staged performance of Benjamin Britten's, "The Turn of the Screw", Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, where he studied Baroque performance practice with Jeanne Lamon and Ivars Taurins.

Brian Worsdale

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Brian Worsdale is a conductor, educator, instrumentalist and an ISO alum (’94). Brian is the founder and conductor of the award winning ISO Symphonic Band now in its 14th season. He has been a member of ISO since 1992.

His conducting studies began at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division (now Pre-College Division) under the tutelage of Maestro Jonathan Strasser. It was at MSM that Brian Worsdale conducted performances of Strauss’s Serenade for Winds at The Conrad Strasser Memorial Fund Concerts. He served as assistant conductor for the Pre-College Symphony, Philharmonic and Repertory Orchestras. Through ISO, Mr.Worsdale was also involved with the young conductor roundtables of The New York Philharmonic and worked with Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur, and Larry Tarlow.

Other conducting engagements included adjunct faculty for Wagner College Theater and conductor for Snug Harbor Cultural Center. There he led performances of Sweeney Todd, Camelot, and Oliver! His love of musical theater brought him to the attention of the Staten Island Symphony where he helped produce, stage direct and prepare performances of My Fair Lady, Richard Rodgers Centennial Celebration, and A Night on Broadway.

Brian Worsdale is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in Delaware County, New York. There he leads the Symphony Orchestra and various musical productions while overseeing one of the most comprehensive performing arts programs in the United States. In 2007 he welcomed Jamie Bernstein Thomas to French Woods as they celebrated the 50th anniversary of West Side Story with a closing camp performance.

He is also Artistic Director and Conductor for the Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band. This 75 piece ensemble is one of the most diverse and talented community ensembles in New York City. He has worked with a great variety of artists including members of the New York Philharmonic, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Glenn Egner, Marcus Rojas, Julie Wilson, Jamie Bernstein Thomas, Julie Wilson, The Young People’s Chorus of NYC, Gregg Whiteside, and countless others.

Mr. Worsdale has appeared as guest conductor with a variety of ensembles and at district/county music festivals throughout the USA and abroad including: Experience the Music (sponsored by Bands of American) of Indianapolis, The Royal Spa Brass Band and City of Coventry Youth Orchestras (UK), The Kilkenny Youth Orchestra(Eire), The Bergen Youth Orchestra (NJ), and The Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra.

When he is not conducting, Mr. Worsdale is director of performing arts for Visitation Academy in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. There he supervises the theater and music program and conducts the first all-girl British-style brass band in the United States.

Email: Mr. Brian Worsdale

Jonathan Strasser

Jonathan Strasser, Music Director Emeritus, who served as Music Director of the InterSchool Orchestras and conductor of the ISO Symphony from 1979-2008, guided the growth of the organization from two small ensembles to five orchestras, a symphonic band, percussion workshop, a chamber music program, and an outreach commitment to schools throughout New York City. As a conductor, violinist, and educator for some of New York's finest learning institutions and performing organizations, he has enriched the lives of countless youngsters and their families. Mr. Strasser has both bachelor's and master's degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. He studied violin with Stanley Bednar; conducting with Anton Coppola and Nicolas Flagello; and chamber music with Lillian Fuchs and the Tokyo String Quartet. In 1968 he began a 29-year teaching career at the High School of Music and Art, the School of Performing Arts,and F.H. LaGuardia High School of Music, Art, and Performing Arts, where he conducted the "senior" orchestra and taught a myriad of related subjects. From 1969 through 1992, Mr. Strasser was a conductor of New York's High School All-City Orchestra,first as assistant conductor, and then for ten years as Music Director. For four summers he performed and conducted at Nicolas Flagello's Festivale Musicale di Salerno on the Amalfi coast of Italy. He was a member of the Cosmopolitan Symphony Orchestra from 1965-1980 as concertmaster and assistant conductor, and made his official New York conducting debut at Avery Fisher Hall with the orchestra in December 1978. Mr. Strasser has conducted in Europe, Taiwan, and South America, where he is a regular guest conductor of the Orquesta Sinfonica Venezuela in Caracas. He has worked with renowned soloists including Janos Starker, Artur Balsam, James Earl Jones, the McDermott Trio, Eugene Drucker, and singers from the Metropolitan and New York City operas. In 1997, Mr. Strasser was appointed Music Director of the Staten Island Symphony. Currently, he also serves on the faculty of the Precollege Division of the Manhattan School of Music, where he teaches violin, conducting, and chamber music since 1977, and conducts the Manhattan Philharmonic. He recently conducted two critically acclaimed performances of The Piper of Hamelin by Nicolas Flagello, a CD of which is available of Newport Classic. On TV and in home video he can be seen as the conductor in the MGM movie Fame.

Administrative Staff

Nora Stanton Gibson, Executive Director, is an outstanding administrator, teacher and musician with an impressive career in arts management and education. She returns to New York City from Minneapolis, where she was the Founding Executive Director of the Saint Paul Conservatory of Music, a community music school with a faculty of 40 and an enrollment of over 500 students. Before going to the Twin Cities, Ms. Gibson was chair of the Music Department at the Marymount School. She holds an MM - Piano Performance from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, and a BA - Early Childhood Development from Washington International College, Washington, DC.
Email Nora Gibson at ngibson@isorch.org.

Gary Tigner, Program Associate,
E-mail Gary Tigner at gtigner@isorch.org.

Beverly Simon, Operations Coordinator
E-mail Beverly Simon at bsimon@isorch.org

Board of Trustees