Conductor

CUWE Conductor Jason Noble smiles at the camera in front of a serene background.

Dr. Jason Noble (he/him/his) returns as Conductor of the Columbia University Wind Ensemble (CUWE), effective Fall 2024. He currently serves as Associate Professor of Music at The City University of New York (CUNY), Lehman College, and concurrently serves as a part-time faculty member at New York University and a guest faculty artist at the Manhattan School of Music. At Lehman College, he teaches graduate conducting and creative instrumental teaching strategies for Master of Arts (M.A.T.) students seeking New York State P12 music certification, and mentors graduate students through an innovative emerging teacher preparation program. At NYU, he has recently conducted the NYU Wind Symphony (2021-2023), leading the ensemble to its first series of commissions through four renowned composers for band, and he continues to teach the NYU instrumental conducting, materials, techniques, and synthesis course sequence. At the Manhattan School of Music, he has recently conducted the MSM Camerata Nova ensemble and frequently teaches the MSM WBOTS orchestral core repertoire training sequence course as an invited guest artist. Throughout his 24-year career in both secondary and university instrumental ensemble direction, he has received national and international acclaim in the areas of creative and innovative music curricular reform and progressive music education. He has conducted invited full-length concerts 21 times at Carnegie Hall and at many of the finest concert halls across the world on six continents, from Sydney, Australia, to Vienna, Austria, to Beijing, China. He holds degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University (Ed.D.C.T., College Teaching of Music), where he was the recipient of the Florence K. Geffen Endowed Fellowship, New York University (M.A., Music Education) and the Frost School of Music, University of Miami (B.M., Music Education, cum laude).

Prior to his current teaching and conducting appointments, he served as Conductor of the Columbia University Wind Ensemble for eight seasons (2013-2021), garnering national and international acclaim, leading the commission of new works by diverse composers, and leading the group to its first three full-length featured evening performances at Carnegie Hall since 1965 (2016, 2017, 2019). As Director of Bands for fifteen years at Scarsdale High School (Scarsdale, NY), he piloted, tested, and implemented a progressive and successful Maxine Greene and John Dewey-inspired Democracy in Band curriculum based on intrinsic motivation, student choice/voice, and shared responsibility without the typical exogenous rewards systems found in most school band programs. His primary teachers and mentors were Gary Green (University of Miami), Nicholas DeCarbo (University of Miami), David Elliott (NYU), Paul Cohen (NYU), Justin Dello Joio (NYU), Maxine Greene (Teachers College, Columbia University), and Randall Everett Allsup (Teachers College, Columbia University).

Dedicated to the pursuit of new music, he began in 2004 with the commissioning of a new significant work, “Yosemite Autumn,” by composer Mark Camphouse. Since that commissioning project, he has led commissions by composers Kevin Day, Josh Trentadue, Katahj Copley, Harrison Collins, Julie Giroux, Patrick Burns, Catherine Likhuta, and Michael Martin. He has joined consortia commissions of numerous diverse and emerging composers and continues to pursue the development of new music. Ensembles under his full-time educational and creative direction have consistently received national and international acclaim, released albums with the Mark Custom label (2003, 2006), and have performed by exclusive competitive invitation at Carnegie Hall (2003, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022), David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center (2020), Salzburg and Vienna, Austria (2009, 2015), Prague, Czech Republic (2009, 2015), Gran Canaria, Spain (2010), Barcelona, Spain (2010), London, England (2013), The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland (2013), Budapest, Hungary (2015), Belfast, Northern Ireland (2019), Dublin and Cork, Ireland (2019), and Sydney and Melbourne, Australia (2017).

He is in frequent and high demand as a guest conductor, lecturer, program consultant, curriculum consultant, and music performance adjudicator across the United States and internationally. His research interests include band and orchestra education, instrumental music education, neurodivergence in music education, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in music education, LGBTQIA+ studies in music education, and philosophies of music education.

Guest Conductor Oscar Thorp professional picture smiling at camera

Oscar Wiley Thorp (Guest Conductor) is a conductor, trumpeter, and music educator based in Brooklyn, New York. Oscar is the conductor of the Mannes Prep Chamber Orchestra, the New York Late Starters Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Music Community’s Kings County Concert Band. As a faculty member at the Third Street Music School Settlement, Oscar directs several ensembles, including the Concert Band, Prelude Band, and the New Horizons Morning and Evening Bands. Through the Interschool Orchestras of New York, Oscar coaches the brass in the Symphonic Band and is a substitute conductor with the ISO orchestras. He has appeared as a guest conductor with the Chelsea Symphony, the New Conductors Orchestra, the New York City Brass Choir, and Make Music New York’s Sousapalooza. Originally from the Seattle/Tacoma area, Oscar served as assistant professor of music at Pierce College in Puyallup, WA, where he directed the Pierce College Concert Band, Chamber Winds, and Jazz Band. His position included teaching music theory, music history, and an American Popular Music survey. While in Washington, he also worked with the Puget Brass, the Seattle Symphonic Band, and as a clinician for the Washington Music Educators Association. An advocate for new music, Oscar has helped create contemporary chamber ensembles at the University of Arizona and at Pierce College, as well as conducting recordings of new music by students. Oscar has created many arrangements for virtual learning and limited instrumentation accessibility, particularly for wind bands and brass ensembles. Through his participation as a conductor with the New Horizons International Music Association, Oscar has given virtual classes on score reading and music appreciation. Oscar began his conducting career as the assistant conductor of the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestras while studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Oscar then moved to Tucson, AZ to earn his masters in instrumental conducting as a teaching assistant at the University of Arizona’s Fred Fox School of Music. Oscar’s conducting mentors include Gregg Hanson, Raphael Jiménez, and Joann Erwin. He has participated in conducting workshops at the Eastman School of Music,  School of Music, University of Miami. His primary mentors and teachers were Maxine Greene, Randall Everett Allsup, Gary Green, Nicholas DeCarbo, David Elliott, Paul Cohen, and Justin Dello Joio. A champion of new music, he has led numerous commissioning projects since 2004, helping create new works by composers from across the globe. He remains committed to actively promoting the works of historically marginalized and emerging composers, and ensembles under his direction have consistently received and continue to enjoy critical acclaim. He has released professional recordings and performed through panel-reviewed invitations at numerous professional venues worldwide. At NYU, he  successfully rebranded and restarted the Wind Symphony post- pandemic, commissioning four critically acclaimed works by living  composers and collaborating with the composition faculty. His efforts earned praise from across the campus and New York City community, creating a renaissance in the instrumental ensemble program and fostering a renewed sense of musical community with a commitment to learner-led spaces and student voice. For fifteen years, he served as Director of Bands at Scarsdale High School, where he, his students, and colleagues earned international acclaim for creating possibilities and learner-led spaces of musical excellence without fear or typical extrinsic reinforcement associated with band education. At Scarsdale, he piloted an innovative & “Democracy in Band” curriculum inspired by Maxine Greene, John Dewey, and Randall Allsup. The curricular approach emphasizes intrinsic motivation, student choice, possibilities, and shared responsibility. His teaching credo centers on creating an inclusive, highly supportive environment where emerging teachers/professors and practicing musicians are empowered to take risks and embrace authenticity. His goal is to leverage empathy to empower the next generation of musicians and educators to become thoughtful, compassionate, and socially conscious leaders who find purpose and longevity in their careers in today’s rapidly changing world. Rhythm Communications represents Dr. Noble for all media engagements and appearances, and he is represented internationally by Oliver Scofield and Present Australia.