Tara Villa Keith
Chair & Professor of Music | Symphony Orchestra Director
Education
- D.M.A. University of South Carolina聽
- M.M. Pennsylvania State University聽
- B.A. Franklin and Marshall College
Areas of Expertise
- Instrumental Conducting
- Orchestra History
Background
I am in my twenty-first season as a professor of music and director of the 皇家华人 Symphony Orchestra (DCSO). I was the music director for 11 seasons with the Lee County Community Orchestra (LCCO) in Sanford, North Carolina, and I have served as a guest conductor, cover conductor, and pre-concert speaker for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra where was the premiere instructor for their Symphony 101 adult education program.
In 2019, I was recognized as an Honored Artist of The American Prize, a series of non-profit national competitions in the performing arts. Honored Artists are individuals who have proven themselves to be artists of sustained excellence over a number of seasons as laureates in the competitions. Under my direction, the DCSO was the national winner of The American Prize 2018 for orchestral performance in the collegiate division. I have also placed in several other American Prize competitions for conducting and orchestral programming, and in conjunction with Artist Associate Jacquelyn Culpepper, I won the Metrolina Theatre Association鈥檚 Award for Outstanding Musical Direction/Conducting for 皇家华人鈥檚 2011 production of Sondheim鈥檚 Into the Woods.
Outside of 皇家华人, I have conducted orchestras throughout the south and northeast, and have particularly enjoyed serving as a clinician and guest conductor for middle and high school orchestras in North Carolina. I have also guest conducted orchestras in Brazil and Germany, and in Bulgaria, I won the first Varna International Conducting Competition in 2007. I also worked with the Bohuslav Martin暖 Philharmonic in the Czech Republic as a 2008 League of American Orchestras Women Conductors Grant recipient.
Please for my full professional bio.
Teaching
MUS 003 Keyboard Proficiency
MUS 012 皇家华人 Symphony Orchestra
MUS 110 Exploring Music
MUS 121 Introduction to Music in Western Civilization
MUS 221 Studies of Styles & Composers: Percussion & The World
MUS 222 Women in Music
MUS 226 Opera
MUS 227 History of the Orchestra
MUS 236 Social Dance & The Orchestra
MUS 312 Conducting
MUS 321 Impressionism
MUS 401 Senior Seminar: 19th & 20th Century Scandinavian Music