A native of Buffalo, New York, Hayden Denesha is a passionate conductor known for his intensity and his dedication to the education of audiences and young musicians. Presently, Hayden serves as the Associate Conductor of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Loudoun Symphony Youth Orchestras. Hayden is also on faculty at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania where he directs the College Orchestra and teaches classes in Music Education. Hayden most recently served as Assistant Conductor for the Peabody Youth Orchestra and worked as an Assistant Conductor and Youth Orchestra Conductor for the South Carolina Philharmonic. While with the South Carolina Philharmonic, he led professional young persons’ concerts and helped grow its Youth Orchestra program into one of the largest in the state.

As an advocate for contemporary programming, Hayden has premiered numerous commissions and has been relied upon for his expertise in multimedia collaboration. He recently worked on the U.S. premiere of Du Yun’s Where We Lost Our Shadows at the Kennedy Center and served as an Assistant Conductor for a Baltimore city-wide production of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass under the baton of Marin Alsop. He is also one of the few conductors in the world trained in original performance practice of accompanying silent films with live orchestra. In 2018, he was invited to Indiana University in partnership with the Jacobs School of Music to present the original orchestral score to Phantom of the Opera (1925) with renowned organ soloist Dennis James.

Hayden holds conducting degrees from the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, the University of South Carolina, and the State University of New York at Fredonia. He has also trained and performed at music festivals such as the National Orchestra Institute, Eastern Music Festival, Pierre Monteux School, and the PRISMA Festival in Western Canada. His principal teachers have included Marin Alsop, Joseph Young, Scott Weiss and David Rudge. Hayden is equally at home as a performer on viola having earned his undergraduate degree in Viola Performance & Music Education. He has held viola section positions with the South Carolina Philharmonic, Aiken Symphony Orchestra, and the Carolina Ballet. He presently resides in Baltimore, MD with his wife Mary Kate and is an avid Buffalo Bills fan.

Ms. Ashley Driscoll is the orchestra director at Independence High School in Loudoun County, where the Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Sinfonia have received superior recognition by the VBODA district assessments. 

Ms. Driscoll earned Bachelor of Music degrees in Cello Performance and Music Education, and Master of Music degrees in Orchestral Conducting and Cello Performance from West Virginia University (WVU). Her principal teachers included Mitchell Arnold (conducting) and Erin Ellis (cello). She attended graduate school on a full assistantship and received recognition as the WVU School of Music Outstanding Graduate. 

Apart from conducting, Ms. Driscoll is a registered Suzuki cello teacher. She completed all ten cello units, Suzuki in the Schools, and supplementary coursework. Her Suzuki trainers have included Tanya Carey, Avi Friedlander, Andrea Yun, Shu-Yi Scott, Pamela Devenport, Beth Goldstein-McKee, Beth Cantrell, Laurie Scott, and Winifred Crock.

Ms. Driscoll held a teaching assistantship at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan before joining Loudoun County Public Schools as a middle and high school orchestra director. She regularly performs recitals, serves as a sectional coach for public schools and youth orchestra programs, and teaches a private cello studio.

A native of Northern Virginia, K. Robby Carroll is an innovative and energetic music educator with over a decade of experience teaching students from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. He currently serves as the orchestra director at Lightridge High School in Aldie, VA and has done so since its inception in 2020. Prior to his position at Lightridge, Mr. Carroll was the orchestra director at Willard Middle School (formerly Willard Intermediate School) in Aldie, VA upon its opening and was the orchestra director at Potomac Senior High School in Dumfries, VA for ten years.

Mr. Carroll began learning the piano at age 8 and grew up playing clarinet in the Fairfax County Public School system until graduation. He graduated cum laude from George Mason University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. While at Mason, he attended and participated in the Schlern International Music Festival in Völs am Schlern, Italy studying piano, accompanying, and chamber music. Mr. Carroll started playing and studying the violin in earnest after accepting his first teaching position, and went on to receive his Master’s Degree in Music Education with an emphasis in strings from VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, IL. His principal teachers include Anna Balakerskaia, John Casagrande, and David Eccles.

Mr. Carroll has served as a stage and sight-reading adjudicator for VBODA District Orchestra Assessments throughout the commonwealth and has served as guest conductor of the Prince William All-County Junior Honors Orchestra. He is a member of NAfME, ASTA and the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society in Education. When he is not teaching or playing music, Mr. Carroll enjoys traveling, staying active, and spending time with his family and friends.