All State Middle School Strings
Dr. David Pope

David Pope is Director of Orchestras at Manatee High School in
Bradenton, Florida. Previously, Dr. Pope was an orchestra director for
Maryville City Schools in Tennessee. He also served as the Executive Director
of the Tallahassee Youth Orchestras, and on the orchestral librarian staffs
at the Aspen Summer Music Festival and Spoleto Music Festival USA.

Dr. Pope received his bachelor's degree from The Florida State University,
master's degree from the University of South Carolina, and Ph.D. in Music
Education from The Florida State University. Currently, Dr. Pope serves as a
conductor and co-director at Florida State University’s String Orchestra Camp.
As an active adjudicator and clinician, he has conducted honor orchestras
and served as a guest artist for numerous middle and high school orchestra
programs throughout the southeast. Dr. Pope has been a leader in the American
String Teachers Association by serving as the President of the Florida State
University ASTA chapter and on the Board of Directors in Tennessee. In 2009,
Dr. Pope was the recipient of the Outstanding Young Music
Educator award for the state of Tennessee.

All State 9/10 Orchestra
Chelsea Tipton

American conductor Chelsea Tipton II has won over audiences and
critics alike with his vibrant musicality, accessibility, versatility, and
extraordinary commitment to education.  Tipton is now celebrating his fourth
season as Music Director of The Symphony of Southeast Texas in Beaumont. 
As a sought-after guest conductor, Tipton has appeared with numerous major
orchestras in the United States, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, 
Houston Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Louisiana
Philharmonic Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic
Orchestra and San Antonio Symphony Orchestra among others.  During the summer of 2011, Tipton was part of an extensive European tour with pop artist Sting that
took him to 15 countries and working with 19 different European orchestras. 
He prepared orchestras for the concerts and performed with Sting in
concert in the Canary Islands, Granada and Cap Roig Spain.

The 2012-13 season sees Tipton working with the Dohnanyi Orchestra
Budafok (Budapest), Hilton Head Symphony, Lexington Philharmonic, New
Haven Symphony, North Carolina Symphony and will be conducting Georgia
All State Orchestra in Savannah. Tipton has conducted in Carnegie Hall conducting
the Sphinx Competition Showcase gala concert that was the culmination of a
ten city tour with the orchestra.Other highlights include a last minute replacement
for Robert Spano to conduct an all-Gershwin season finale with the Brooklyn
Philharmonic. The New York Times applauded Tipton for “[leading]sweeping
and vibrant performances of “Rhapsody” and “An American in Paris.”

Tipton earned a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting from
Northern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance
from the Eastman School of Music, with additional studies at the University
of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Conductors Retreat at
Medomak and the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock, Maine.

All State 11/12 Orchestra
John Whitney

A uniquely versatile “musician’s musician,” John Whitney has distinguished
himself in both classical and jazz arenas through his conducting, performance,
composition, arranging, and teaching. The founding director of the Southern
Tier Symphony, a fast-growing, regional orchestra based in Olean, New York,
Whitney has led orchestras on three continents, including those in the Czech
Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Venezuela. In the U.S., he has served as guest
conductor of the Dayton Philharmonic and Ohio Valley Symphony, Erie
Philharmonic and Glens Falls Symphony in New York, and the New World,
Westmoreland, Imperial and Brevard Symphonies in Florida. Other invited
orchestral appearances include those with the Illinois Symphony, Florida
Symphony, and symphonies of South Bend, Indiana; Savannah, Georgia;
Springfield, Missouri, Dayton, Ohio and Springfield, Massachusetts. In
addition, Whitney has conducted the Orlando Opera and served as
music director for Ballet Orlando. Whitney has performed with and/or conducted
for a host of platinum artists, including Luciano Pavarotti, Clark Terry, Frank Foster,
Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Dave Samuels, Buddy DeFranco, Henry Mancini,
Cab Calloway, Liberace, Doc Severinson, Phil Woods and The Irish Tenors.
As a violinist, he has performed at Walt Disney World and with symphonies
of Syracuse, Utica, Elmira and Brevard. 

Internationally respected for his skills as a pedagogue, Whitney has taught
conducting in Europe, presented workshops as a faculty member for American
Symphony Orchestra League, and served as mentor to promising young
American conductors. He has shared coaching with conductors that include
Abravanel, Boulez, Farberman, Gould, Maazel, Mehta, Slatkin and Zinman.
During his twenty-year career at University of Central Florida (UCF), Whitney
served as director of both orchestral studies and the UCF Jazz Lab band, which
he led in invited performances at Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and North
Sea Jazz Festival in Holland. Recipient of acclaim for both his musicianship
and his teaching, Whitney was selected sole American winner of the International
Competition for Conductors in Czechoslovakia. UCF recognized Whitney for
his excellence in teaching and leadership and named him premier faculty
member in research and creative activities, a university-wide award. In
addition, he has been invited to serve each summer since 2003 on faculty of the
String Institute presented by the New York American String Teachers Association.
In the past four years, Whitney’s orchestral arrangements have been performed at
the Carnegie Hall “Link-UP!” youth concerts Alfred Publications, formerly
Warner Brothers, and Theodore Presser Company have published more than
forty of Whitney’s compositions and arrangements, and his “The Junk Food Blues”
for string quartet was recorded by the Kronos Quartet. Whitney’s own
discography includes jazz recordings by The John Whitney Trio. A native of
Glens Falls, NY, Whitney earned music degrees from Ithaca College and
New England Conservatory. In addition to his service at UCF, Whitney
taught 22 years in New York public schools, including those in Long Beach,
Olean, Ithaca and Camillus (West Genesee Central Schools), and served as
director of strings for Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts. In
2007, he taught conducting and orchestra at SUNY
Fredonia as director of orchestras.