meet your jury
We provide avenues to talented classical music artists, performers, composers, conductors, arrangers, music directors, ensembles, and foundations. Musikato International established the Los Angeles Conducting Workshop and Competition to further the development and talent of conductors.
Maestro Neil Thomson
Maestro Neil Thomson served as Head of Conducting at the Royal College of Music. The youngest-ever incumbent of this post and an Honorary Member of the RCM in 1994 for his services to the institution, and has established an enviable reputation as an orchestral conductor.
He has served as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra in Brazil. The orchestra has rapidly developed a reputation for its dynamic performances and wide-ranging repertoire (with a special emphasis on Brazilian and contemporary music). His recordings with the OFG for the Naxos Brasil em Concerto series of music by Claudio Santoro, Cesar Guerra-Peixe, and Edino Krieger have met
with great critical acclaim from around the world.
In the UK, he has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Hallé, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, and the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera.
Recent débuts include concerts with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Century Orchestra Osaka, Kansai Philharmonic, Concert Orchestra, Lahti Sinfonia, Romanian National Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Ulster Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra, Orchestra of Gothenburg Opera, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra, and Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra.
His skills as a natural communicator have enhanced an already growing reputation as a professor throughout Europe. He has been a Guest Professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Krakow Academy of Music, the Conservatoire “Arrigo Boito” in Parma, the Lithuanian Academy of Music, Campos do Jordão Festival, and the Los Angeles Conducting Workshop.
He studied violin and viola at the Royal Academy of Music and conducting with Norman Del Mar at the Royal College of Music. In addition, he was a member of the conducting class at Tanglewood Summer School in 1989, where his teachers included Gustav Meier, Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Sanderling, and Leonard Bernstein
Dr. Scott Weiss
Scott Weiss is the Music Director and Conductor of the Aiken Symphony Orchestra and the Director of Orchestras at the University of South Carolina School of Music. In demand internationally as a guest conductor, Scott has conducted recent performances with the orchestras of Shenzhen, Tianjin, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, and Nanchang and at major international venues, including the Taipei National Theatre and Concert Hall, the National Centre for the Performing Arts Concert Hall in Beijing, and the Hangzhou Grand Theatre Concert Hall. Soloists he has recently shared the stage with include Elena Urioste, Angelo Xiang Yu, Zuill Bailey, John O’Conor, Marina Lomazov, and Paul Jacobs.
At the University of South Carolina, Dr. Weiss is the Sarah Bolick Smith Distinguished Professor of Music. In addition to conducting the USC Symphony Orchestra, Professor Weiss leads the master’s and doctoral programs in orchestral conducting at UofSC. His studio is a destination for talented young conductors from around the world. He is frequently invited to conduct performances and teach masterclasses at leading conservatoires and music schools, including the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing), the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and the University of Western Australia. Each summer, he teaches at the Los Angeles Conducting Workshop and Competition.
Dr. Nové Deypalan
Dr. Nové Deypalan. The Columbia FreeTimes hailed Dr. Nové Deypalan’s conducting skills as superior, “fearless…first-class music-making.” Nové is an award-winning conductor in the United States and Europe. He received the Highest Distinction Award with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in Russia. In addition, he was a two-time Prize Winner of the International Conductors Workshop and Competition in Georgia. Dr. Deypalan received the Second Prize Award at the 14th Danube International Conducting Competition 2018 with the Danube Symphony Orchestra in Budapest, Hungary. Also, he received the Special Commendation Award in the conducting competition with the London Classical Soloists Orchestra. Deypalan exudes an undeniable passion for conducting and is a real inspiration for his ensembles. He has led ensembles in repeat performances at Carnegie Hall for Popes, St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis at the Vatican. But his most treasured accomplishment was when he premiered and conducted Fang Man’s “Dream of a Hundred Flowers” at Carnegie Hall in February 2012.
Deypalan is the founder and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Conducting Workshop Institute. It serves aspiring and talented conductors worldwide, honing and crafting their conducting skills in front of the professional orchestra with world-renowned mentors for the past ten years. Deypalan’s ability to foster a relationship with the community at large through his business skills and advocacy in promoting music and art, the White House Millennium Council vested Deypalan with the Presidential Award for his services to the community.
Dr. Nové Deypalan received a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Orchestral Conducting at the University of South Carolina, a Master of Music in Choral Conducting magna cum laude at the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Music in Conducting Performance at Chapman University. His formal music training started at the University of the Philippines College of Music. In addition to his devotion to music, Nové advocates health consciousness. He completed the Los Angeles Marathon in 2002. Nové Deypalan hails from the small town of Victorias, Negros Occidental, Philippines.