Conductors

Symphony Conductor and Music Director - Helen Martell

Helen Martell has dedicated her life’s work to music education and orchestral conducting. As a music educator, she has taught all levels of orchestra in the public schools for over twenty-eight years. In August 2021, she became the Director of Education and Staff Conductor with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. As a professional conductor, Helen Martell conducts the education and community engagement programs for the Virginia Symphony and is honored to be Music Director and Symphony Orchestra Conductor for the Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia.

After graduating from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in Saxophone Performance and Music Education, Helen Martell performed in a professional saxophone quartet and performed with the Virginia Symphony under the direction of JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Wind Symphony under the direction of Dennis Zeisler. Concurrently, she established herself as an educator in the Chesapeake Public Schools. Following her passion for orchestral conducting, Helen Martell joined Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia (Hampton Roads Premiere Youth Orchestra) as Concert Orchestra Conductor in 2001 and became the Music Director and Symphony Orchestra Conductor in 2007. As a dedicated lifelong learner, she received a master’s degree in music education with an emphasis in conducting from Old Dominion University in 2018. Over the years, Helen Martell has been honored to guest conduct the Virginia Symphony on many occasions including most the Sensory Friendly Concert at the Bank Street Stage in June 2021, the video performance of the Young People’s Concert “The Orchestra Swings” in February 2021, the live performances of “The Orchestra Sings” in 2019 and the first Peanut Butter and Jam Series Concert
at Sandler Center in 2019. She also enjoyed conducting her teaching colleagues in Symphonicity, Virginia Beach’s Community Orchestra, for the Lollipop Concert in January 2017. The Virginia Chapter of the American String Teachers Association named her its 2010 Orchestra Director of the Year. 

Named as a Fellow in the Juilliard Conducting Workshop in 2013, she studied directly with JoAnn Falletta, Eugene Corporon and Virginia Allen. Helen Martell’s conducting teachers include Donald Schleicher (Michigan), Lawrence Christianson (West Virginia), Harold Farberman (Bard), Paul Kim (Old Dominion), Diane Wittry (Pacific Northwest Conducting Institute) and JoAnn Falletta (formerly with the Virginia Symphony). Helen is married to the Artistic Administrator and Bass Trombonist of the Virginia Symphony, Rodney Martell, and they happily call Norfolk home.

Concert Orchestra Conductor – Steven Brindle

Steven studied at Christopher Newport University, earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education with Latin honors.  During his graduate studies, he served as assistant conductor to the University Orchestra and OperaCNU. Since then, he has attended conducting workshops at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University, studying with famed conductors Mark Gibson, Gustav Meier, and Markand Thakar.   He has conducted Capitol Opera Richmond in performances including Gilbert & Sullivan’s classic H.M.S. Pinafore, Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor, The Stoned Guest, by P.D.Q. Bach, and Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land.

As a proponent of new music, Steven regularly commissions works and collaborates with composers.   In 2010 Steven conducted the world premier of David and Glass, an original opera in three acts by contemporary composer Chris Lamb.  Since then, he has conducted and performed in the premier of over 10 new works.Steven currently serves as the Music Director for the Hampton Roads Philharmonic and as the Orchestra Director for Soundscapes, an El Sistema-inspired program in Newport News that teaches transformational life-skills to socio-economically disadvantaged youth through music performance.

Steven lives in Norfolk.  He is a member of the Collegiate Music Educator’s National Conference, Omicron Delta Kappa, Pi Kappa Lambda, Alpha Chi, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

String Orchestra and Junior String Orchestra Conductor - Brad Shedd

Brad Shedd is the String Orchestra and Junior String Orchestra. He served as the Assistant Conductor for both orchestras from 2011-2023. He is the Executive Pastor at Harvest Assembly Church in Chesapeake and an adjunct professor at Regent University. In addition, he maintains a studio of private students, teaching violin, viola, guitar, and piano. He has a huge heart for young musicians, beginning with his own experience playing in the Springfield (MO) Youth Symphony, serving as concertmaster and a concerto competition winner. He received his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and Music Education at the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, graduating summa cum laude. While there, he traveled with CCM’s Philharmonia Orchestra to London and Paris.
Mr. Shedd completed his Master of Divinity from Regent University’s School of Divinity, graduating with highest honors. He taught strings for six years in the public schools—two years in Cincinnati, and four years in Chesapeake, including two years as director of the Great Bridge High School Orchestra program. He directed the Virginia Beach Public Schools 7th-8th Grade All-City Orchestra in 2019.
Mr. Shedd has had many private students participate in BYOV (including several who now have become professional musicians), and all eight of his children have participated in Bay Youth.

String Orchestra and Junior String Orchestra Assistant Conductor- Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a native of Richmond, Virginia, where she began studying the violin at a very early age. Under the leadership of a certified Suzuki instructor, she studied the Suzuki method rigorously through her high school years. At the young age of 15, Ms. Scott soon joined the renowned Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and was one of its youngest violinists. During her high school years, she shared her talents by offering private lessons to students in elementary and middle schools and soon discovered her passion for teaching music. Inevitably, Ms. Scott earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education at Old Dominion University, where she received a scholarship to play violin and viola in the ODU Symphony. In her senior year at ODU, she was invited to be the Visual and Performing Arts Magnet Strings Teacher for Churchland High School’s Magnet program.
Ms. Scott has taught a very successful strings program at Lafayette Winona Middle School for 6 years, where the orchestras received many accolades. While teaching at both Blair Middle School and Lafayette Winona M.S. Ms. Scott was awarded and recognized as the 2011 Music Teacher of the Year from Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia. She also had the honor of being selected as the 2014-2015 Teacher of the Year at Blair Middle School and recognized as a finalist for the 2014 and 2016 Virginia Symphony’s Outstanding and Favorite Music Teacher in Hampton Roads. While serving as the orchestra director at James Blair Middle School for 11 years, her students consistently received superior ratings, top chairs in their respective sections for national, state, and district events while earning top awards and recognitions for competitions and assessments. Under her tutelage, four students were accepted in the Carnegie Hall Middle School Honors National Orchestra. Ms. Scott also serves as a mentor to many new music teachers in the Norfolk area. Ms. Scott has conducted Norfolk’s All City Orchestras from 2011-2016, Virginia Beach’s All City in 2017, and Newport News’s All City in 2018. Ms. Scott has not only been sought out for guest conducting but also as a guest adjudicator. Ms. Scott has been an adjudicator for not only other schools in the district but also for District VIII Orchestra Assessments in 2018 and 2020. She is also one of the harp directors for the Norfolk Public Schools and Academy of Music’s “Harps on Fire” program.
Ms. Scott continues to inspire young musicians at her current school, Academy for Discovery at Lakewood, where she teaches strings to 4th grade- 8th grade. Concurrently, Ms. Scott teaches private lessons to promising violin, viola, beginning cello, bass, and piano students and is the senior coordinator of the Summer Strings Fever Norfolk camp at her private studio named Sound Waves of Hampton Roads Fine Arts Academy.

Concert Band Conductor – Michael Oare

Michael Oare (b. 1960) earned undergraduate degrees in Music Composition and Music Education from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. A veteran music educator, Mr. Oare remains active as a composer, arranger, performer, conductor and adjudicator. As a published composer, he has written numerous arrangements and compositions, with a special interest in music for the young band. One of his works, To Dream in Brushstrokes, is included in the acclaimed Teaching Music Through Performance series by GIA publications. His compositions can be found in the catalogues of several major publishing companies, with all his most recent works being published by Hal Leonard.

Since 1991, he has served as the Director of Bands at Great Bridge Middle School in Chesapeake, Virginia. His Great Bridge Middle School Bands have consistently received superior ratings in the annual Virginia Concert Band Performance Assessment and have performed for the Virginia Music Educators Association Conference on three occasions. He maintains State and National professional memberships, is a member of ASCAP and the international bandmasters fraternity Phi Beta Mu. He is a recipient of the National Band Association’s Citation of Excellence, is a multiple year honoree in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and is a member of The Virginia Wind Symphony.

Mr. Oare resides in Chesapeake, Virginia and, in his spare time, enjoys off-shore fishing along the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina.

Wind Symphony Conductor - Brian Walden

Captain Brian O. Walden, U.S. Navy (Ret.) is currently an Adjunct Professor at Old Dominion University where he previously served as the Interim Director of Bands. He has also served as the Director of Bands & Instrumental Studies and Interim Director of Music Education at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He previously served as the Director of Bands and Director of Music Education at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia where he was also the Coordinator of the Graduate Conducting Program. He has conducted international recording artists live and for television performances with Jason Mraz, James Taylor, Colbie Caillat, Take 6, Phillip Phillips (American Idol winner), Isaac Slade of the rock band “The Fray,” Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Branford Marsalis (former Director of The Tonight Show Band with Jay Leno), TV and Broadway star Neil Patrick Harris, and performed with Natalie Cole as well as many other artists. He has conducted ensembles and performed as a trumpet instrumentalist on every continent except Antarctica. Brian holds a BA in Music/Religious Studies (Double Major) from Saint Leo University, Florida, a MM in Wind Ensemble Conducting from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and completed all coursework in the DMA Music Education program at Boston University and PhD program in Music Education at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. In 2012 he was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Award by the Alumni Council of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston for his career contributions to the field of wind band conducting. He also holds a Graduate Diploma in National Security Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Upon retirement from active duty serving as the Commanding Officer/Conductor of the United States Navy Band Washington, DC (White House Support Unit) as the senior musician in the Department of Defense, Captain Walden was awarded the distinguished Legion of Merit by President Barack H. Obama for his 35 years of service to the nation. Additionally, in 2019 President Donald J. Trump awarded the National Medal of Arts, “the highest honor given to artists and arts patrons by the United States Government.” Brian currently performs on trumpet with the Alabama Winds and maintains active studios in trumpet and conducting at Samford University. Captain Walden is an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association, the highest honor for Bandmasters in North America, and is an active member of the College Band Directors National Association, National Association for Music Education, Alabama Music Educators Association, Alabama Bandmasters Association and the National Band Association. Captain Walden is married to Staci Harris Walden, whom he met as a blind date for her high school senior prom. Staci is a graduate of Bishop England High School in Charleston, South Carolina, Tidewater Community College, Virginia, The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and Rutgers University. They have been married for 36 years and have two sons, Zach who is a fireman/paramedic and professional volleyball player and played on the U.S. Team this past summer in Chengdu, China, and Chase who is a U.S. champion kick boxer who previously won the Middle Weight Muay Thai World Championship in Florence, Italy. Chase owns and operates Grindstone Athletics in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Brian and Staci love sailing at their home on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and spending time with their grandson, Maverick Adonis.