Russel C. Mikkelson (Music Director)was appointed in 1998 as the sixth director of University Bands at The Ohio State University, where he serves as professor of music (conducting) and area head of Conducting and Ensembles, conducts the Wind Symphony, leads the graduate wind conducting program and oversees all aspects of the university's band program. Under his direction, the Ohio State Wind Symphony has performed twice at the College Band Directors National Association Convention, the American Bandmasters Association Convention, the CBDNA North Central Conference, at the Ohio Music Educators Association Professional Development Conference seven times, and has recorded six CDs (see Recordings): Network (Naxos), Rest (Naxos), Southern Harmony (Naxos), Winds of Nagual (Naxos), Jubilare! (Mark Records) and Sounds, Shapes and Symbols (Mark Records). In a review of the Southern Harmony recording, Fanfare magazine proclaims, "The Ohio State musicians play their collective hearts out and conductor Mikkelson shapes the music with a loving hand, wringing every last drop of emotion out of the music. If this does not give you goose-bumps, nothing will."

A relentless advocate for the creation of new works, Mikkelson chairs the Big Ten Conference’s Commissioning Project, serves on the American Bandmasters Association Commissioning Committee, the New Works Committee for the College Band Directors National Association, and has instituted a program of regular commissioning projects for the Ohio State Bands. He has received praise from esteemed composers Leslie Bassett, Krzysztof Penderecki, John Corigliano, Michael Colgrass, Joseph Schwantner, Aaron Jay Kernis, Jennifer Higdon, Gunther Schuller, Lukas Foss, Augusta Read Thomas, Frank Ticheli, John Mackey, Steven Bryant and Michael Daugherty — among others — for his musical realization of their compositions. Corigliano wrote, “Russel Mikkelson is a conductor who really understands my music, and that’s rare.”

Dr. Mikkelson is past president of the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) and of the Big Ten Band Directors Association; is a member of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), NAfME, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Beta Mu; and is a duly elected member of the American Bandmasters Association. An enthusiastic advocate of public school music education, Dr. Mikkelson has conducted All-State Bands, Festivals, and Honor Bands across the United States and internationally. The 2021–2022 academic year sees him conducting the All-State Bands of New York and Colorado. Additionally, he serves as music director and conductor of the professional Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Heisey Wind Ensemble, a highly skilled community band.

He is the recipient of both The Ohio State University School of Music Distinguished Teaching Award and the Distinguished Scholar Award, in addition to serving on the editorial board of the Journal of Band Research. He has published articles in The Instrumentalist and The Journal of the Conductor’s Guild; as a composer/arranger, he is published through C. Alan and Daehn Publications. Previous posts include the State University of New York at Fredonia, Stevens Point Area Senior High School (WI) and Kickapoo High School (WI). He was recently honored with the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire's President's Alumni Award, recognizing outstanding professional and personal achievement.

Peter Boyer (Composer of Ellis Island: the Dream of America) was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1970. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rhode Island College, and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The Hartt School of the University of Hartford. He then studied privately with composer John Corigliano in New York, and moved to Los Angeles to study film/TV scoring at USC, where his teachers included Elmer Bernstein.

To date, Boyer has worked primarily as an orchestral composer for the concert hall, where he has enjoyed much success. His orchestral works have received some 400 public performances, by more than 125 orchestras. He has conducted recordings of his music with three of the world's finest orchestras: the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His concert works have received thousands of broadcasts on classical radio stations throughout the U.S., and in many countries abroad. He has received seven national awards for his work.

Boyer was chosen by conductor Keith Lockhart for the Boston Pops 125th anniversary commission honoring the legacy of John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy. Acclaimed actors Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Ed Harris narrated the premiere of Boyer's "The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers", which was attended by many members of the Kennedy family, and received extensive national media attention. Boyer's work was the focus of the TV special "An American Salute: the Pops at 125." The Boston Pops also performed "Kennedy Brothers" at the Tanglewood Music Festival with narrator Alec Baldwin.

Boyer's major work "Ellis Island: The Dream of America" for actors and orchestra, which celebrates the historic American immigrant experience, has been his most successful composition to date. Premiered in 2002, the work has received over 160 live performances by 70 orchestras, making it one of the most-performed large-scale American classical works of the last decade. Boyer's recording of this work was released by Naxos in 2005, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

In addition to his work for the concert hall, Boyer is active in the film and television music industry. In recent years, his skills as an orchestrator (one who works from composers' sketches and demos to create complete orchestral scores for recording) have been increasingly in demand. Boyer has contributed orchestrations to film scores by many top Hollywood composers, such as Michael Giacchino, Thomas Newman, James Newton Howard, James Horner, Alan Menken, Mark Isham, Harry Gregson-Williams, and Heitor Pereira, among others. Boyer has also composed scores for The History Channel, the A&E Networks Production Music Library, and several short films, and has arranged music for the Academy Awards.

Kevin Connell (Director of Ellis Island: the Dream of America) is a Professor of Theatre Arts at Marymount Manhattan College (New York City). He is the former Managing Artistic Director of Weathervane Playhouse (Newark, OH), where he worked from 2014-2019. Kevin was the Period Style and Etiquette Coordinator for the 2012-2013 Broadway production of The Heiress. Kevin has performed in productions at The National Theatre (London), La Jolla Playhouse (San Diego, CA), Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL), Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Scotland), TheatreWorks USA (NYC/Tour), The Wayside Theatre (Winchester, VA), TheatreFest, NJ (Montclair, NJ) and Pinewood Film Studios (London), among other credits. He attended The Ohio State University (BFA) and the University of California, San Diego (MFA). He is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and The Dramatist Guild. www.kevinconnell.me

Tabitha "Tabi" Abney (Costume Designer) is an independent Fashion/Costume Designer and Wardrobe Supervisor. She received her education at the Art Institute of Philadelphia.

Fashion is always at the heart of what she does, and her love for it has taken her on an incredible journey. While working with several Columbus-based independent filmmakers, she discovered a love for costume design and a passion for bringing characters to life through wardrobe. Her aptitude for quick thinking on the spot and problem solving has given her the nickname "Miracle Worker" anywhere she's worked. On a film set or theatre, her motto for life is: "We'll Make It Work."

Jeff Morrison (Dialect Coach) is an Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, at Marymount Manhattan College. Prior to MMC he taught at the American Repertory Theatre’s Institute for Advanced Theatre training at Harvard University. He also served on the theatre faculty of San Diego State University, where he taught vocal production and text work, movement and body awareness, and collaborative approaches to making new theatre. He has taught at the Moscow Art Theatre, the Old Globe School in San Diego, Tufts University, and the University of Northern Iowa. He received his B.A. in Theatre and Folklore from the University of Pennsylvania (1992), his M.F.A. in Acting from University of Wisconsin, Madison, (1997), and is a Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework (2000).