ARTISTIC STAFF

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Dr. Andrew Perea has been in the music profession for over thirty five years. In that time, he has run the gamut of the music industry, having conducted symphony orchestras, performed both as soloist and concertmaster with various ensembles, taught gifted students of all ages publicly and privately, recorded various albums in the studio, and collaborated with many talented commercial musicians. He loves every aspect of his work, including writing and arranging music of all styles and genres. His many collaborations include performances with such legendary artists as Yanni, Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, Gunther Schuler, and the world-renowned violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman. Apart from concertizing, Dr. Perea greatly enjoys working with young people. He taught in the Long Island public school system for twenty years and has directed various music festivals, including NMEA and SCMEA All-County, William Floyd All-District, and HMEA All-Area. Of course, he continues to enjoy being Musical Director of the Repertory and Philharmonia Orchestras of the Gemini Youth Orchestras program. Currently, he is also working with Five Towns College to coordinate an extensive classical music performance program, along with its established jazz and commercial music, and audio and film engineering programs.

A native of North Carolina, Michael Canipe graduated from East Carolina University in 1964 with a B.S. in Music Education. While pursuing a master's degree in Trombone Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music, he studied conducting with James Levine. For the past thirty-five years Mr. Canipe has been active as both an educator and a professional musician. He was both a teacher and a band director in the Half Hollow Hills School District and retired as Director of Music and Fine Art for the Deer Park Schools in 2001. Mr. Canipe plays principal euphonium for the Queens-based Seuffert Band and the Concert Pops of Long Island. He has performed as trombonist in the North Carolina Symphony and bass trombonist for the Symphony of Long Island. Mr. Canipe founded the Long Island Tuba Quartet and has also collaborated with Orlando Ballet of Huntington and the Circle of Dance Company as arranger and conductor. Founder of the Gemini Festival Winds (now Gemini Concert Winds), Mr. Canipe served as Music Director of GYO from 2005-2007. 

New York City resident Justin Bischof is one of the most eclectic artists of his generation.  He is an internationally acclaimed orchestral & opera conductor as well as concert organist, pianist and improviser. He has performed in some of the world’s great venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Lincoln Center, Rose Theatre Lincoln Center, Tonhalle of Zurich, Eli Broad Theatre of Los Angeles, St. Paul’s Cathedral London, Notre Dame Paris, Cologne Cathedral, to name a few. He has collaborated with some of the world’s most prominent artists including Joshua Bell, Bright Sheng, Tan Dun and Roberta Peters. As an orchestral conductor, he was worked with numerous ensembles including National Arts Center Orchestra, The Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Vancouver Symphony, the Royal Symphony of Oman, the State Philharmonic Kavkazskiye of Russia, the WAAPA orchestra in Perth Australia, and the National Orchestra of Haiti.  Maestro Bischof is the Founder & Artistic Director of MOO Modus Opera Orchestra of New York City which presented an Annual Children’s Benefit for 10 years to help at risk children that raised over US $1,000,000. Their gala 10th Anniversary Concert featured soloists from the Metropolitan Opera in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.  He made his Australian Opera Conducting Debut in Perth at the WAAPA leading a critically acclaimed production of the Australian Premiere of Robert Ward’s Pulitzer Prize winning The Crucible.  Other important opera premieres include the Hawaiian premiere of Menotti’s The Medium and The Telephone, working with members of The Honolulu Symphony and Hawaii Opera Theatre.  As Artistic Director of MOO, he has led several full productions including Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan tutte & Don Giovanni.  With international mezzo-soprano Ariana Chris, Maestro Bischof has conducted and led from the piano several benefit concerts entitled Opera Trash at Carnegie Hall and Le Poisson Rouge receiving rave reviews.  

He is one of the profession’s most respected organists and has concertized extensively. He won the First Prize at the 2000 AGO International Organ Improvisation Competition and is a leading proponent of the craft with his all improvisation performances have been met with critical acclaim throughout the world.  Bischof has performed and recorded with numerous orchestras including the Zurich Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony and the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt. He performed the Middle East premiere of Samuel Barber’s Toccata Festiva for Orchestra and Organ in February 2019 at the Royal Opera House in Muscat Oman with the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt.  

Professor Bischof taught for many years at the esteemed Manhattan School of Music as well as Barnard College Columbia University. He is sought after as a guest professor for master classes around the world and maintains a private conducting studio for gifted conductors.  He serves on numerous boards including serving as Chair of the Alumni Council of MSM and Chair of the Conductors Retreat at Medomak.