Right on time: Two new faculty members to conduct CU ensembles

By Franklin Crawford

The Cornell Department of Music has appointed two new faculty members to lead the department's orchestras and wind ensembles.

Two new faculty members in the music department are Cynthia Johnston-Turner, left, director of wind ensembles and assistant professor of music, and Chris Younghoon Kim, director of orchestras and assistant professor of music, shown recently in Lincoln Hall. Robert Barker/University Photography

Chris Younghoon Kim will serve as director of orchestras and assistant professor of music, and Cynthia Johnston-Turner is the new director of wind ensembles and assistant professor of music. Both Kim and Johnston-Turner were appointed in July.

Johnston-Turner will debut with the Wind Ensemble on Oct. 15 in Ithaca College's Ford Hall. Kim will make his debut with the Chamber Orchestra on Oct. 3 in Barnes Hall. His first major concert appearance will be with the Cornell Symphony Orchestra on Oct. 17, also at Ford Hall.

Kim received his B.M. in music education and oboe performance from Northwestern University in 1994 and an M.M. in orchestral conducting from the University of Michigan in 1998. He currently serves as artistic adviser and conductor of the Kalistos Chamber Orchestra, artistic director and conductor of Brave New Works, a new music group in Ann Arbor, Mich., and he recently served as resident conductor of the Mozart Society Orchestra at Harvard University.

He has been active as a guest conductor appearing with the Toledo Symphony, the Honolulu Symphony, the National Symphony of Ireland, the Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra, the Rainier Symphony Orchestra, the Prince George Symphony in British Columbia and the Edinburgh Youth Symphony. He also has led concerts in Boston and New York with the Firebird Ensemble.

Kim previously served as assistant conductor for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, where he led various concerts as well as educational and outreach programs. Active as a music educator, Kim served at Tufts University as interim director of both choral activities and the Tufts orchestra.

Johnston-Turner received her B.M. and B.Ed. degrees from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, in 1985 and 1986, respectively. She received a masters of music education and conducting from the University of Victoria in British Columbia in 1998 and a DMA in conducting from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester in 2004.

Since 2001, Johnston-Turner has served as the resident conductor of the University of Rochester Wind Symphony. She has an extensive background in education at all levels as well as conducting and received the National Leadership in Education Award in 1997 from the Reader's Digest Foundation of Canada. Other awards have included "Women of Distinction" and the Certificate of Excellence in Leadership from the Ontario Teacher's Federation as well as the Teaching Prize from the Eastman School of Music. Her scholarly work has been published in the World Association of Bands and Ensembles journal as well as the Canadian Music Educator journal, and she has recently presented her research in Sweden on the future of public concerts. Johnston-Turner is active as both a guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States and Canada.