Artistic
Personnel
 Jacques Voois, DMA (Music Director/Conductor) began his musical training at age 6. He studied piano with Joseph Hungate, Robert Goldsand, Menachem Pressler, Leon Fleisher, Konrad Wolff, and Lillian Freundlich, and conducting with Hugh Ross, Leo Mueller, Richard Lert, William Smith, and Leon Barzin. As a Fulbright and French Government Scholar in Paris, he studied with Nadia Boulanger and Robert Casadesus. Dr. Voois holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Johns Hopkins University/Peabody Conservatory of Music.
Dr. Voois has served as conductor of the West Chester University Orchestra, music director of the Lansdowne (PA) Symphony, and as guest conductor for numerous academic festivals and regional orchestras. He retired from West Chester University’s School of Music in 2004 after 35 years of teaching and performance.
Dr. Voois is a founding member of the Conductors Guild, an educational and service organization for conductors. In 1980 he founded and, until 2001, served as editor of the Journal of the Conductors Guild. At its 25th Anniversary Conference (January, 2000 in New York City), he was presented the Conductors Guild’s first “Distinguished Service Award,” in recognition of 25 years of uninterrupted service to the organization.
Recently Dr. Voois was honored with two awards for his role in founding and serving as music director of the Chesco Pops. On April 22, the West Chester University Chapter of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Retired Faculty (APSCURF) presented Voois with their first “Outstanding Service Award.” On April 24, the Greater West Chester Sunrise Rotary Club named him its 2010 “Leader of Distinction Award in Arts & Culture.” On May 6, the Council of Trustees of West Chester University awarded him Emeritus designation which will be formally conferred at the December 2010 commencement ceremony.
On Friday, July 9, Conductor Jacques Voois, DMA will be interviewed by Steven Brodsky during his show "Entertainment and Culture", which will air on WCHE, 1520 a.m. and simulaneously will be streamed on the internet at www.wche1520.com.
Jacques Voois will be featured from 2:30-3:00 p.m.
 Joseph Gehring (Assistant Conductor) is an active conductor, pianist, and educator. Currently Mr. Gehring conducts the Wind Ensemble at Immaculata University, and serves as the Assistant Conductor for the University’s
Symphony Orchestra. He also conducts the West Chester Band, a position he has held since 2003, and has been the Assistant Conductor for the Chester County Pops Orchestra since its inception in 2005. Mr. Gehring is the Band Director at the Renaissance Academy and since 2004 has been Director of Music Ministries at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Exton, PA, where he serves as organist, contemporary music leader, and choir director.
Mr. Gehring has conducted include the Pennsylvania Flute Choir, the ImS Brass Ensemble, the 2007 Southern Chester County Honors Band, and the 2010 Philadelphia Archdiocesan Honors String Orchestra, and has been invited to conduct the PMEA District 12 Grade 5-6 Band Fest in 2011. Mr. Gehring studied both piano and tuba as an undergraduate at West Chester University. He began his postgraduate work at Boston University, and has since returned to WCU to complete a M.M. in Orchestral Conducting, studying with Dr. Ovidiu Marinescu.
 Greg Kasander (vocal soloist) is a local actor and director with performing credits that range from psychopathic serial killers (Communicating Doors) to the Almighty (Children of Eden). Recent roles include Toad (A Year with Frog & Toad), Linus (You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown), a musical John Wilkes Booth (Assassins) and a strictly dramatic John Wilkes Booth (The Lincoln Affair). Greg has directed classic operetta and 20th-century dramatic pieces for local theater companies. By day, he is launching a Talent Management initiative for a Fortune 500 corporation in Tredyffrin Township. Greg appeared in a June production of Ragtime: The Musical at the Tri-County Performing Arts Center in Pottstown.
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