Conductor's Art

Michael Haithcock became director of bands and professor of music (conducting) at the University of Michigan in the fall of 2001 following twenty-three years on the faculty of Baylor University. Following in the footsteps of William D. Revelli and H. Robert Reynolds, Professor Haithcock conducted the internationally renowned University of Michigan Symphony Band, guided the acclaimed graduate band and wind ensemble conducting program, and provided administrative leadership for all aspects of the University of Michigan’s diverse and historic band program.

Ensembles under Haithcock’s guidance have received a wide array of critical acclaim for their high artistic standards of performance and repertoire. These accolades have come through concerts at national and state conventions, performances in major concert venues, and recordings on the Albany, Arsis, and Equilibrium labels. Haithcock was selected to conduct the world premiere of Daron Hagen’s Bandanna, an opera for voice and wind band, commissioned by the College Band Directors’ National Association. He is a leader in commissioning and premiering new works for concert band.

Haithcock has earned the praise of both composers and conductors for his innovative approaches to developing the wind ensemble repertoire and programming. Haithcock is in constant demand as a guest conductor and as a resource person for symposiums and workshops in a variety of instructional settings as well as festival and all-state appearances throughout the country.

A graduate of East Carolina University – where he received the 1996 Outstanding Alumni Award from the School of Music – and Baylor University, Haithcock has done additional study at a variety of conducting workshops including the Herbert Blomstedt Orchestral Conducting Institute. The Instrumentalist, the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, the School Musician, the Southwest Music Educator, and WINDS magazine have published his articles on conducting and wind literature.

Edward Cumming was appointed the Martha Raley Peak Director of Orchestral Studies at Meadows School of the Arts in 2024. He comes to SMU from The Hartt School, where he was Director of Orchestral Studies. Cumming was also Music Director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, hailed for its remarkable artistic growth during his tenure. His appointment came after a two-year search involving nearly 300 applicants from around the world.

Cumming was Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where he assisted music director Mariss Jansons and Marvin Hamlisch. As Resident Conductor of the Florida Orchestra, Cumming conducted a recording of The Star-Spangled Banner with Whitney Houston and the Florida Orchestra for Super Bowl XXV.

As a musician, performer, educator, and conductor, he has distinguished himself in a career that has taken him all over the world. In Europe, Cumming has led the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada (Spain), the Ceske Budejovice Chamber Philharmonia (Czech Republic), the BBC Ulster Orchestra (Belfast, Northern Ireland), Belgrade Philharmonic (Serbia) and the Sinfonica di Roma. He has conducted ensembles throughout the United States, including the Los Angeles, Rochester and Buffalo Philharmonic orchestras, the Detroit, San Diego, Maryland and Oregon Symphony orchestras, and the Boston Pops. He has been a guest with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Be’er Sheva Sinfonietta. He made his South American debut with the Filarmónica de Bogotá, conducting Schoenberg’s Pelleas und Melisande on short notice.

Artists with whom he has performed include Yo Yo Ma, Elmar Oliveira, Sarah Chang, Joshua Bell, Doc Severinson, James Taylor, Stefan Jackiw and Emmanuel Ax.

Cumming has taught at colleges on every corner of the country, including Yale University, California State University (Fullerton), University of South Florida and Pacific University. During his time in Pittsburgh, he was Music Director of the nationally acclaimed Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, one of just five orchestras invited to the biennial National Youth Orchestra Festival. He was the founding Music Director of the Pacific Symphony Institute and taught at the Orange County High School for the Arts.

Cumming studied at Yale University with Otto-Werner Mueller, and has performed in master classes led by Riccardo Muti, Pierre Boulez and Maurice Abravanel. As an undergraduate at the University of California at Berkeley, he was awarded the prestigious Eisner Prize for Creative Achievement in the Arts. In 2010, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Trinity College.

• Camille Saint-Saens - Symphony No. 3 "Organ" (Movement II - Beginning to measure 375)
• Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71 a

• Edvard Grieg - Two Elegiac Melodies, Op. 34
• Benjamin Britten - Simple Symphony, Op 4

• Bernstein (trans. Grundman) - Overture to Candide 
• Grainger (ed. Rogers) - Irish Tune from County Derry 
• Zhou - Sinfonia (mvt. 1 and 3)

• Runestad - Rivers of Air
• Debussy (tr. Patterson) - The Engulfed Cathedral (La Cathédrale Engloutie from Préludes)
• Kozhevnikov (tr. Bourgeois) - Symphony No. 3, “Slavyanskaya" (Mvmts. 1, 2, 4)

• Mozart (arr. Joseph Heidenrich)- The Magic Flute, volume 1
• Mozart - Serenade K. 361, “Gran Partita”