Mike Roest

Pre-College
  • Contemporaray Music Ensemble Director
Mike Roest headshot

Contact

AGC 405

Departments

Pre-College
Continuing Education

Courses Taught

Contemporary Music Ensemble

Conducting

Education

MM, Juilliard School

BM, Oberlin Conservatory

Q&A

What is your hometown?

Kenosha, Wisconsin

What is your favorite recording? Why?

Leonard Bernstein leading the Chicago Symphony in Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7. The brass section is legendary.

What are you passionate about outside of music?

I am a ceramic artist.

Who were your major teachers?

Alan Baer

Ron Bishop

Dave Fedderly

What is a favorite quote that you repeatedly tell students?

"Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal."

What question do you wish students would ask sooner rather than later?

I wish students would ask "why" sooner than later for just about everything.

What was the defining moment when you decided to pursue music as a career?

Gosh, I wanted to be a musician from as early as middle school. I don't recall a defining moment, rather a persistent desire to making and sharing music with people.

What was a turning point in your career?

In 2008, I developed task specific focal embouchure dystonia, and I had to pivot my career as a tubist. Since then, I have built a multifaceted career as a conductor, educator, and administrator.

If you weren't a musician or teacher, what do you think you would be doing now?

I'd be living in the Smokey Mountains digging clay and making potter.

What is your daily practice routine?

Stretching, Bach chorales in multiple clefs, conducting exercises, metronome work, score study.

What is your unrealized project?

A project I am currently realizing is the launch of the International Pride Orchestra, which will bring together LGBTQ+ musicians from around the world to present concerts, celebrate community, and raise funds for LGBTQ+ causes.

Biography

Michael Roest is a dynamic conductor and arts leader with a deep commitment to building and celebrating community through art. Roest is the founder and director of the International Pride Orchestra, an organization that unites LGBTQ+ musicians from around the world to present concerts, commission new works, and support LGBTQ+ causes. Roest is associate dean for academic affairs at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and also serves on the Pre-College faculty. Prior to his work in San Francisco, Roest served on faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as Teacher of Brass Studies. There he directed the Oberlin Brass Ensemble. In Oberlin, Roest founded and directed the Empty Mugs Holiday Brass & Organ Spectacular, which brought together musicians, ceramic artists, and community organizations to raise funds to provide food, financial assistance, educational outreach, and basic needs for low-income and vulnerable community members. He also led the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestras as executive and artistic director, directing the Philharmonia Orchestra. Roest holds degrees from The Juilliard School of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He also trainned at the National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Weill Institute at Carnegie Hall, and Lucerne Festival Academy.

Accepting intermediate and advanced students.

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