Mrs. Diana Chou, Artistic Director
Conductor - String Ensemble
Conductor - Prelude Orchestra
Diana Chou is a talented and engaging music educator, conductor, and cellist. She is currently the Artistic Director of The Capitol Symphonic Youth Orchestras, as well as Conductor for String Ensemble and Prelude Orchestra. Mrs. Chou began her tenure with TCSYO in 2017 as the Prelude Orchestra Conductor; under her leadership, the program grew rapidly and String Ensemble was formed in the fall of 2019.
Mrs. Chou has been a music educator since 2008, and has taught for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) since 2013. She currently teaches orchestra at Sangster and White Oaks Elementary Schools and has organized many student performance events for her pyramid including Strings Extravaganza, Solo Spotlight, and Area Orchestra. She is on the Event Committee for the Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education (FACE). She has been a mentor to many first year orchestra teachers and has hosted several student teachers. Mrs. Chou has also helped to develop FCPS and Virginia Department of Education Curriculum projects. She is an active freelance cellist in the Washington D.C. area and is a founding member of the Maestra Ensemble. She has performed concerti with the Manassas Symphony Orchestra, Fairfax Chamber Players, and Orchard Park Symphony Orchestra. Mrs. Chou was the associate conductor of the Fairfax Chamber Players from 2017-2019, coordinating concerts and the annual Concerto Competition.
Before moving to Virginia, she taught middle and elementary school orchestra for the Ithaca City School District. She served as Vice President of the Seneca Tompkins Music Educators Association from 2009-2013, and was the Chairperson for Area All State and All County festivals. Mrs. Chou was the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Ithaca Community Orchestra from 2011 to 2013. In 2013 she was named a Music Educator Grammy Award Quarter Finalist. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Ithaca College, and Master of Music in Conducting from Houghton University.
Mrs. Anne Rupert
Principal Conductor - Symphonic Orchestra
Anne Rupert is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where she earned degrees in Cello Performance and Instrumental Music Education. Mrs. Rupert has enjoyed a very long and successful public-school teaching career in Fairfax County Public Schools where she has taught at Oakton High School, Franklin Middle School, Rachel Carson Middle School and now Robinson Secondary School where she has been teaching the high school and advanced middle school orchestra classes since 2006. Additionally, from 1999-2011 and 2014 – 2017 she was the Music Director and Youth Symphony Orchestra director of the Youth Orchestras of Prince William (YOPW).
Mrs. Rupert's orchestras have consistently received Superior Ratings and Best Overall Orchestra Awards at District and National competitions in the United States and Canada. In June 2006, Mrs. Rupert made her Carnegie Hall conducting debut with YOPW’s Youth Symphony Orchestra, earning a Gold Rating at the New York Youth Orchestra Festival.
Since 1989 Mrs. Rupert has been a member of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra cello section, where she also served as Music Librarian from 2003-2007. She performs frequently as a freelance cellist in the Washington D.C. Metro Area and maintains a small private cello studio in her home. Mrs. Rupert is the 1994 and 2010 recipient of the American String Teachers Association Virginia Chapter (VASTA) Outstanding Orchestra Director Award, the 2006 Kathleen Seefeldt Award for Musical Excellence in Prince William County, the 2007 Award for Outstanding Service to the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, and the 2008- and 2012-People’s Choice Awards at Robinson Secondary School.
Since 1994, Mrs. Rupert has served as guest conductor to many of the All County, Junior Regional Orchestra and Junior/Senior District orchestras in Virginia, North Carolina, and Connecticut, and the Junior All State Orchestra in Maryland. She has been on the conducting staff at various summer and special festivals including the Greater Washington Suzuki Summer Institute, the UNCG Summer Music Camp and JMU Spring String Thing. She frequently adjudicates at State Orchestra Assessments and Solo and Ensemble Festivals across VA and in MD. Mrs. Rupert holds active memberships with NAfME, VBODA and ASTA.
Mrs. Rupert lives in Clifton, VA with her husband Greg and their family of five sons and furry friend, Rascal. She thanks you for the opportunity to serve you in this capacity and appreciates your support of these students’ musical endeavors. She is grateful to share her love of music with such talented and dedicated students and families.
Mr. Austin Isaac
Conductor - Chamber Orchestra
Conductor - Concert Orchestra
Austin Isaac is the high school orchestra director at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia. He has taught orchestra at the elementary and secondary levels in both public and private schools in Virginia. He received his B.M. from James Madison University with a concentration in instrumental education and his master’s degree in education from George Mason University. As a composer, Austin has written works for string orchestra, full orchestra, and choir. His original works and arrangements have been selected as J.W. Pepper’s Editor’s Choice selections and have been published with Carl Fischer Publishing and Wingert-Jones Publishing. He has also served as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator for honor orchestras and state assessment performances in various regions of Virginia.
As a double bassist, Austin has been an active performer in a variety of orchestras in the Northern Virginia area. He has co-presented on improvisation in the instrumental classroom at the Virginia Music Educators Association (VMEA) in-service conference and has served on the VBODA Orchestra State Grading Committee. He has also served as a regional orchestra representative for the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association (VBODA), and is currently the chairman of the orchestra sight reading committee for VBODA. Under his direction, the Lake Braddock Middle School Chamber Orchestra was invited to perform at the 2016 annual VMEA In-Service Conference and the Lake Braddock Symphony Orchestra was invited to perform at the 2020 Music For All National Orchestra Festival. Austin lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Nicole and their two cats Lychee and BK.
Mr. Kenneth Law
Director of Chamber Music
Although cellist Kenneth Law enjoys a diverse career as performer, teacher and author, he considers himself first and foremost a chamber musician. He is a member of the Main Street Chamber Players, and is a cellist with the Ritz Chamber Players, Colour of Music Festival and Gateways Music Festival. Abroad, Mr. Law has performed chamber music concerts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Holland and Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, as well as concerts in England, France, Scotland, Panama and Puerto Rico. In the US, he has performed at the Washington Performing Arts Club, the Italian and German Embassies in Washington, D.C., the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jazz at Lincoln Center Concert Series, Library of Congress in Washington, DC, Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City. He has collaborated with such artists as Earl Carlyss (Juilliard String Quartet), Michael Tree (Guarneri Quartet), Ying String Quartet, Norman Carroll (concertmaster emeritus, Philadelphia Orchestra) and violinist Diane Monroe, and has recorded orchestral and chamber music for Albany Records, and the New Albion and Telarc labels. In March of 2006, Mr. Law was featured on the nationally televised NAACP Image Awards as a member of the Ritz Chamber Players. In his home state of South Carolina, Mr. Law has performed at the Piccolo Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, SC, as a member of the Converse Trio, and subsequently as a member of Ensemble Argos and the Polaris Piano Trio.
Along with co-author Dr. Christina Placilla, the publication, We Are The Music Makers: Volume I: A Graded Guide to Chamber Music- String Quartets was published in 2013, and is the first in a multivolume set that will cover the myriad combinations of chamber music. The guide serves as a resource for chamber music coaches when needing to assign repertoire to an ensemble whose individual members are of varying levels of proficiency.
Most recently, Mr. Law was invited to join the faculty of the New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine for the 2022 summer season.
Mr. Jacob Harpster
Director of Percussion, Symphonic Orchestra
Percussion Ensemble
Jake Harpster currently holds the position of Percussionist/Assistant Principal Timpanist for The United States Army Concert Band “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, D.C.
As a performer, Harpster is known for his diverse background. In the Broadway idiom, Harpster has presented concerts across the globe. He was the featured marimba soloist and percussionist of the Tony and Emmy award-winning production “BLAST.” With this show, he toured the United States, South Korea, and all forty seven prefectures in Japan. As a soloist and chamber musician, Harpster has won many awards and international competitions, and has presented concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. An enthusiast of contemporary music, he is actively commissioning and premiering many new works each year. Prior to his post in The United States Army Band, he served as a Percussionist in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and held the AACA Timpani Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival.
As an educator, Harpster has taught many notable ensembles and schools across the country. Prior to his position in Washington DC with TCSYO, Harpster taught the percussionists of the DCI World Champion, and Fred Sanford Percussion Award-winning Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps. He has also instructed at the University of North Texas, Coppell High School (Coppell, TX), Center Grove High School (Indianapolis, IN), and Marian Catholic High School (Chicago, IL), among many others.
Harpster received his Master of Music in Percussion Performance with related-field work in Contemporary Music Performance from the University of North Texas. He served as a Teaching Fellow throughout his graduate studies. He received his Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Upon graduating from IU, Harpster was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate.
Mr. Kenneth Lee
Director of Woodwinds, Symphonic Orchestra
Kenneth Lee, clarinetist, is an independent studio teacher in Vienna, Virginia. He holds a Bachelor’s degree with Honors in Economics from Cornell University, and has held a Graduate Research Fellowship with the Smithsonian Institution. He is a clarinet student of Leon Russianoff, of the Juilliard School, and was a member of The United States Army Band, Solo Clarinetist of the Baroque Arts Chamber Orchestra, Friday Morning Music Club Orchestra, Arlington Symphony, and, as a member of the Anechoic Wind Quintet, presented Concerts in the Schools under the auspices of the Washington Performing Arts Society. He teaches over forty clarinet students privately. Nineteen of his private students have advanced to the National Finals of the Music Teachers National Association Woodwind Auditions. In 1989, 1990 and 2001 his students were the National High School Woodwind First Place Winners, and in 1998 and 2007 his students were the National Junior High School First Place Winners. Graduating high school seniors have been awarded major scholarships as clarinet performance majors by Juilliard, the Cleveland Institute, Eastman, Michigan, Oberlin, New England Conservatory, Rice University, and many other institutions. His students have been featured as Concerto Soloists with the National Symphony Orchestra and the United States Air Force Band. For 30 years he was Clarinet and Woodwind Specialist with James Madison High School in Vienna, Virginia. He has been awarded Permanent Professional Certification by the Virginia Music Teachers Association.
Kenneth Lee has served as President of the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association (2 terms) and the Virginia Music Teachers Association. In October 2000 he was designated by the Virginia Music Teachers Association as its nominee for the first national “Music Teacher of the Year” selection of the Music Teachers National Association. From 2001 to 2003 he served as National Chair of the Independent Music Teachers Forum of the MTNA, with bi-monthly columns appearing in The American Music Teacher. He is a frequent speaker at MTNA National Conventions. His article on “Developing the Independent Studio” appears in Woodwind Players Cookbook: Recipes for a Successful Performance, published by Meredith Press. He is the author of Clarinet Express, A Method for Clarinet, edited by Ben Ryer.
Mr. Eric Hoang
Director of Brass, Symphonic Orchestra
Mr. Eric Hoang is a native of Falls Church, VA and earned his Bachelor of Music degree from George Mason University where he studied with Roger Behrend, Anthony Maiello and John Casagrande. He also holds a Master of Music degree in tuba performance from Ithaca College studying with Dr. Aaron Tindall.
Mr. Hoang started his teaching career as the assistant band director at Alexandria City High School in Alexandria, VA. He then served as Director of Bands at Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge, VA for four years and as associate band director at Robinson Secondary School. Mr. Hoang just completed his eighth year as Director of Bands at West Springfield High School in Springfield, VA. During his tenure at WSHS, the Wind Symphony performed as a featured ensemble at the Music for All National Concert Band Festival, the Virginia Music Educators Association Conference and the Mid-Atlantic Concert Band Festival. He was also the recipient of the 2016 West Springfield HS PTSA Teacher of the Year award.
Mr. Hoang has been involved in music education at all levels from elementary to collegiate during his career. He was also on the staff of the Youth Orchestras of Prince William serving as director of the Wind Symphony. He is a member of the National Association for Music Education, Virginia Music Educators Association, and Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society. Mr. Hoang currently resides in Centreville, VA with his wife Kailey and their beloved daughter Genevieve.