Gary Wolfman, Youth Symphony conductor, is Director of Orchestras at Appleton North and West High Schools and teaches Music Education at Lawrence University. He is a past president of the North Central Division of the National Association for Music Education (MENC), and served on its National Executive Board and Finance committee. Mr. Wolfman was president of the Wisconsin Music Educators Association and is a founding member of the Wisconsin State Coalition for the Advancement of Music Education. He chaired the Wisconsin High School State Honors Music Project and the Wisconsin Comprehensive Musicianship Through Performance Project. Locally, he was the first recipient of the Cutting Edge Award, given for outstanding creativity and excellence in teaching, and was recognized as the Teacher of the Year for Appleton East High School. Mr. Wolfman attended UW-Eau Claire for his undergraduate degree and the UW-Madison for his graduate degree, where he received the Richard C. Church Award as the outstanding student conductor. Presently, he is a columnist and on the advisory board for the national publication "Teaching Music" and on the national policy writing Committee for MENC. Mr. Wolfman was a contributing writer to the book, "Shaping Sound Musicians."

Greg Austin, conductor of the Philharmonia Strings, currently teaches orchestra at Roosevelt Middle School and Edison, Columbus, and Franklin Elementary Schools in the Appleton Area School District. Previous to working in Appleton, he taught orchestra classes at all levels in the Menasha Joint School District. He attended UW--Stevens Point and UW--Madison, where he received a bachelor's degree in instrumental music education. While at UW--Madison he received the Richard C. Church award for outstanding student in music education, as well as working for the Wisconsin Youth Symphonies as music librarian and chamber music coach. Mr. Austin is a member of the first violin section with the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra and serves as Assistant Principal Second Violin for the Green Bay Symphony. He has also performed as a member of the Madison Symphony and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, where he served as Principal Second Violin for many summer seasons. For three summers, Mr. Austin also directed the summer orchestra at the Lakeland College Music Camp.