Jordan R. Smith
Music Director | Young People’s Philharmonic
Jordan Randall Smith is a dedicated conductor with a history of critically acclaimed performances and recordings, award-winning seasons, and highly regarded collaborations spanning orchestral music to opera, and from professional chamber orchestras to middle school bands and orchestras to church choirs.
Jordan is an adjunct faculty member of the Graduate Program in Music at Messiah University, cover conductor for York Symphony Orchestra and American Youth Philharmonic, and he is completing his doctorate in conducting at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University where he studied with Marin Alsop.
Jordan has led over 50 world premieres, recorded four albums, spoken at TEDxMidatlantic and events across the country, and has written for national and international music journals, PMEA News, and Baltimore Magazine. He leads a professional consultancy and coaching practice for other working conductors called the Art of Rehearsal.
Jordan’s great passion is working with high school and college-age student musicians to pursue truth and beauty through the transformative power of orchestral music, with a history of music education leadership across the US. Jordan previously served on faculty at Susquehanna University, and he lives here in PA with his wife Erin and their two cats, Cookie and Elphaba.
More information is available at jordanrsmith.com.
Rachel Galassi
Music Director | Junior String Philharmonic
Rachel Galassi has been a violist and free lance musician in the northeast region of Pennsylvania
for over 25 years. Ms. Galassi is currently the Orchestra Director and assistant Marching Director at
North Pocono High School in Covington Township Pennsylvania, and earned her B.M in Music Education from Marywood University. While at Marywood University, Rachel studied viola with Sophie Till and was a featured performer with Marywood University’s String Ensemble. Ms. Galassi also attended Peabody Conservatory where she studied viola performance with Paul Coletti, and was
previously a student of Evelyn Jacobs-Louise.
Connie Trach
String Coach
Natalie Trach
String Coach
Taylor Galassi
General Manager
Caroline Dawson
Administrative Assistant
Caroline Dawson first became involved with the YPP when her two sons were JSP and YPP members in the 1980s and 1990s. She was on the board for a number of years, and then volunteered as JSP Librarian and assistant to JSP founder and director Nancy Bidlack. She became the office administrator for the organization in 2005, and also managed the JSP for several years. Caroline worked previously for Kinhaven Music School, Lafayette College, and Northampton Community College. She plays the flute and enjoys participating in community amateur orchestra and chamber music events. She has a BA in Human Development from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.
