Annual Graduate Student Conductors - George Mason University ...

Wind Conducting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and a Bachelor of Music Arts
from DePauw University. His principal conducting teachers include Dr. Jack Stamp, Dr. Jason
Worzbyt, Dr. Craig Paré, Orcenith Smith, and Gabriel Crouch. He has had further study with
conductors including H. Robert Reynolds, Eugene Migliaro Corporon, Allan McMurray, Richard
Floyd, Rodney Winther, Kevin Sedatole, Cliff Colnot, and James Jordan. Mr. Hilkert has gained
respect from composers for his interpretations of their repertoire; his Master’s Thesis, An Analysis of
Selected Band Works of Donald H. White, is the first academic research on the composer. Recently,
Mr. Hilkert was requested to edit and prepare Donald H. White’s previously unpublished From The
Navajo Children: For Band and Chorus for publication.
As an educator, Mr. Hilkert has taught various music courses and private lessons and has conducted
numerous bands, orchestras, choirs, and jazz ensembles at all grade levels in the public schools
of Indianapolis and at George Mason University, Martin University, IUP-Punxsutawney Campus,
IUP-Main Campus, and DePauw University. He has served as a judge and clinician for the Indiana
State School Music Association. He also has extensive experience directing athletic bands, chamber
winds, and musical theater while having served as Director of the DePauw Tiger Pep Band & Guard,
Director of the IUP Pep Band, Assistant to the Director of the IUP Marching Band, Founder and
Conductor of the IUP Chamber Winds, and Music Director for collegiate productions of Children
of Eden, Hair, and Quilters.
As a performer, Mr. Hilkert has been recorded on over 15 discs on the Klavier, GIA, Mark Masters,
and Mark Custom labels as a member of the Keystone Wind Ensemble, North Texas Wind
Symphony, IUP Wind Ensemble, and DePauw University Band, and has extensive experience as a
freelance double bassist in classical, jazz, and rock music. He has performed with jazz artists Marvin
Hamlisch, Clark Terry, Chris Vadala, Harry Watters, Chip McNeill, Rick Simerly, Kirk Garrison,
Jim Connerley, and Stanley Chepaitis. His principal double bass teachers include L. Bennett
Crantford, Glenn Dewey, Gregory Dugan, Robert Goodlett, Murray Grodner, Jack Helsley, Ju-
Fang Liu, and Fred Withrow.
Mr. Hilkert holds professional memberships in the College Band Directors National Association,
the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, the North America Scholar Consortium
Honor Society, the honorary theatre society of Alpha Psi Omega, and the International Fraternity
of Phi Gamma Delta.
Natalie Higgins is currently a graduate student specializing in French Horn
Performance at George Mason University, where she performs in the GMU
Orchestra, GMU Wind Symphony, GMU Brass Ensemble, and the American
Festival Pops Orchestra. Prior to attending George Mason University, Natalie
completed her undergraduate study at the University of California Los Angeles,
where she received a Bachelor of the Arts in French Horn Performance. While
completing her undergraduate degree, Natalie was an active member of the
UCLA Philharmonia, UCLA Wind Ensemble, and UCLA Brass Ensemble,
as well as a Gluck Scholarship Brass Quintet and Woodwind quintet. She was
also an active freelancer and has performed with such groups as the Golden State Pops Orchestra
and the Torrance Pit Orchestra. Natalie has actively studied and participated in master classes with
many recognized and accomplished brass performers and teachers, among them Froydis Ree Wekre,
Eric Ruske, David Krehbiel, Jens Lindemann, Patrick Sheridan, and Chris Cooper. Natalie has
also been an active participant of the Banff Centre of the Arts Summer Music Festival, where she
received an orchestral fellowship in 2008, and participated as a brass soloist in both 2010 and 2011.
She is currently studying under the tutelage of Martin Hackleman, principal horn of the National
Symphony Orchestra.