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41 North Film Festival

Destination Cinema at Michigan Tech

ROZSA CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

NOV. 7 - NOV. 10, 2024

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Joel Neves

October 10, 2017• byErin Smith

Joel NevesJoel Neves, Voices of Light Conductor, enjoys a dynamic and versatile career as an opera, ballet, and orchestra conductor and educator. A prizewinner in the American Prize in Conducting, Joel is currently Director of Orchestral Activities at Michigan Technological University where he conducts the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra.  He is also Artistic Director and Conductor of the Pine Mountain Music Festival, a professional opera, classical, and folk festival in the Upper Peninsula.

Mr. Neves is a frequent guest conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Entre Ríos in Argentina, returning to the orchestra this fall to conduct a program of Brahms Symphony No. 1 and Bloch Schelomo Rhapsody.  He also made his professional conducting debut in China with the Hubei Symphony Orchestra in 2015.

Equally adept at theatre, Joel has directed numerous opera, ballet, and music theatre productions.  He conducted the Minnesota Ballet and KSO in a production of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker in 2015, with a return engagement next season.  He will conduct Bizet’s Carmen with the Pine Mountain Music Festival in 2018.  And he recently directed West Side Story with the KSO and Tech Theatre Company.

A strong champion and advocate for college conductors, Joel serves as national President-Elect of the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA), the only professional service organization for conductors of university orchestra programs. He becomes president in 2018. He is also assistant editor of the CODA Journal, a peer-reviewed academic music journal.

Mr. Neves was Assistant Conductor of the Orchestra of Southern Utah from 2006-2009, leading masterworks, pops, and children’s concerts. He has also conducted the Orquestra de Cadaqués (Spain), Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Bard Festival Orchestra, and Pine Mountain Music Festival Orchestra. In 2010 he was invited as guest conductor of the Kentucky Music Educators Association All-Collegiate Orchestra. Conducting teachers include noted pedagogues Gustav Meier, Larry Rachleff, Leon Botstein, Daniel Lewis, Don Schleicher, Harold Farberman, Don Thulean, Timothy Russell, and William Reber.

Joel received a Doctor of Musical Arts in orchestral, choral, and opera conducting from Arizona State University and bachelors and masters degrees from Brigham Young University. He currently resides in Houghton, Michigan with his wife (soprano, Lara Neves) and three daughters.

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Thurs., 11/2, 7:30 p.m.,

Jared Anderson and Joel Neves will join David Bordwell for a Q&A following the presentation of Voices of Light: The Passion of Joan of Arc



























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The 10th annual 41 North Film Festival is made possible in part by a grant from Michigan Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Major sponsorship provided by the Department of Humanities, the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, the College of Sciences and Arts, and the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts.

Michigan Technological University is an Equal Opportunity Educational Institution/Equal Opportunity Employer, which includes providing equal opportunity for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

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All events are free and open to the public. They will be held in Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts on the Michigan Tech campus. Please see the Festival Admission page for information about how to get in.

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Contact

For more information about the festival, including how to become a festival sponsor or volunteer, please contact Erin Smith at ersmith@mtu.edu.

Visit the Archives to see festival programs from years past.

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