Conductor
Gregory Vajda continues to be one of the most highly regarded conductors on the international scene. He was called a “young titan” by the Montreal Gazette after conducting the Montreal Symphony in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung. He has been resident conductor of the Oregon Symphony for over seven seasons. He currently serves as the music director of the Huntsville (AL) Symphony, and is principal conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony (MR Symphony Orchestra), for both of which he conducts annually. He has been artistic director and conductor of Music in the Mountains (CA) and in 2014 was named Artistic Advisor to the Armel Opera Festival. In the 2017-18 season, he conducts the Hungarian premiere of Georgia Bottoms: A Comic Opera of the Modern South at the Liszt Academy, a “Midnight Concert” series with the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra (Hungary), guest conducts the Rutgers (New Jersey) Symphony, and tours China with the Budapest Symphony.
Tripper Ryder
Musician
Raised in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Tripper Ryder is a session musician, composer, and writer living in Nashville. He's an Ampeg artist since 2014, and a D'Addario artist since 2011. Tripper's toured along the likes of Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley, Randy Houser, and more. He's played and recorded for American Idol winner Scotty McCreery, Easton Corbin, The JaneDear Girls, Josh Gracin, and many others.
Tripper has been featured on Good Morning America, the ABC broadcast of CMA Music Festival as well as the CMA awards, the Late Show with David Letterman, Conan, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Regis and Cathy Lee, Ellen, the American Country Awards, and the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman.
Tripper has won the Williams-Murray Writing Award, a recognition with the James Riley Memorial Composition Award, and been featured in numerous music videos and publications.