Conductors

Dr. Jeffrey Specht

Artistic Director and Conductor, OPACO, Youth Orchestra

Jeff’s personal website
Dr. Jeffrey Specht is an American conductor, music educator, and arts advocate dedicated to fostering the love of music and enriching communities through live musical performance. Equally at home conducting symphonic works and opera, his performances have been hailed by critics as “exhilarating and inspiring!”

Dr. Specht is currently the Music Director & Conductor of the Oregon Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and the Soundstage Rhythm Orchestra in Portland, OR. Jeff has served as Director of Orchestra and Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Lewis & Clark College; Music Director and Instructor of the Campus Orchestra and Campus String Orchestra at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Music Director of the Metroplex Opera Co. in Dallas, TX; and Music Director of the Crow River Area Youth Orchestra in Hutchinson, MN. Jeff has appeared as guest conductor with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, the Central Texas Opera Festival, the Mississippi Valley Orchestra, the University of Minnesota Opera Theater, the Meadow’s Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the New Symphony Orchestra of Sofia, Bulgaria. Jeff holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; a Master of Music degree in instrumental conducting from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX; and a Bachelor of Music degree in music theory from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. He resides in Tigard, OR with his wife Laura and their Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Tosca.

Dr. Sharon Eng

Conductor, Youth Orchestra

Sharon’s personal website
American violist Dr. Sharon Eng is a seasoned international strings educator, clinician, chamber recitalist, and conductor. Her rich musical career has spanned five continents, including contracts with the American Ballet Theatre and New York City Opera, and principal positions with such ensembles as the Greenwich Philharmonic, Jakarta Chamber Orchestra, Polish Sinfonietta, and Bravo! Northwest. Early in her career, she represented the United States at the von Karajan International Youth Orchestra in Berlin, and studied chamber music with some of the leading string quartets of our time: the Juilliard, Guarneri, Hungarian, and Cleveland quartets. In 1995, Eng co-founded Classical Nuances, which has performed in 12 countries, including at the United Nations in NYC, Seoul Performing Arts Center, Athens Opera House, and as guests of the Sultan’s family in Kuwait. They cut their 20th Anniversary CD in 2015.

Splitting her time in several Asian countries over a 20-year period, Dr. Eng was professor of violin and viola at the University of Pelita Harapan Conservatory of Music, and for 15 years, headed the High School and Middle School strings program at Jakarta International School which has performed in Budapest, London, Shanghai, Vienna, and other principal cities in Europe and Asia. Her solo viola performances have involved collaborations in the U.S. and abroad, and has included world premieres of works at Lincoln Center, the Bennington Contemporary Music Forum, and the 20th Century Consort, solo performances at the Queensland Conservatory of Music in Brisbane, Australia, solo with orchestra at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and recital tours of major cities in the U.S. and elsewhere. In Portland, Oregon, Dr. Eng performs with the Raphael Spiro String Quartet, Madrona Viola Duo, and freelances as a violist throughout the Pacific Northwest. Since 2003, she has served as senior faculty-in-residence of the summer International Music Institute and Festival at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland. She maintains violin-viola studios in three locations: Vancouver, Washington; at her home in Beaverton, Oregon; and with Multnomah Arts Center in S.W. Portland. Dr. Eng earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in viola performance at the Juilliard School.

Amy Roesler

Conductor, Youth Orchestra

Amy Roesler discovered early on that music is her favorite way to relate to and communicate with people. She started playing the violin at age eight. Unsatisfied with just one musical outlet, she soon branched out into learning other instruments, such as piano, double bass, and percussion. Amy continued her music training at Brigham Young University, earning a Bachelor of Music with an emphasis in education in 2010. While in Utah she spent seven years performing with the Orchestra on Temple Square, the orchestra that accompanies the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir, all while teaching middle school orchestra full-time. Since returning to Portland, Amy balances between teaching orchestra part-time and playing concerts and shows. She has performed in the pit orchestra for several major Portland area theaters, such as the Broadway Rose and Lakewood Center for the Arts. She also frequently plays for cabarets and variety shows, with genres ranging from classical, jazz, rock, and bluegrass.