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Wednesday, February 24

12:00 - 5:00 PM: Pre-Conference Workshops ($)

View the information on the SCHEDULES page for more information about Pre-Conference Workshop offerings!

3:00 - 5:30 PM: Educational Sessions

Arriving in Chicago too late to join a Pre-Conference Workshop, but ready to dive into the conference? We will have two blocks of sessions to get you jump-started!

5:30 - 6:30 PM: Newcomer's Welcome - Exhibit Hall-Lakeside Ballroom Windows

Are you new to ASTA or is this your first ASTA National Conference? Join us to connect with others who are new to the community, grow your network, and meet the ASTA Board of Directors.

6:30 - 7:30 PM: Welcome Experience - Exhibit Hall-Lakeside Ballroom Windows

Take this opportunity to meet your colleagues, reconnect with friends, and enjoy a performance by the ASTA National Teachers Orchestra.

7:30 - 8:30 PM: University & College Student Mixer - E253AB

Hosted by the Student Advisory Committee

Attending the 2027 ASTA National Conference? Join us on Wednesday night for a time to socialize, network, and support each other! Enter to win a FREE registration for the 2027 Virtual String Teachers Summit or 2028 ASTA National Conference in Richmond, VA – and MORE!

Thursday, February 25

8:00 - 9:30 AM: Thursday Keynote - E451

Juana P. Alzaga was born in Cuba and immigrated to Miami, Fl when she was 12 years old. She studied violin at Miami Dade Community College where she studied the Bornoff Method from Aileen DiNino. She has bachelor’s degree in music education from Barry University, Master’s degree in Spanish Literature from Georgia State University, and a Music Specialist degree from Lincoln Memorial University. In pursuit of additional conducting studies she attended the Conductors’ Institute Discovery Program under the direction of Donald Portnoy and Harold Faberman and the Juilliard Conductor’s Institute in New York.

Mrs. Alzaga began her teaching career in 1978, establishing the orchestra programs at Miami

Edison MS and HS in Miami, FL. In 1985, she joined the Gwinnett County Schools orchestra faculty where she developed orchestra programs at Pinckneyville MS, Summerour MS, and Norcross HS. From 1988 to 1994, she conducted the Gwinnett County Festival Orchestra (Kendall Orchestra).  Between the 2012–2019 school years, she was the conductor of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO), Associate Conductor for the Emory Junior Chamber Orchestra, and a visiting Orchestra Director at the Paideia School.

A sought-after clinician and adjudicator, she has served as guest conductor for the Fulton County Honor Orchestra, Gwinnett County Tapestry, Cobb County Schools, and other Metro Atlanta organizations.  She is an active member of the Georgia Music Educators Association and the American String Teachers Association.

Throughout her career, Mrs. Alzaga has received recognition for her work in her string teaching as well as advocating the importance of string education. She received the Georgia American String Teachers Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 and the Advocacy Award: in 2026.

Her love for children and commitment to equity in education has been her driving force for more than 35 years. After her retirement in 2012, she became an advocate in education of the immigrant community in the Atlanta, Georgia area building bridges and services between public schools and community. In April 2021, during the Pandemic, she founded the Buford Highway Orchestra Project (BHOP) serving elementary and middle school-age children from underserved communities. In its fifth season, the BHOP after school program is community based under the non-profit We Love Buford Highway. Mrs. Alzaga has received the following recognitions for her work with this program: Telemundo Education Community Hero, 2023; Latin American Association – LAA CEO Recognition, 2025; Georgia House of Representative Resolution presented by Rep. Karen Lupton, 2025; Georgia Department of Human Resources PCS Year End Convening Conference Most Innovative Program, 2025; and City of Doraville Resolution for Arts and Humanities Month, 2025. The program was chosen by The Latino Broadcasting Network (PBS) for a documentary that highlights her lifetime work. “La Orquesta” premiered in Atlanta June 2025; it has been chosen for the Washington Short Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, and DOC-NYC Film Festival. The documentary “La Orquesta” is streaming on PBS Point of View (POV) until November 25, 2029.

8:00 AM - 8:00 PM: National Orchestra Festival Performances and Clinics - E450, E451, E351, and E352

10:00 AM - 3:30 PM: Eclectic Styles Mini-Jams - E257

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Exhibit Hall Grand Opening - Exhibit Hall-Lakeside Ballroom

Come visit our incredible vendors in the Exhibit Hall! Be sure to walk through and see the latest products to help you in your daily teaching. Also, visit college booths throughout the conference!

11:15 AM - 12:15 PM: Intersectional Affinity Space - E255

The Representation, Inclusion, and Accessibility (RIA) Committee invites ASTA attendees of historically excluded and underrepresented identities to participate in the affinity social gatherings. These meet-and-greet events are designed to provide a platform for attendees to have a dedicated space to connect within affinity groups among the diverse coalition of ASTA membership. The RIA Committee requests these events be reserved for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled members of the ASTA community. We invite all allies to join us for the facilitated roundtable session in the conference.

3:30 - 4:30 PM: Jam Session with Dave Eggar - E271

Bring your instruments and join in!

Five-Time Grammy-Nominee Dave Eggar is one of the leading improvisational crossover cellists in the fields of Contemporary Classical, Jazz, and Bluegrass. Dave is also one of the most sought after recording cellists in the world featured as solo cellist and arranger on iconic records such as Frank Ocean's "Channel Orange", Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" and records with everyone from Ed Sheeran to Breaking Benjamin, Benson Boone, Lewis Capaldi, Evanescence Joey Bada$$, Judy Collins and Paul Simon. Eggar has toured throughout the world including recent solo appearances at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Sydney Opera Hall and holds a second degree black belt in Shotokan karate. He is principal cellist of the Mostly Modern Orchestra.

6:00 - 7:30 PM: Evening Concert - E451

“Striking and charismatic... she demonstrated a bravura technique and soulful musicianship.”

– The New York Times

“Pine displays a power and confidence that puts her in the top echelon.”

– The Washington Post

The acclaimed American concert violinist Rachel Barton Pine thrills international audiences with

her dazzling technique and lustrous tone. With an infectious joy in music-making and a passion

for connecting historical research to performance, Pine transforms audiences’ experiences of

classical music. She is a leading interpreter of the great classical masterworks and of important

contemporary music.

Pine performs with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic,

Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, and the Chicago, Atlanta, and Vienna Symphony Orchestras. She has worked with renowned conductors that include Teddy Abrams, Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Stéphane Denève, Neeme Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, Zubin Mehta, Tito Muñoz, and John Nelson. As a chamber musician, Pine has performed with Jonathan Gilad, Clive Greensmith, Paul Neubauer, Jory Vinikour, William Warfield, Orion Weiss, and the Pacifica and Parker quartets.

Highlights of Rachel Barton Pine’s 2026-27 season include solo appearances with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, Portland Symphony

Orchestra (ME), Williamsburg Symphony (VA), Yakima Symphony Orchestra, Brown University

Symphony Orchestra, and Marin Symphony, among others. She also returns to the Isabella

Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston for a recital of Brahms Sonatas and gives additional recitals

at Chamber Music Marin and Music in Corrales. Pine reunites with the Pacifica Quartet and

pianist Orion Weiss at Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music to perform selections from their

critically acclaimed French Impressions album. As part of her residency in Vermillion, South

Dakota at the National Music Museum and the University of South Dakota, she will perform Bach’s entire six Sonatas and Partitas on an original-condition Stainer violin. She will also be a

featured artist at Domaine Forget de Charlevoix in Québec and the American String Teachers

Association National Conference.

Pine has made over 40 recordings, including 25 for Cedille Records, making her one of the

label’s best-selling artists. Looking ahead, Pine will record the complete five Brahms Violin

Sonatas, alongside the Violin Sonata by Amanda Maier and Three Romances by Clara Schumann,

for release in 2027.

Pine frequently performs music by contemporary composers, including Billy Childs, Mohammed Fairouz, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Daniel Bernard Roumain, José Serebrier, Augusta Read Thomas, and Harry Stafylakis. She is also an avid performer of Baroque, Renaissance, and Medieval music; in 1992 she became the only American and youngest person to win a gold medal at the J.S. Bach International Violin Competition.

An active philanthropist, Pine has led the RBP Foundation for over two decades with

projects including Music by Black Composers founded in 2001. She performs on the

“ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat” Joseph Guarnerius “del Gesù” (Cremona 1742), on lifetime loan

from her anonymous patron.

Visit rachelbartonpine.com.

Friday, February 26

8:00 AM - 8:00 PM: National Orchestra Festival Performances and Clinics - E450, E451, E351, and E352

10:00 AM - 4:30 PM: Wellness Lounge - E257

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Exhibit Hall Mix & Mingle - Exhibit Hall-Lakeside Ballroom

Come join your friends and colleagues for appetizers and conversation in the Exhibit Hall – and get more time with our conference exhibitors!

11:15 AM - 12:15 PM: Intersectional Affinity Space - E255

The Representation, Inclusion, and Accessibility (RIA) Committee invites ASTA attendees of historically excluded and underrepresented identities to participate in the affinity social gatherings. These meet-and-greet events are designed to provide a platform for attendees to have a dedicated space to connect within affinity groups among the diverse coalition of ASTA membership. The RIA Committee requests these events be reserved for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled members of the ASTA community. We invite all allies to join us for the facilitated roundtable session in the conference.

3:30 - 4:30 PM: Jam Session with Christen Blanton - E271

Bring your instruments and join in!

Christen Blanton directs the Orchestra and Modern Band programs at The Academy at Lincoln in Greensboro North Carolina, for which she was named Guilford County Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2024. She is the director of the Old-Time Ensemble at UNC-Greensboro, where she has taught and mentored students of folk and roots music since 2016. Christen has served as chair of the ASTA Eclectic Styles Committee, and is an in-demand clinician for folk music and eclectic styles pedagogy.

3:30 - 5:00 PM: String Research Poster Presentations - Exhibit Hall-Lakeside Ballroom

5:00 - 6:30 PM: Evening Concert - E451

Historians of art and culture may not currently take into full account that Black culture and creativity are a part of every musical institution’s foundation that we currently see today. D-Composed, a Black chamber music collective, exists to ensure that we never forget it.

Led by its mission to uplift and empower society through the music of Black composers, this Chicago-based creative incubator serves as a bridge between the past and the present, connecting to the future of representation, music-centered experiences, and the communal power of Black composers and their lasting impact. Music is not just solely entertainment; for this collective, music is a storytelling tool that educates and inspires. Unapologetically, Blackness is at the core of its experience; protecting, nurturing, and sustaining are on the other side. At the heart of it lies the collective’s impact: the people who make up these experiences, whether as musicians, creatives, or community members.

As a Black ensemble that focuses exclusively on the works of Black composers, D-Composed ensures that it partners with institutions that have a proven commitment to communities of color. The Chicago-based ensemble with global impact has been presented by Apple, Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, TUCCA in São Paulo, Brazil, the Kaufman Music Center in New York and TEDx. While merging the worlds of contemporary music and classical, D-Composed has also collaborated with esteemed artists across genres and disciplines, including Jessie Montgomery, Pamela Z, avery r. young, Jamila Woods, Davóne Tines, Sudan Archives, Plínio Fernandes and New York Times best-selling author Tricia Hersey.

In Fall 2025, D-Composed was named as one of the inaugural creative partners at artist Theaster Gates’ latest space-based project, The Land School.

The walls that exist to keep Black people out of America’s most beloved cultural institutions are meant to be scaled and then dismantled by the creative architects who are bold enough to build against the status quo. The collective’s name embodies that boldness in action.

D–COMPOSED /DEE-KUHM-POHZD/ – ADVERB: Our creative process that involves the breaking down of preconceived notions, barriers and opinions of what people think classical music should be to rewriting our own narrative to reflect what the classical world could be.

Saturday, February 27