Sue Medford

Founder and Artistic Director

A large portion of Ms. Medford’s career was spent with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, where she was the Director of Education and Education Concert Manager for over 23 years.  Many of the education programs she developed became national models, reaching over one million Wisconsin children and preparing thousands more to become educators and music professionals.

Prior to her MSO position, Ms. Medford was the Director of Audience Development for the Florentine Opera and the National Representative for Summy-Birchard Music Publishing Company.  In the latter position, she organized, promoted, lectured, and performed for teachers at college seminars and in workshops from coast to coast.  Ms. Medford was also on the faculty of the New School for Music Study in Princeton, New Jersey, where she taught in both the preparatory and professional departments.  She is a graduate of Western Carolina University, and the professional program of the New School for Music Study where she studied with its founders, Frances Clark and Louise Goss as well as Richard Chronister, Elvina Pearce, and David Kraehenbuehl. She is currently on the faculty of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music.

Andrews Sill

Music Director

As the music director, Andrews Sill directs program planning, trains PianoArts fellows on their presentations, serves as conductor and master of ceremonies for the competition finals. He also provides contestants with guidance on collaborative performances, presents workshops on performing concertos, oversees the development of the competition repertory, and participates in the selection of the competition jury.

Acclaimed as a “gifted young conductor with a commanding presence.” Mr. Sill joined the New York City Ballet conducting staff in the spring of 2009, and became Assistant Music Director in June of 2012. He also serves as Music Director of Milwaukee Ballet, a post he has held since 2003.

Mr. Sill has appeared as guest conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, with the symphonies of Houston, San Antonio, New Mexico, Colorado Springs, Modesto, Delaware, Long Beach, Charleston, and Anchorage, as well as the Spoleto USA Festival Orchestra. He has led the Philharmonic Orchestras of Erie, Naples, Reno, and Tulsa, the Orquestra Sinfónica da Sao Paulo, and the Orquestra Sinfónica da Bahia.  Mr. Sill has also served as cover conductor for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, assisting Christoph Eschenbach, Lorin Maazel, and Krystof Penderecki.

He continues to distinguish himself in opera, oratorio and ballet performances, as well as symphonic appearances.  He has led performances for Charleston Ballet Theater, Metropolitan Ballet of Detroit, Miami City Ballet, and Boston Ballet.  In the spring of 2006, he was invited to conduct for the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. He has appeared with the Orlando Opera Company, and has served as assistant conductor for the Florentine Opera.

Before joining New York City Ballet, Andrews Sill enjoyed highly successful tenures as Music Director of the Lubbock Symphony and the Sheboygan Symphony. His dynamic yet accessible style, both on and off the podium, helped those orchestras reach new levels of artistic achievement as well as increased visibility and support in their communities. Associate Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra from 1997 to 2001, Sill joined the MSO as Assistant Conductor in 1995. He previously held the post of Associate Conductor with the Virginia Symphony and the Florida Symphony Orchestra. He began his career as Assistant Conductor of Boston Ballet from 1988-1990.

Active as a concert pianist, Maestro Sill is one of few artists who perform concerti leading the orchestra from the keyboard. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported after a performance of the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 that “Sill played and led a performance that had the cohesive, communicative quality of well-played chamber music. . . The effect was a bold, invigorating performance that caught the wit and edge of the piece.”  In addition to giving solo recitals, Mr. Sill has been a member of the Whitney Trio and the Manhattan Contemporary Ensemble.

Born in New York City, Andrews Sill received his bachelor’s degree with honors from Yale University where he studied both piano and conducting from the age of fifteen. He continued his education under scholarship and fellowship awards from the Manhattan School of Music, earning his doctorate in 1987. He is an alumnus of the Aspen Music School, the Ravel Academie, and the National Conductors Preview of the League of American Orchestras.