John Concklin begins his second year as Creative Director with the Cobb Symphony where his duties range from serving as general manager and conductor of the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus to assisting in the development and implementation of the education and outreach aspects of the organization. He recently completed his tenure as Conducting Fellow at Yale University where he maintained a serious dedication to new music through his position of Principal Conductor of the New Music New Haven Ensemble while also performing standard repertoire with the Yale Philharmonia and Sinfonietta ensembles. With the latter, he performed Beethoven’s Second and Fourth Symphonies among other works. In addition, he collaborated with violist Jesse Levine on Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. A fervent supporter of the arts in public schools, Mr. Concklin is spent time at many of the Greater New Haven schools in a program entitled Music and Art which he also presented at the Connecticut Music Educators Association convention due to its success. On short notice, he also led a highly acclaimed Young Person’s Concert with the New Britain Symphony. During the summer, Mr. Concklin annually serves as a faculty member at the McAlester Institute of Music in Oklahoma.

Mr. Concklin studied conducting, viola, and piano at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University and won the Alexander Heard Prize for excellence in performance. He most recently studied under David Zinman at the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival. He has been a finalist for both a New World Symphony Fellowship and Music Director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra. Other teachers have included Shinik Hahm, Toshiyuki Shimada, and Robin Fountain.