Conductors

the Lakeland (Florida) Symphony and Opera Association. From that experience, Lakeland has named him as their new Principal Opera Conductor.

In 2018 Moody completed eleven-years as Music Director of the Portland Symphony Orchestra (Maine), and thirteen-years as Music Director of the Winston-Salem Symphony (NC). Prior to that he served as Resident Conductor for the Phoenix Symphony, Chorus Master for Santa Fe Opera, and Associate Conductor for the Evansville (IN) Philharmonic Orchestra.

This past summer, Moody was invited to return to South Africa for a tour of concerts with the three major orchestras of that country – in Durban, Johannesburg, and Cape Town. Other recent and upcoming guest conducting includes the orchestras of Bogota, Colombia; Aachen and Baden-Baden, Germany; The Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans, The Sacramento Philharmonic and Pacific Symphony in California, Sewanee Music Festival in Tennessee, and his first return to the Winston-Salem Symphony in North Carolina.

Prior Guest Conducting has included Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and the orchestras of Toronto, Houston, Indianapolis, Detroit, Seattle, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Buffalo, Columbus, Louisville, Minnesota, and Slovenian Philharmonic. Festival conducting includes Santa Fe Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, Brevard Music Center, Sewanee Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Skaneateles Festival, Bowdoin International Festival, and the Oregon Bach Festival.

Equally at home in the opera pit, Moody began his career as apprentice conductor for the Landestheater Opera in Linz, Austria. He conducted for the opera companies of Santa Fe, Brevard Music Center, and Hilton Head Opera. He also assisted on a production of Verdi Otello at the Metropolitan Opera (NY), conducted by Valery Gergiev, and at The English National Opera, where he was Assistant Conductor for Kurt Weill Street Scene. He made his Washington National Opera and North Carolina Opera debuts in 2014, and conducted Bartok Bluebeard’s Castle, Leoncavallo I Pagliacci, and Poulenc Dialogues of the Carmelites in the seasons following. Debuts to rave reviews with Brevard Music Center for Weill Street Scene, Opera Carolina for Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro, and Des Moines Metro Opera for Strauss Die Fledermaus came in 2017 and 2018. He made his debut with Opera Memphis in Mozart Cosi fan tutte in 2022.

Appointed Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta from 2021-2022, Dickson has served as Assistant/Cover Conductor for the Orchestre de Paris, NDR Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, New York Philharmonic, and the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, St. Louis, Minnesota, San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago, and the National Symphony (Washington, DC). He has assisted Esa-Pekka Salonen, Fabio Biondi, Stéphane Denève, Andrew Manze, James Conlon, Carlos Prieto, Osmo Vänskä, Raphael Payare and Kevin John Edusei among others.

His passion for music education has led to many collaborations with youth ensembles around the country. Dickson has served as Conductor of the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra and the South Side Chicago Youth Symphony. He’s been Assistant Conductor for Carnegie Hall’s 2022 NYO USA/NYO2 Tour and the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles. Additionally, he was named 2017 Hyde Park Youth Symphony Artist-In-Residence and has worked with Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, National Symphony Orchestra's 2021 Summer Music Institute, Ravinia’s El Sistema program, Colburn Academy Virtuosi and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Dickson was a Guest Conductor at 2023 Chicago Youth In Music Festival Orchestra and this season will conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition.

Dickson was selected as a Conducting Fellow at the 2021 National Orchestral Institute’s Conducting Academy directed by Marin Alsop and as a Paul Freeman Conducting Fellow under the mentorship of Mei-Ann Chen from 2019-2022. Dickson was also trained as a violinist and a prizewinner at the 2010 NANM National Concerto Competition. He’s held residencies at Indiana University-South Bend, the United World College of South East Asia, and served on the violin and chamber music faculty at the New Music School (Chicago). He has performed with the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, Quad City Symphony, and was Concertmaster of the Chicago Composers Orchestra. Additionally, his playing can be heard on albums by recording artists such as John Legend, Chance the Rapper, and Jessie J as a member of the Matt Jones/Recollective Orchestra.

Dickson studied conducting at the Colburn School and Northwestern University. His principal conducting teachers include Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mei-Ann Chen, Kevin Noe, and Victor Yampolsky. He received degrees in violin performance and music education from DePaul University and Michigan State University studying with Walter Verdehr, Laura Roelofs, and Olga Kaler.

Joseph Powell is a conductor and tenor whose artistry bridges the sacred and the secular, the classroom and the concert hall. A native of Mobile, Alabama, and now based in Memphis, Tennessee, he is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting with a Vocal Pedagogy Cognate at the University of Memphis. Powell serves as Interim Director of the Memphis Symphony Chorus and as Artistic Director of Memphis ChoralArts.

Powell holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi. From 2014 to 2024, he built a thriving choral program as White Station High School, conducting the Chorale, Tenor-Bass Choir, Advanced Treble Chorus, Treble Chorus, and the award-winning contemporary a cappella group DoReHe. Under his direction, White Station ensembles appeared at the TMEA Professional Development Conference (2015, 2018) and the National A Cappella Convention, where DoReHe earned recognition as a High School Championship Finalist in 2018.

Powell’s leadership has been honored nationally and locally. He received the Country Music Association Foundation’s Music Teachers of Excellence Award (2022), was named the Orpheum High School Musical Theatre Awards’ Inspiring Teacher (2024), and is the 2025 St. Paul’s Episcopal School Distinguished Alumni in the Arts. His students’ musical theater productions garnered multiple nominations for Best Student Orchestra, earning the award in 2019. He has also been nominated twice for Shelby County Schools Teacher of the Year.

An active performer, Powell appears regularly with the Memphis Chamber Choir, Opera Memphis, and, from 2014 to 2024, the Memphis Symphony Chorus. He has been featured in opera and musical theatre productions with Opera Memphis and IRIS Orchestra. In addition to performing, he serves as Handbell Choir Director and staff singer at Calvary Episcopal Church, continuing his lifelong commitment to both artistry and community through music.

Originally from Mobile, AL, Joseph Powell is a conductor and tenor from Memphis, TN. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi. Former teachers and mentors include Dr. John Flanery, Dr. Gregory Fuller, Matthew Burns and Dr. Larry Smith. He is currently pursuing his DMA in Choral Conducting with a Vocal Pedagogy Cognate from the University of Memphis and serves as the Artistic Director of Memphis ChoralArts and the interim director of the Memphis Symphony Chorus. 

From 2014-2024, Powell served as Director of Choirs at White Station High School, directing the Chorale, Tenor Bass Choir, Advanced Treble Chorus, and Treble Chorus. He also directed the contemporary a cappella group, DoReHe. Under his direction, the Chorale was selected to perform at the TMEA Professional Development Conference in 2015 and 2018. DoReHe was chosen for exhibition performances at the A Cappella Education Association’s National A Cappella Convention in 2015, 2016, and 2017 and as a High School Championship Finalist in 2018. In 2022, Powell received the Country Music Association Foundation’s Music Teachers of Excellence award, one of 30 educators chosen nationally. 

In addition to his duties as Director of Choirs at White Station, he was the music director for the spring musicals. Under his direction, White Station was nominated for Best Student Orchestra three times, winning in 2019. In 2024, Powell was selected as the winner of the Inspiring Teacher Award in the Orpheum High School Musical Theatre Awards. Additionally, Powell has twice been nominated for Shelby County Schools Teacher of the Year and is the 2025 St. Paul’s Episcopal School Distinguished Alumni in the Arts.

Powell is also an active performer as a soloist and appears with the Memphis Chamber Choir, Opera Memphis, and the Memphis Symphony Chorus. Powell has performed in opera and musical theater productions with Opera Memphis, IRIS Orchestra, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the St. Paul’s Players. Powell is also the handbell choir director and a staff singer at Calvary Episcopal Church in Memphis.