Music Leadership

Kenneth Bean is a conductor and trumpeter based in the Philadelphia area. He earned a
Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music Education
from Jackson State University. He has taught at several festivals and schools, including
The School District of Philadelphia, Settlement Music School, The Premiere Orchestral Institute
of the Mississippi Symphony, and Play On Philly.

As a trumpeter, Maestro Bean has appeared with numerous ensembles, including Mississippi
Symphony Orchestra, the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra and as
a soloist with Asociación Filarmónica Coral de Honduras. He can be heard on recordings with
Symphony in C, the Monocacy Chamber Orchestra and hip-hop artist Thee Phantom & the
Illharmonic Orchestra.

Although he enjoys teaching and playing trumpet, Maestro Bean’s passion is on the podium. He
has appeared as a guest conductor for the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Oberlin
Conservatory of Music and the American Repertory Ballet which included leading the world
premiere performances of Ethan Stiefel’s A Midsummer Nights Dream. His past Music Director/
Conductor appointments include the Junior String Philharmonic of the Lehigh Valley, the Young
People’s Philharmonic of the Lehigh Valley and Luzerne Music Center.

In addition to being co-founder/Associate Director of the Primavera Fund, a Philadelphia based
non-profit committed to disrupting inequity in classical music by mentoring and financially
sustaining the musical ambitions of young and promising Philadelphians, Maestro Bean
currently serves as Assistant Conductor of Symphony in C, Conductor of the Symphony in C
Youth Orchestra in Collingswood, NJ; Director/Conductor of the Young Musicians Debut
Orchestra, the newest full orchestra within the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Music Institute and
Assistant Conductor of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra as well as Music Director of the
Symphonic Orchestra for the affiliated Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey.

In the summers, Maestro Bean serves as Co-Director of the Symphony in C Summer Camp,
Music Director of Music and Mindfulness at Graves Mountain Farm in Northern Virginia and
Conductor at Kinhaven Music School Junior Session in Weston, VT.

Rachel Segal is a violinist, arranger, educator, mentor, and pet Mom. She has commissioned, premiered, and performed many works of contemporary composers and is particularly interested in performing works by women and composers from traditionally underrepresented communities. She has performed and recorded with some of the world’s leading pop, hip-hop, and rock artists, including Tony Bennett, Peter Gabriel, Steve Martin, and Devotchka. She has arranged music for string quartet, voice and piano, and solo violin. She has recorded the music of women composers, as well as an album of pop covers with the Fairmount String Quartet on Spring Garden Records.

 

Ms. Segal received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan and her Master of Music degree from Yale School of Music. She spent twelve years as a tenured member of the Colorado Symphony and Concertmaster of the Central City Opera Orchestra and has served as Concertmaster of the Orchestra Sinfonica Portugesa in Lisbon, Portugal, and the South Bend Symphony, Principal Second violin of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and Fourth Chair of the Tampere Filharmonia in Tampere, Finland. She has also performed at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, with Orchestra 2001, and Anchorage Opera. 

 

Ms. Segal is the Founder and Executive Director of the Primavera Fund, Associate Director of the Young Musicians Debut Orchestra, first violinist of the Fairmount String Quartet, and performs frequently with Post Classical Ensemble, Baltimore Symphony, and other groups in the Philadelphia area.