Conductor and pianist Timothy Farrand is currently the Music Director and Conductor of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Orchestra (CPYO) and serves as Director of its Chamber Music Program. He is also the Conductor of the Penn State Campus Orchestra, an ensemble for students who enjoy performing but are not majoring in music.
Timothy serves as the Assistant Conductor of the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, working alongside Music Director Yaniv Attar. In addition to these appointments, he assists and is mentored by conductor and Music Director Teresa Cheung of the Altoona Symphony Orchestra .
Both as a conductor and a pianist, Timothy is passionate about performing student compositions through Penn State’s Musica Nova concert series. As a collaborative pianist, Timothy has worked extensively with both vocalists and instrumentalists on a wide variety of solo and chamber repertoire. He also regularly performs as an ensemble pianist with the Penn State Orchestras and Symphonic Bands. From 2015-2017, Timothy served as the Piano Coordinator for the Honors Music Institute at Penn State University, a summer program that gives “intensive immersion in the art of music making for talented high school students”.
Starting his conducting studies at an early age, Timothy has participated in several conducting workshops and festivals in the United States and abroad. While at these workshops, he has had the privilege of working with conductors Harold Farberman, Mark Gibson, Apo Hsu, Donald Portnoy, Maurice Peress, Paul Vermel and many others.
Recently, he completed his second summer of study with Larry Rachleff and Donald Schleicher at the highly selective International Conducting Workshop and Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria. At this workshop, Timothy was able to work with the New Symphony Orchestra of Sofia on a wide variety of repertoire.
Timothy received his Bachelor of Music degree from Penn State University in Piano Performance, studying with Dr. Timothy Shafer. He is currently a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Penn State where he will receive a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting under the mentorship of Gerardo Edelstein.