ABOUT

Las Vegas Academy Orchestra and Music Department

The Orchestra Department of the Las Vegas Academy includes 260 talented string, woodwind, brass, and percussion students who are either pursuing a career in the performing arts or are interested in improving their skills on their chosen instrument. In addition to four directors, we have paraprofessionals who tutor students regularly. Many graduating seniors receive significant scholarships to colleges, universities, and conservatories. The Las Vegas Academy Strings performed at the 2003, 2009, 2014, and 2021 Midwest Clinics, the 2005 ASTA Convention in Reno, the 2006 MENC Convention in Salt Lake, Orchestra America Festival in 2007 in the Indianapolis Symphony's Hilbert Theater, the ASTA 2008 competition in Albuquerque and the New York Philharmonic's Avery Fisher Hall in 2009 as a part of Distinguished Concerts International, Carnegie Hall in 2023 and 2025. Other notable performance tours include Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Boston, New Mexico, Utah, California, Spain - performing in the wonderful "Auditorio de Zaragoza" Concert Hall, and Austria - performing in the famous "Musikverein" Concert Hall. 

The curriculum has a reputation for musical excellence in performance and offers major courses in band, orchestra, vocal music, guitar, jazz, Mariachi, and piano. Elective classes are offered in music theory, music technology, conducting, handbells, philharmonic orchestra, world music studies, and chamber music.

In the past few years, our Theater Department and Philharmonic members have performed Oklahoma, In the Heights, Guy's & Dolls, West Side Story, Hairspray, Cats, The Wiz, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and the high school premiers of Little Women, Miss Saigon, and Sweeney Todd.


The Las Vegas Academy is a 12-time Grammy-winning school, Magnet Schools of America - School of Distinction in 2020-2022, and Merit School of Excellence in 2023-2024. In 2013, the Las Vegas Academy of Arts received the Outstanding Arts School Award from the Arts Schools Network (ASN), the nation's largest professional membership organization of specialized arts schools. This award is presented to an Arts Schools Network member school with an outstanding record of overall excellence in the categories of faculty and student achievement, community recognition and involvement, arts and academics integration, curriculum innovations, continuing growth and development, and state and national recognition. The Academy was also designated as a 2013 Magnet School of America School of Distinction.

 

Our Directors


Thank you to all the Directors of the LVA Orchestra.
Click on the name below to learn more about them.

 

  •  Eric McAllister
     

    Eric McAllister

    Eric McAllister received his Bachelor of Music Education at Utah State University while studying Violin Performance with the quartet in residence, the Arcata String Quartet. He taught High School and Jr. High School orchestra in Farmington, New Mexico, for two years before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada. Eric received his Masters of Viola Performance while studying with Andrew Duckles and Beverly Bias at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

    Eric has performed with the Utah Festival Opera Company each summer since 1995, the Las Vegas Philharmonic since 2001, and other musical organizations such as the Las Vegas Sinfonietta, Nevada Chamber Symphony, San Juan Symphony in Durango, Colorado, Showcase Chamber Ensemble in Farmington, New Mexico, The Willow Valley String Quartet, The Candlelight String Quartet, and the Seasons Quartet.

    Eric has conducted The Nevada Ballet Theater's live performances since 2022, productions of Nutcracker, Carmina Burana, Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, and Jerome Robbin's "The Concert" (music of Frederick Chopin). Eric also conducts the College of Southern Nevada's Orchestra. On violin and viola, Eric has performed in Las Vegas with performers such as Andre Bocelli, Josh Groban, Harry Connick Jr., Itzhak Perlman, Placido Domingo, Benjamin Zander, Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Donna Summer, Rascal Flatts, Linda Eder, Alan Parcens Project, Dennis DeYoung/Styxx, Air Supply, The Scintas, Danny Gans, Frank Sinatra Jr., Mary J. Blige, and Dave Stewart/Eurythmics, Richard Marx, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Martina McBride, Emmylou Harris, Carole King, Mavis Staples, Pat Monahan, Jennifer Hudson, and others.

    Mr. McAllister has taught orchestra in public schools since 1999 and has been co-director of the orchestras and chamber music at the Las Vegas Academy of The Arts since 2006.

     

  •  Jeremy Paredes
     

    Jeremy Paredes

    Jeremy Paredes was born and raised in Ohio and graduated with a Bachelor of Music Education from The Ohio State University.  During that time, he served as a member of the bass section in the Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra.   In 1999, he relocated to Las Vegas to begin his career as a music educator.   From 1999 to 2008, Jeremy was active as a performer and educator with various Las Vegas music community ensembles.   Mr. Paredes established himself as an accomplished orchestra conductor within the Clark County School District, leading his students to consistently achieve Superior ratings in festival performances.  His Schofield Middle School orchestra was the only middle school orchestra from Clark County to be selected to perform at the Nevada Music Educators’ Association Conference 2004.

    In addition to his work as a middle school orchestra director, Mr. Paredes regularly works with the Clark County School District Honor Orchestras, conducting string sectionals and preparing works for guest conductors. Jeremy has a long history with the Las Vegas Youth Orchestra program, having served as a string specialist with all four orchestras and appearing as a guest conductor with the Ensemble, Sinfonia, and Symphony Orchestras.

    In 2008, Jeremy Paredes was awarded a graduate assistantship at the University of South Carolina, where he completed a Master’s Degree in Music Education.   During that time, Mr. Paredes was the Interim Director of the USC String Project, the University’s teacher training and community outreach program.  In addition to directing orchestras composed of elementary school students through adults, Jeremy supervised assistant directors and studio teachers within the String Project.  While at the University of South Carolina, Mr. Paredes taught string method courses to undergraduate music education majors and supervised several aspiring student teachers.  Upon completion of his Master’s Degree, Jeremy returned to Las Vegas and to Schofield Middle School, where he taught until 2013.  In the 2013 school year, Jeremy began teaching at the high school level.  In March of 2014, Jeremy co-conducted the Clark High School Chamber Orchestra at the National High School Orchestra Competition in conjunction with the American String Teachers Association conference in Louisville, Kentucky.   Mr. Paredes now joins the music faculty at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts.

     

  •  John Seaton
     

    John Seaton

    JOHN SEATON serves as the Director of Bands at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, an arts magnet school in the Clark County (Las Vegas) School District, servicing students from one of the largest school districts in the country. Students who attend the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts must first be accepted through a competitive performance audition. His responsibilities include conducting the Wind Ensemble (V3) and Symphonic Band (V1), Co-Conducting the Philharmonic Orchestra (O4), and teaching Woodwind Techniques. Ensembles under Seaton’s direction have consistently garnered superior ratings in adjudication and maintain an active schedule of travel and conference performances. Recent performances outside of Nevada include the Las Vegas Academy Wind Ensemble performing as an invited guest at the Pacific Basin Music Festival (2016), Western International Band Clinic (2017), and a gala performance at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria (2019). The Wind Symphony has recently traveled to perform as an invited ensemble at the UCLA Wind Ensemble Invitational in Royce Hall and a guest performance with the UNLV Symphonic Band (2019). In 2018, Seaton was recognized as a “Teacher of Influence” at a reception hosted at UNLV, in which a recent LVA graduate submitted an essay highlighting his influence on their path to college.

    As a saxophonist, he has performed multiple times with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Las Vegas Philharmonic. He has performed concerti as a soloist with the Wright State University Chamber Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra, the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra, and The Desert Winds. Additionally, he has given recitals across the United States and on the international stage, including performances at multiple North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Conferences, the U.S. Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) State Conference, the Blue Wisp Jazz Club, and both a solo and quartet recital of world premieres at the 2012 World Saxophone Congress XVI in St. Andrews, Scotland.

    Consistently in demand as a guest clinician and private instructor, Seaton has previously taught applied saxophone lessons for the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, district-wide clinics for the Clark County School District, and high schools across the United States. Students under his instruction have been accepted into the saxophone studios at the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Youngstown State University, Wright State University, the Interlochen Saxophone Institute, and the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. An avid writer, he has been published multiple times by The Instrumentalist magazine with articles including “Adjusting Saxophone Fingerings” and “The Art of Teaching Saxophone: An Interview with Timothy McAllister.”

    Outside of the classroom, Seaton serves as the Associate Conductor and Principal Saxophonist of The Desert Winds: A Contemporary Wind Ensemble, which recently traveled to perform at The Midwest Clinic in 2016. The organization features a roster of performers that includes many local music educators, students, and freelance musicians. Since its debut, the Desert Winds has reached thousands through inspiring performances and educational programs. Seaton also conducts a youth wind ensemble component of The Desert Winds, The Honor Winds, which meets weekly for three concert cycles a year. He also serves as the wind section coach for the Las Vegas Young Artists Orchestra, a high school/collegiate extracurricular youth orchestra.

    Seaton holds an M.M. in Saxophone Performance with Program Honors from the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University and a B.M. in Music Education, summa cum laude, from the Wright State University School of Music. His primary teachers include Timothy McAllister and Shelley Jagow. Seaton is a Conn-Selmer Artist, D’Addario Woodwinds Artist, and Key Leaves artist. He performs exclusively on Selmer Paris saxophones and D’Addario reeds and uses Key Leaves saxophone care products.

     








     

      Chandler Sison
     

    Chandler Sison

    Chandler Sison - Las Vegas,
 Nevada,
 United States | Professional Profile |  LinkedIn

    CHANDLER SISON is currently the Associate Director of Bands at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts. His responsibilities there include conducting the Wind Symphony, Co-Conducting the Symphony Orchestra, as well as teaching Chamber Music, Brass Methods, and Music Theory.

     

  •  Juliann McAllister
     

    Juliann McAllister

    Juliann McAllister has been around music and dance her whole life. Dancing since she was two years old, her favorite has always been ballet. After performing on stage for years, she enjoyed teaching ballet until she pursued one of her other passions - a culinary arts degree. Her desserts have won many prizes and hearts. Her daughter (violinist) and son (cellist) are distinguished LVA orchestra department graduates.

     


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