STATEMENT. The PTSO reminds me a lot of the community band I played in when I was in high school. As a young oboist, I got to sit next to my teacher each week learning challenging music that pushed me to grow as a musician, but more importantly, what really stuck with me was the camaraderie and friendship shared by members of the band. I think there’s something special that happens when a group of people with wildly different backgrounds, interests, and musical abilities come together to celebrate their sense of community by working toward a shared goal of creating something beautiful. Much of my professional career has been dedicated to working with similar kinds of groups, and I’m excited to experience the community that exists within the PTSO.

BIOGRAPHY. There is a version of the American orchestral canon that has largely disappeared from concert halls. As Founder and Music Director of the Cleveland Repertory Orchestra and Music Director of the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra, Matthew Salvaggio programs it anyway.

He founded the Cleveland Repertory Orchestra in 2021 (its first concert in May 2022) to challenge the conventions of orchestral programming and expand what a professional ensemble can be. Performances take place across greater Cleveland with free admission; the orchestra receives annual support from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, and its audience has grown each season. In a review of programs that included Hanson’s Symphony No. 3 and Anna Clyne’s This Moment, Cleveland Classical’s Stephanie Manning wrote that his “love for the material was evident.” The ensemble commissions and premieres new work, including the world premiere of Griffin Candey’s Double Aviary for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra in November 2023, and leads ongoing commissioning consortia. The 2025–26 season brought Legacy of Light: In Tribute to Michael Tilson Thomas and the Spirit of American Music, performed April 11, 2026 — eleven days before MTT’s death on April 22.

As Music Director of the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra, Salvaggio leads the flagship Youth Symphony while overseeing eleven ensembles and an artistic staff serving more than 750 students, 84 percent from minority-majority backgrounds. A 72 percent rise in auditions over two seasons prompted the addition of two new ensembles in 2024–25, creating space for 132 new students and reducing long-standing waitlists. Alumni have earned places at conservatories in the United States and abroad, including Eastman, Curtis, Juilliard, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Through the Bridges Initiative, formally launched in fall 2025 and backed by a $200,000 Curiosity Pass grant from 4Culture, BYSO brings free music education directly to students. The program currently serves more than 400 students across three school districts and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bellevue through individual lessons and group workshops, with priority given to Title I schools.

Before these appointments, he served as Music Director of the Euclid Symphony Orchestra, where he expanded the season from four programs to five, broadened the repertoire with regular commissions, and established both the Tom Baker Young Artists’ Competition and an assistant conductor mentorship program. Earlier appointments include the Erie Junior Philharmonic and the University Heights Symphonic Band, both as Music Director, along with professorships in conducting at Mercyhurst University, Hiram College, and Lakeland Community College.

In October 2025, he made his debut with the Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra, conducting the “Bellevue Festa Latina” concert; he has also conducted at Severance Hall in Cleveland and Benaroya Hall in Seattle. His work has brought him to the podium alongside Alan Baer (Principal Tuba, New York Philharmonic), John Rautenberg (former Associate Principal Flute, Cleveland Orchestra), John DiCesare (Principal Tuba, Seattle Symphony), Joshua Lauretig (Second Oboe, Buffalo Philharmonic), and Ken Johnston (former Concertmaster, Erie Philharmonic).

The American symphonic tradition of the twentieth century sits at the center of Salvaggio’s artistic practice. He programs Hanson, Creston, and Diamond because he finds the music compelling and believes its near-disappearance from most concert seasons is a real loss. In November 2023, he conducted the premiere recording of Robert Gross’s Concerto for Tenor Saxophone and Nine Instruments on Penumbra, released on New Focus Recordings. Michael Tilson Thomas shaped much of how Salvaggio understands that tradition; he followed MTT’s work closely for years, attended his final concert with the San Francisco Symphony in April 2025, and built the CRO’s 2025–26 tribute program from a long-held admiration for what MTT gave to American musical life.

A second-prize winner of The American Prize in Conducting, Salvaggio has been covered by Cleveland Classical and Erie News Now and has spoken on programming, leadership, and the role of orchestral institutions on the ClassicalQueer, Podium Time, and Everything Band podcasts.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Akron and a Master of Music in Conducting from Kent State University, where he studied with Scott Seaton and Wayne Gorder. That undergraduate background in the social sciences informs how he thinks about orchestras and the communities they serve. Additional conducting study in symposia with Mallory Thompson, Donald Hunsberger, Kenneth Kiesler, and Craig Kirchhoff, among others.

BIOGRAPHY. Hsing-Hui Hsu is the music director and co-founder of the Emerald City Chamber Orchestra, a Seattle-based ensemble specializing in string repertoire. She has been a guest assistant conductor with the Seattle Symphony, and has also guest conducted the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, Saratoga Orchestra, Seattle Festival Orchestra, and Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra. She was a founding member of the Amazon Symphony Orchestra and served as Music Director, collaborating with other arts organizations in the Seattle area as well as charitable organizations such as Mary’s Place. Hsing-Hui is currently in her second season as assistant conductor of Harmonia Orchestra and Chorus.

In addition to conducting, Hsing-Hui is an active clarinetist. Last season, she served as
acting principal clarinetist with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra, where she also serves as
bass clarinetist. She has played with the Pacific Northwest Opera, Sustain Music Project,
Tacoma Opera, Seattle Philharmonic, Philharmonia Northwest, Seattle Metropolitan
Chamber Orchestra, and Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra. She received her Bachelors of
Music in clarinet performance from Rice University, where she also served as Music
Director of the Rice Light Opera Society.

STATEMENT. One of the first things that impressed me when learning about the PTSO was the orchestra’s relationship to new music. It is not only willing, but excited to explore composers and sounds that are not yet a part of the established canon. So many community ensembles prefer to stick with the safe, the familiar, but PTSO embraces the new while still celebrating and learning from the pillars of symphonic repertoire.

The enthusiastic use of music as outreach to the wider community through programs such as the chamber music series and young artists’ competition is another facet that assures me of the orchestra’s commitment to making music a part of everyday life for the citizens of Port Townsend. 

These things tell me that the PTSO is a group of dedicated musicians ready to learn and grow as individual players and as an ensemble, while providing high quality performances to enrich the lives of their audience – what more could a conductor dream of?

BIOGRAPHY. Faith Foster is a versatile musician with an equal passion for performance and education. She has shared this passion as music director for multiple community ensembles and award winning youth orchestras as well as guest conducting with professional symphonies and ballet companies. As a violist and violinist, Faith has performed internationally as a chamber musician, touring with an experimental ensemble in England, Scotland and New Zealand. 

Her performances represent a wide variety of genres, including traditional symphonic programs,  opera and musicals, and boundary-breaking new works by living composers. She holds a DMA in orchestral conducting, conferred by the Catholic University of America in Washington DC, where she studied with Simeone Tartaglione and Murry Sidlin. Notable conducting engagements include a concert with the European American Musical Alliance Chorale in the historic Schola Cantorum of Paris, a fully staged production of La Boheme with the CUA opera department and two world premieres with the American Modern Ensemble in New York.

A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Faith grew up performing both classical and folk music with her equally talented siblings. She has recently relocated to the Seattle area with her partner and their two cats, and is excited to integrate into the rich musical community of the PNW. 

STATEMENT. The position of Artistic Director and Conductor of the Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra is an opportunity for me to continue to practice and improve my craft and to share my accumulated experience as a professional musician. I relish the opportunity to lead an established orchestra in a culturally vibrant community. I believe I can foster growth of the PTSO and build on the artistic achievements of the orchestra while nurturing an esprit de corp. I will encourage the orchestra to expand their season and presence in the community over the next several years, focusing on supporting local musicians and collaborations with all arts groups.

BIOGRAPHY. Swiss American Thomas A. Blomster recently retired as Music Director of the Colorado Chamber Orchestra and the Douglas County Youth Orchestra. He has performed in Scotland, Germany, Morocco, Mexico, across the USA, and has numerous recordings as composer, arranger, conductor, and percussionist. He has led the following ensembles on the podium: the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, the Denver Chamber Orchestra, the Boulder Brass, the Mile High Community Band, the Denver Pops Orchestra (formerly the Mostly Strauss Orchestra), and was founder and Music Director of the Mercury Ensemble for eleven years. 

Thomas began his percussion studies at age four with professor John Galm at CU Boulder, and during high school spent four summers studying at the Aspen Music Festival, where he worked with Aaron Copland, Elliot Carter, Krystof Penderecki, and members of the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony. After high school Thomas studied with members of the Berlin Philharmonic and then began his college studies at the University of Louisville, KY. He joined the Louisville Orchestra, working with composers Karel Husa, Morton Gould, Michael Colgrass, Lukas Foss, David Amram, Claude Baker, Maestro Lawrence Leighton Smith and many others. 

Thomas has a BM from Metropolitan State College of Denver and a MA in Conducting from the University of Denver. He pursued further conducting studies with Gunther Schuller, Kenneth Kiesler, Glenn Block, and Brian Priestman. As a percussionist he performed with the following orchestras: Theatre des Westens (Berlin, Germany), Louisville Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria (Mexico City), Evansville (IN) Philharmonic, Denver Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Ballet Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and was Percussionist and Artist in Residence at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Denver for ten years.

During the summer of 2017 Maestro Blomster was the first Western composer and conductor to work with the State Morin Khuur Ensemble (traditional instrument ensemble) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where he conducted the premiere of his composition Postcards To Mongolia. The score of the composition is now housed at the 2000+ year old Mongolian National Archive. His composition, A Brighton Serenade, is the title cut for The Mercury Ensembles’ CD for Sonora Productions. He also arranged and recorded German composer Markus Reuter’s Todmorden 513, a one hour algorithmic composition.

Thomas’ baton once belonged to Frederick Fennel and is a gift from his mentor and teacher Dr. William Nichols, who received it as a gift from Dr. Frederic Fennel.