Dr. Gus, as he is affectionately known, earned his Doctorate in Opera/Musical Theatre Conducting at Arizona State University where his dissertation focused on Benjamin Britten as a conductor and musical interpretation and his Master’s degree at Butler University in Indianapolis with a double major in Instrumental Conducting and Music History. He also holds a Bachelors of Music in Music Theory from Southwestern University.

Dr. Gus has been on staff with the Austin Civic Orchestra since 2014, currently serving as their Associate Conductor, having also previously performed with the ensemble in the horn section from 2002-2007. In addition to conducting the educational concert, Link-Up, and the Austin ISD Music Memory Contest, Dr. Gus leads the annual outdoor Pops Concert in June and the Great Masked Waltz Ball for the University of Texas Ballroom Dance Society.

Dr. Gus joined the staff of Abiding Love Lutheran Church in South Austin in 2021 as their Director of Worship and Arts, overseeing all aspects of the music program, worship planning, and media technology. In addition to leading the Sanctuary Choir in weekly service, Dr. Gus occasionally joins the band Mixed Blessings on guitar, and directs the biannual Cantata Choir and Orchestra, recently having led Handel’s Messiah and John Rutter’s Requiem.

From 2018-2024, Dr. Gus served as the Music Director for the Heart of Texas Chorus, an acappella barbershop chorus in San Marcos, and worked as an active clinician with the Barbershop Harmony Society. His passion for stagecraft can also be seen on display with Austin’s One Ounce Opera as their Technical Director.

Dr. Gus has conducted a variety of ensembles from small chamber groups to full size orchestras, and has worked with ensembles from middle school through collegiate, amateur, and professional organizations on three continents. He has conducted orchestras, opera and musical theatre productions, wind ensembles, and choral organizations. In 2013, he received an AriZoni Award nomination for Best Music Direction in a Non-Contract Theatre for Little Women: The Broadway Musical at Arizona State University.

A strong advocate for technology in the classroom, Dr. Gus has taught music technology courses at multiple universities, and has been actively involved with the Association for Technology in Music Instruction (ATMI), where he presented a paper on OpenSource music notation software in 2010.

Dr. Gus spends his free time playing tabletop games with his wife, teaching his two children the finer points of musical theatre, and practicing his passion for lutherie and painting miniatures. He feels Menotti is the epitome of English text setting, but always comes home to Beethoven. He enjoys a good pun, but loves a really bad one. And coffee. Lots of coffee.