Nick Mosley, Conductor & Musical Director

Nick Mosley is proud to be a part of the thriving West Michigan music community.  In fall of 2021, Nick became the music director of the Shoreline Community Orchestra, based in Muskegon, Michigan.  He is also in his 22nd year as a school music educator, with the last twelve years as the orchestra director at Mona Shores Middle School.  In addition to his school ensembles, he also directs a thriving middle school fiddle program and summer strings camp.  Nick has served on the board of the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association District VII, and was named the MSBOA District VII 2022-23 Orchestra Teacher of the Year.  He currently serves on the board of the Michigan Chapter of the American String Teacher Association, and has presented at the Michigan Music Conference.

Nick holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and organ performance from Western Michigan University, and earned his master’s degree in conducting from Southern Oregon University.  He also serves at Forest Park Covenant Church as the Assistant Director of Worship, regularly accompanies students at Solo & Ensemble Festivals, and is a frequent performer in the community.  Nick and his wife, Maggie, have two string-playing children, Alexander and Eliana, and reside in Grand Haven.

Brian J. Olian, Guest Conductor

Brian J. Olian is currently in his twenty-first year at Reeths-Puffer Schools in Muskegon, Michigan. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Michigan State University (2004) and a Master of Music Degree from Sam Houston State University (2010). Mr. Olian is the current conductor of the Reeths-Puffer Middle School Bands. During his time at Reeths-Puffer, he has been the Director of the High School Symphony Band, assistant Director of the Marching Band, and has overseen the growth of the beginning band program at Reeths-Puffer Intermediate School. In addition to his work with the students at Reeths-Puffer Schools, Mr. Olian has been an active member of the conducting faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, a position he has frequently held since the summer of 2005. In 2011-2012, Mr. Olian was honored to be selected as the inaugural recipient of the Dr. Harry Begian Conducting Fellowship at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Mr. Olian has also been a guest conductor with the West Michigan Concert Winds and has conducted the Winds at both the Red Cedar Festival and the Motor City Brass Band Festival, and in 2016 he guest conducted the Winds at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Mr. Olian has also served as the conductor of West Michigan Concert Winds’ Summer Sousa Band. In 2008, he was chosen as the conductor of the District 7 Middle School Honors Band, and in 2009 a recipient of the ASBDA’s Outstanding Potential Award for early career excellence in band education.

Oscar is a Mona Shores alumni and current undergrad student at Western Michigan University studying music composition and viola. The fiddle programs and orchestras at Mona Shores were extremely influential in fostering his love for music and music communities, and he continues to find joy in writing and playing viola with his friends. Oscar also enjoys taking care of his plants and snake, baking, and playing board games.

Bear, 16, has been playing cello for eight years. He also plays guitar and sings. Bear currently performs with the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony and the Shoreline Community Orchestra in the summer, and was honored to serve as 2nd chair cellist in the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp’s Advanced Strings Camerata. He also plays in his own string quartet, Fourth Movement Strings, which allows him to explore chamber music more deeply and collaborate closely with peers.

For Bear, making music is all about “the sense of community and building something with other people. There’s nothing that compares to making beautiful art with people.”

In the future, Bear plans on going to college studying music education and cello performance.

James Sheckler is a recently retired music educator who had the pleasure of teaching instrumental music for over 30 years. James has also enjoyed a diverse performance background including symphony orchestras, wind ensembles, opera orchestras, musical pit orchestras, brass ensembles, woodwind quintets, and mixed chamber ensembles.

James presently performs with several groups in the Grand Rapids, Muskegon, and Grand Haven areas including the Shoreline Community Orchestra, West Michigan Concert Winds, and the Grand Rapids Symphonette Community Chamber Orchestra. James also had the experience of Performing at Carnegie Hall in New York with the West Michigan Concert Winds under the direction of Gail Brechting and in Times Square with the Carnegie Hall Weill Music Educator’s Institute Orchestra under the direction of conductor, Marin Alsop.

Allen Beck has been playing French Horn for over 68 years. He studied with Kaid Friedel of the St. Louis Symphony while working on his Electrical Engineering degree at Washington University, St. Louis. Though never playing Horn for a living, he has performed with numerous Ensembles over the years including international tours in Europe and China. He has been a featured soloist on French Horn, Alto Horn, Alphorn and Theremin.

Anita is from the White Lake area where she started her musical journey with the Montague band program. She gained orchestral experience while playing with the West Shore Youth Symphony and attended both Interlochen and Blue Lake music camps. During her teen years, she studied with Helen Dauser. Following graduation from the University of Michigan, Anita joined the West Michigan Concert Winds and has been a member for over 20 years. Anita has also performed with the West Michigan Flute Orchestra and Chamber Choir, while studying with Darlene Dugan. She joined the Shoreline Community Orchestra in 2013 and plays principal flute.

Allison began playing the flute in fifth grade, inspired by her musical father. A Hope College graduate, she has performed for more than forty‑five years and currently plays with the Shoreline Community Orchestra, having performed previously with the West Michigan Flute Association and West Michigan Concert Winds. When not performing, Allison works as the Director of Human Resources for SAF‑HOLLAND, Inc. and enjoys traveling the world with her husband Scott. Music continues to bring her great joy and fulfillment.

Michele Wheeler has enjoyed playing Oboe for over 50 years. She is a graduate of Ludington High School and received her business degree from Campbell University in North Carolina. She played Oboe and English Horn for eleven years with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra before she and her husband returned to Michigan to pursue their careers and raise their 2 sons. Currently residing in Whitehall, she has played music with the West Michigan Concert Winds since 1993, and the Shoreline Community Orchestra since 2013. She has served on the Board of Directors for each of these organizations. Michele is retired after 23 years plus 5 tax seasons from Brickley DeLong, PC where she was a manager. She credits her love of music to “keeping her sane”, especially during tax seasons!

Michael Hanley is a bassoonist and finance professional based in the Midwest. He began playing bassoon in high school and continued through college, studying under the renowned director Harry Begian. Michael earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Illinois in 1980 and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

After several years of performing in his early professional life, Michael stepped away from music for four decades. In 2024, he resumed playing, joining the West Michigan Concert Winds and rekindling his passion for performance. He also performs occasionally with the Shoreline Community Orchestra.

Through these musical experiences, Michael became connected with Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, where he volunteered and participated in the Symphonic Band Clinic as part of the Lifelong Arts program.

Professionally, Michael works as a finance and accounting consultant, serving clients in the Grand Rapids and Chicago areas

Sidney Yin is a Chinese-Canadian pianist born in Hong Kong and now based in the Midwest. After emigrating to Canada with his family in 1991, he continued his musical studies and later trained at The Juilliard School in New York, where he also served as a Teaching Fellow. He went on to earn his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University in 2012 and also served on the faculty at Loyola University in Baltimore.

Sidney’s performing career began after winning top prizes in major Canadian piano competitions, including the British Columbia Festival of the Arts, the Shean Piano Competition, and the International Pacific Piano Competition. He was also awarded the Royal Conservatory of Music’s ARCT Gold Medal for the highest score in Canada. As a guest soloist, he has performed with orchestras including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, among others. He has also appeared at venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Juilliard Theatre.

Professionally, Sidney now works as a Project Manager in the Data & Analytics department at Farmers Insurance.

Matt Lintula has been a member of the West Michigan Concert Winds since 1987, playing trumpet, saxophone, percussion and clarinet.

His interest in trumpet was influenced by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass and by Al Hirt. High school band gave him his first opportunity to play the music he liked so much and when his band teacher started a jazz band, jazz performance became a motivator to learn and grow as a musician.

In more recent years, Matt has studied on two occasions with the Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band from Los Angeles. He went for a week at a time, working with top pros on technique and musical excellence. He also studied with Lynn Asper and Gregg Good in Grand Rapids.

In addition to the WMCW, Matt performs with the Truth In Jazz Orchestra, Lakeshore Big Band, Big Band Nouveau, the Tom Allport Band, as well as his own Starry Night Octet and Quartet. He has learned to play numerous instruments, but is proficient in trumpet, saxophone, and clarinet.

Music performance is a both a challenge and a joy for Matt. “Improvisation is something I can’t explain. The brain just composes on the fly.” And, all in all, he admits he likes the intellectual challenge of performance and improvising.

But performance isn’t just about solos. Matt enjoys the ensemble work as well. “It’s hard to explain the feeling you get when the group is playing tight and all the pieces come together.,” he says. “And it’s fun when the audience shows how much they enjoy it.”

Matt holds three Bachelors degrees: One in biology, one in chemical engineering, and one in electrical engineering, and was employed by several local companies over the years as an electrical engineer. Matt and his wife, also a WMCW musician, live in Norton Shores and, over the years have had 25 exchange students share their home. Nearly all have played with the WMCW during their stay. Mihiro Tanaka is one of our current students. Additionally, they welcome foreign students from time to time who are visiting the area. “We do it for enjoyment,” Matt says, but also to help the students to understand what the United States is – it’s not just what they see in the news.

Mihiro Tanaka, an exchange student from Japan this year at Mona Shores High School, has had an unusual journey to playing euphonium tonight. She studied piano from age 5 to 12 with private lessons. During that time, she also started taking private lessons on violin for 8 years, playing in a junior orchestra, and then the strings club during high school.

While in junior high school, she discovered the school did not have string opportunities, so she signed up for band class, and chose the euphonium. The junior high music teacher was not a brass player, so she figured out how to play on her own, with no lessons.

When she arrived here to attend Mona Shores High School this year, she had not played euphonium since junior high. Her host parents encouraged her to play it in the marching band, as well as playing her violin in the school orchestra. She got her "chops" back in shape during marching season, and was selected as the first chair euphonium in the high school Wind Ensemble.

At the suggestion of her host dad, she also joined one of the high school jazz bands, and figured out the slide positions to be able to play trombone, even tutoring some of the other trombone players in her section.

Mihiro has not yet chosen her career path, but is considering studying law back in Japan.