David Mairs
Music Director

In 2009-2010, David Mairs will celebrate his fourteenth season as Music Director of the Mid-Texas Symphony. Our audiences appreciate both his outstanding musicianship and his enthusiasm for sharing the joys of music and music making.

Mairs began his professional career playing Solo Horn for the elite U.S. Army Band in Washington, D.C. Following his military service, he became Associate Principal Horn of the Pittsburgh Symphony, Solo Horn of the Pittsburgh Opera and Ballet, and a member of the New Pittsburgh Quintet brass ensemble.

Mairs’ interest in conducting led him to the Flint Symphony where he served as Assistant Conductor and Music Administrator. He moved to the San Antonio Symphony in 1988 where he served as Resident Conductor for the next eleven years and has frequently returned as a guest conductor. While in San Antonio, in addition to classical concerts, Mairs led audience-pleasing pops, educational and family concerts and hosted the weekly “Symphony Spotlight” on KPAC radio.

In 1990, Mairs made his Houston Symphony debut. He was re-engaged for the 1991 season and returned in 1997 for a series of three concerts. Mairs has conducted leading orchestras around the country including the Dallas, Colorado Springs, Dayton, Austin, Saginaw Bay, Phoenix, Charlotte, West Shore, Kansas City, and Ft. Worth symphonies. He is an annual guest with the Flint Symphony, conducting both symphonic and ballet performances. Mairs’ Family Concerts with the Flint Symphony have been televised since 1998.

Mairs devotes time and energies to the community in many areas, especially those related to children and music education. He has served as Conductor of Orchestras at UTSA, Music and Administrative Director of the North East School of the Arts, and Music Director of the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio. Mairs inspires and engages children of the Mid-Texas region at our four children’s concerts each season. He frequently conducts All-State bands and orchestras and twice has been invited to lead sessions of the prestigious American Symphony Orchestra League Conductors’ Workshop.

A renaissance musician, Mairs has been a sought-after composer and arranger of orchestral, band, and choral music for over thirty-five years. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Divinity degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. His wife Beth is a music educator and member of the Mid-Texas Symphony horn section.

Eugene Dowdy
Assistant Conductor

This season, the Mid-Texas Symphony welcomes new appointed Assistant Conductor Dr. Eugene Dowdy. Gene will also begin his thirteenth year as head of orchestral studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio where he serves as the music director and conductor of the UTSA Orchestra and conductor of the UTSA Lyric Theatre. Gene has collaborated with such distinguished artists as opera composer Seymour Barab (world premiere), jazz greats Chris and Dan Brubeck, cellist Ken Freudigman, violinist and Cactus Pear Music Festival Director Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio, and the internationally celebrated Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan. Under Gene’s leadership, the UTSA Orchestra performed in Monterrey and Saltillo at the invitation of the Mexican government and with the All State College Choir at the Texas Music Education Association conference.

Gene is an active guest-conductor of regional orchestras, festivals and contests throughout Texas and the Midwest, including nine summers on the faculty at Interlochen. Recent engagements include the Georgia and Iowa All-State Orchestras, Mexico’s Camerata de Coahuila, and the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio where he serves as Resident Conductor.

Active in many professional and honorary music organizations, Gene currently is President of the Texas Chapter of the American String Teachers Association and is a Past President of the Texas Orchestra Directors Association. Gene has performed as a section violinist with the Mid-Texas Symphony many times, including some concerts with his late father, Warren Dowdy, who occasionally played horn with the orchestra in the 1980s.

Gene received a Doctoral degree in conducting from the University of Iowa under James Dixon, a Master’s degree in music education from UTSA, and a Bachelor’s degree with a Violin Performance Certificate from the University of Texas at Austin. Gene and his wife Stacy count two musicians as daughters, Jessica (piano) and Rachel (cello).

Aaron Hufty
Choral Director

This season, the Mid-Texas Symphony welcomes Aaron Hufty as its choral director. Aaron has served as artistic director of the San Antonio Choral Society for the last four seasons and, this past May led the Choral Society’s debut at Carnegie Hall with a performance of Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore. In addition, he directs the University of Texas Women’s Chorus. In his eight years as vocal music director of O’Connor High School, the choral program grew to nearly 250 students with eight performing ensembles. Highlights included a performance at Carnegie Hall and a private concert for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor at the Supreme Court building in Washington D.C.

A strong advocate for choral music in the region, Aaron sang for four years with the San Antonio Symphony Mastersingers and is a charter member and section leader of the San Antonio Chamber Choir. Aaron also served as chorus master for the Lyric Opera of San Antonio’s productions of Carmen (children’s chorus), Don Giovanni, and The Barber of Seville.

Aaron received his B.S. in Music Education in 1997 from Northwest Missouri State University and his Master of Music in Choral Conducting in 2001 from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He began post-graduate work with Dr. John Dickson at Texas Tech University and is pursuing his doctoral studies with Dr. James Morrow at the University of Texas at Austin. Aaron lives in New Braunfels with his wife April and daughter Rachel.