Frances M. Dial, OTY Chamber Orchestra Music Director & Conductor, received her undergraduate degree in cello performance from the University of North Carolina. She pursued graduate studies in cello at the Manhattan School of Music and the Julliard School, under the tutelage of Bernard Greenhouse and Leonard Rose, and postgraduate studies with Paul Tortelier at the Folkwang Hochschule fuer Musik und Kunst in Essen, Germany. Mrs. Dial has also been privileged to study conducting with Lawrence Eisman at Queens College, and Miriam Burns, assistant conductor for the New York Philharmonic.

She has been a freelance performer in New York City and in Westchester County, and since moving to Long Island, she has continued her performing activities. Mrs. Dial was formerly the orchestral director at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York, and director of the Youth Training Orchestra at the Westchester Conservatory of Music.

Mrs. Dial has been teaching in schools in the New York metro region for many years, and is currently active as a teacher and conductor in the Garden City schools.

Linda Tomkiw, OTY String Orchestra Music Director & Conductor, graduated from Queens College with a Masters in Secondary Music Education. She studied violin with Rafail Sobolevsky, renowned Russian Violinist and faculty member of the Moscow Conservatory. She has been the New Hyde Park Memorial High School Orchestra Director for 25 years. Mrs. Tomkiw is a regular member of the Island Chamber Symphony, directed by Jeremy Kempton.