Melissa Livings – Director of Orchestras – Pearce HS
Melissa Livings began her music career in the Paris ISD band programs. Under the direction of director and mentor, Mr. Gary Meggs, she was a flutist in the Paris HS Wind Ensemble, bassist in the PHS Jazz Band and Drum Major of the Wildcat Marching Band.
From 1996-2002, Mrs. Livings was inspired to military service by her HS band director and joined as the youngest member of the 531st Texas Air National Guard (TxANG) Band. During her periods of active duty service with the Guard, she performed in many concerts throughout the United States and beyond, including an international tour to the Czech Republic in 1999.
In 2000, Mrs. Livings graduated cum laude from the University of Texas at Arlington with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. She acquired her initial exposure to the orchestral world as the principal flutist in the UTA Symphony. Under the direction and support of conductor, Dr. Chris Lanz, and master teacher, Dr. Anne Witt, Livings chose to pursue a teaching career in orchestra. In 2009, she completed her Master’s Degree in Music Education (also at UTA) where she studied theory intensively with professor, Dr. Graham Hunt, education with Dr. Diane Lange and conducting with Dr. Clifton Evans.
Mrs. Livings began her career as Head Director of the Pearce Orchestra in 2000. Since that time, membership in the orchestra program has more than quadrupled. Under her direction, Pearce has consistently earned many honors and accolades (UIL and otherwise) and competed successfully both in and out of Texas. Mrs. Livings is also the enthusiastic teacher of two sections of AP Music Theory at Pearce HS. She serves as a Reader and Leader for the College Board AP Music Theory Exam and regularly works as a Consultant for AP Music Theory workshops around the country.
Mrs. Livings is a current member of the Texas Music Educator’s Association (TMEA), Texas Orchestra Director’s Association (TODA), and the Texas Music Adjudicator’s Association (TMAA). She is an active adjudicator and clinician and serves as a volunteer on the region and state level in many capacities.
Mrs. Livings resides in Richardson, TX with husband, Forrest, and daughter, Echo. She enjoys reading, cycling, Pilates and spending time with family and friends (particularly her colleagues).
Nick Nickerson – Associate Director of Orchestras – Pearce HS
Mr. Nickerson grew up in Duncanville, Texas, where he began his musical studies playing bassoon and saxophone in the storied band program there, and later, with the Greater Dallas Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Nickerson earned a Bachelor of Music from Louisiana State University, majoring in bassoon performance with a minor in Spanish. At LSU, he studied bassoon with Prof. Gabriel Beavers and Dr. Darrel Hale, and conducting with Dr. Dennis Llinás. He is proud to have played bassoon and contrabassoon in numerous solo and chamber music recitals, LSU’s top orchestras and wind ensembles, and performances with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra in Lafayette.
Mr. Nickerson holds a Master of Science in Music Education from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He played contra/bassoon in the JSOM Chamber, Concert, and Philharmonic Orchestras, the Wind Ensemble, and in the Opera pit. He also studied strings pedagogy and applied violin with Dr. Brenda Brenner, with additional pedagogy courses under Prof. Mimi Zweig. During his two years at IU, Mr. Nickerson taught violin part-time with both the Fairview Violin Project and the IU String Academy. He then taught elementary general music for a semester in southern Indiana, followed by two years as Director of Orchestras at Westlane Middle School in Indianapolis.
Mr. Nickerson lives in the Bishop Arts District of Oak Cliff with his two cats, Mimi and Artemis, an ever-growing collection of houseplants and garden veggies, and his husband, Rory, who teaches English I at Pearce. While Mr. Nickerson’s taste in music spans many centuries and genres, he has a particular love for the grandeur of late-Classical and Romantic Era symphonic composers like Beethoven, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Mahler. His favorite conductors are Jaap van Zweden and Leonard Bernstein, and his favorite “non-classical” artists are Radiohead and Nina Simone.
David Moran – Director of Orchestras – North JH
Mr. Moran fell in love with music when he was a child in Tulsa, beginning his studies with piano at age 7, and continuing with viola at age 10, flute at age 11, and, finally, hammered dulcimer at age 12. His interest in the dulcimer led him to compete in and win several regional and national contests, culminating with the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship in 1982 when he was just 15.
Mr. Moran pursued a degree in Music Education with a minor in flute performance from the University of Tulsa, winning the Presser Award for Excellence in Music Education in 1989. While at TU, he studied flute with Jan Dailey and Susan Klick, alto saxophone and clarinet with Dwight Dailey, and music composition with William Heinrichs. He graduated in 1990, and went to the University of North Texas to further his studies in composition. His composition professors at UNT included Cindy McTee, Newell Kay Brown, and Joseph Klein. Mr. Moran completed his Master’s Degree in Music Composition in 1994.
Mr. Moran was simultaneously principal flute with the University of Tulsa Wind Ensemble, and lead alto sax with the Lab Band. On dulcimer, he performed in the Houston and Dallas premieres of George Crumb’s Quest with the Da Camera Society and Voices of Change. Additional dulcimer performances include Ephemerides by Robert Keefe, Hymnody of Earth by Malcolm Dalglish, and several recordings for radio, TV, and film. Mr. Moran continues to clinic and perform at acoustic music festivals across the country, including the Summer Solstice Festival in Los Angeles, Kentucky Music Week in Bardstown, Kentucky, the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, and the Kentucky Music Weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. He also teaches annually at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas.
In 2010, Mr. Moran collaborated with Melissa Roth, choir director at North Junior High, on an arrangement of the traditional American folk song “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair,” which has since been published by Alliance Music Publications.
Mr. Moran lives in Richardson with his wife and son, and enjoys baseball, cooking, reading history, and burning stuff with a magnifying glass.
Sophie Gibbons – Director of Orchestras – Parkhill JH
Sophie Gibbons began playing the violin in Montana when she was 5 years old. While in her youth, she was a student of the Suzuki Strings Method and went on to become the concertmaster of the All-State Montana Orchestra for two years as well as being invited to play for the All-Northwest Orchestra. She attended many music programs such as Birch Creek Music Performance Center, Brevard Music Center and Kinhaven Music School. Sophie then went on to study violin at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. There she earned a Bachelors of Music (Violin), a Minor in Marketing and studied violin performance under the tutelage of Ellen Jewett (Former Audubon String Quartet Member).
After graduating, Sophie went on to perform professional shows in Montreal at the Segal Center of Performing Arts for two years. She then returned to Montana where she played for the Helena Symphony Orchestra as the principal violist for a season. Sophie was then struck by the travel bug and accepted an ESL teaching position in South Korea. There, she met her husband and welcomed two incredible children.
Sophie and her family moved to Richardson from South Korea in 2017. Upon moving to Richardson, Sophie returned to her love of music and has run a successful private music teaching studio. She has been one of the primary violin & viola master class instructors at Parkhill Junior High as well as the 4th grade math and science teacher at Northrich Elementary in RISD for the past 4 years.
While Sophie is not busy teaching or playing music, she and her family continue to travel the globe any chance they get. She enjoys reading, cycling, spending time with family and looking after her two dogs.