Orchestra Director, James Caswell, is currently serving his 12th year on the faculty at McNeil High School. An Austin native, Mr. Caswell received his Bachelor of Music degree in performance and music education from the University of Texas Butler School of Music. His career led him to Vienna, Austria where he studied opera, music history and German literature while touring Europe as a trumpet soloist with the Duke University Wind Ensemble. After returning to the United States, Mr. Caswell taught for five years at James Bowie High School in Austin, Texas.  He then served as Apprentice Conductor with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.  In 1996 Mr. Caswell earned a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Utah where he also held the position of Assistant Conductor.  After graduation, he was named Music Director of the Salt Lake Symphony; a position he held for nine years.  During this time, he appeared regularly as a guest conductor throughout the Intermountain West and Mexico.  Among the orchestras he has conducted are, The Utah Symphony, The Orquesta Sinfonica Carlos Chavez,  The New Mexico Symphony, The Ruby Mountain Symphony, The Madeleine Festival Orchestra,  and The University of Utah Philharmonia.  His conducting teachers include Jorge Mester, Roger Melone and Robert Debbaut.   As a trumpeter, Mr. Caswell has performed as a soloist throughout the United States and Europe and still enjoys teaching trumpet students. Missing his family and classroom teaching, he returned home to teach orchestra and music theory at McNeil High School where he plans to stay for a while.