Victoria Bond
Victoria Ellen Bond (born 6 May 1945) is an American conductor and composer. Life. Victoria Bond was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of operatic bass and medical doctor Philip Bond (a vocalist with the New York City Opera) and concert pianist Jane Courtland. Her grandfather was a composer, conductor and double bass player by the name of Samuel Epstein. The family later moved from California to New York, and Bond studied piano at the Mannes School of Music with Nadia Reisenberg. She was a featured vocalist with Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies. Her first foray  into conducting began as a guest conductor for the Senior Citizens Orchestra of Los Angeles, California, at the invitation of one of her early music teachers. She continued her studies in composition with Ingolf Dahl and voice with William Vennard at the University of Southern California, and in conducting with Leonard Slatkin at Aspen. She was accepted into the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied composition with Roger Sessions and conducting with teachers including Herbert von Karajan. She graduated with a doctoral degree in Orchestral Conducting. Bond married Stephan Peskin in 1974. She recorded vocals with Bethany Beardslee and  for Harry Partch’s "Delusion of the Fury". She also assisted film composer Paul Glass in creating filmscores for Universal and Metromedia Studios. Bond became an Exxon/Arts Endowment Conductor with the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1978, and in 1986 was invited to conduct the Houston Symphony for the premiere of her work "Ringing". She has served as artistic director of the Bel Canto Opera Company in New York, music director and conductor of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of the Southwest Virginia Opera, the Harrisburg Opera and the New Amsterdam Symphony. She also composed the opera "Mrs. President