Leadership
Joseph Alcocer
Mr. Joseph Alcocer joined the YYO as Music Director in 2022. Alcocer is the Director of Orchestras at Tappan Middle School in Ann Arbor. He also maintains a thriving private studio in Ypsilanti. Alcocer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in violin performance from Huston-Tillotson University and a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Texas at El Paso. He is familiar with the challenges many music students have faced during the pandemic and is eager to join the YYO in growing our Orchestra program and our Pre-Orchestra classes.
Matasha W. Allen
Ms. Matasha W. Allen is the Director of Operations for the YYO. She sang and played the viola while attending Shelby County Public Schools in Shelbyville, Kentucky. As a child, she recruited family and friends to perform her original songs on her grandparents' patio. Her teachers encouraged her to study music in college. Ms. Allen earned a Bachelor of Music degree concentrating in Vocal Performance from Fisk University in Nashville. An experienced early childhood caregiver and teacher, Ms. Allen loves children, believing that “It takes a village to raise a child.” She is excited to be a member of the YYO “village,” supporting the students' talents.
Board of Directors
Kasia Bielak-Hoops, President/Board Chair
Austin Stewart, PhD, Vice President
Kira Berman
Kristin Anne Danko
Anthony Flournoy
June Guthrie
Advisors
Bruce Galler, PhD
Mary Steffek Blaske
LIFE MEMBErs
William R. Hayes, Founder and Music Director Emeritus
Verna Julimairis Hayes, President Emerita
William R. Hayes
Founder and Music Director Emeritus of the Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra. Mr. Hayes has a passion for music. Whether it is composing, arranging, and adapting scores and parts for the YYO, arranging for and directing the crowd-pleasing Cadillac Area Symphony and the Traverse City Civic Players, re-creating classic rags for River Raisin Ragtime Revue, or playing his bass on Sunday mornings at church, this passion influences every aspect of his musical being. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Southern Illinois University and a Master of Music degree from Western Illinois University. In 2011, he was recognized in a Special Tribute from Michigan Governor Snyder and members of the State Legislature for his personal commitment to the many young people who share his love and appreciation of music.
Verna J. Hayes
President Emerita of the Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra. Mrs. Hayes comes from a family who highly valued education, and she became a part of this legacy at age four when she was hired at $.05 a day to teach the two children next door to read. Upon graduation from Crystal Negro High School in Crystal Springs, Mississippi she entered Tougaloo Southern Christian College, earning a bachelor’s degree in English, and a master’s degree in English from Emory. During her more than forty years teaching, Mrs. Hayes vowed she would never become an administrator of anything. She has been the president of the YYO since 2005.