With over 60 volunteer musicians and support staff, the Kingwood Pops membership has grown in leaps and bounds since its inception and continues to expand with every season. Below you can find links to profiles of our conductor and concertmaster, the official Pops roster, and the current Pops officers.

Conductor Gary Liebst began conducting the Kingwood Pops Orchestra in 1998. Having served as Professor of Music and Director of Bands at North Harris College for 13 years, Mr. Liebst became Dean of Visual, Applied, and Performing Arts in 2005. Mr. Liebst holds a Master's of Music Performance from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He now enjoys being both an administrator and conductor and continues to direct the orchestra as an adjunct professor through Kingwood College. This award-winning professor, clinician, adjudicator, and conductor lives in Kingwood with his wife, LeeAnn, and their four children: Kimberly, Evan, Alec, and Carley.

Concertmaster Shirley Astwood graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor's of Music Education from Fort Hays State University, Kansas, and holds a Master's of Music in violin performance from Texas Tech University. She has served with acclaim as high school orchestra director and district program administrator for La Porte ISD and orchestra director at Riverwood Middle School and has taught in the Pasadena, Lubbock, and Dodge City (Kansas) school districts. Ms. Astwood frequently returns to teach at the Texas Tech Band and Orchestra Summer Camps and has also performed with the Lubbock Symphony and is a past concertmaster of the Pasadena Philharmonic. She lives in Kingwood with her husband, Michael, and their two sons, Anthony and Alden.

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