John Bitter served as the Dean of the School of Music at the University of Miami from 1950-1963. He also conducted the UM Symphony Orchestra. Bitter was a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA. He was a student of Artur Rodzinski and Emil Mlynarski for conducting, a student of William Kincaid and Georges Barrere for flute, and a student of Rosario Scalero for composition. He conducted the Jacksonville Symphony from 1934-1937, and the Florida Federal Symphony from 1937-1939. He was also a guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Radio Italiana, the Hamburg Philharmonic, and other European symphonies from 1945-1950.
Clark Mixon Emery was born in 1909 in Marysville, California. Receiving his PhD in literature, Clark taught at Oregon State, University of Indiana, and the University of Miami. Emery is a renowned Ezra Pound scholar, known for his 1958 monograph Ideas Into Action; A Study of Pound's Cantos.