Keith Allen was born and educated in London - he was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, studying clarinet with Basil Tchaikov and piano with Bernard Roberts. He subsequently undertook post-graduate studies in Education at Birmingham University; has been awarded a Fellowship of Trinity College, London, and also holds a Bachelors degree from Kingston University and a Masters degree from Thames Valley University. He played clarinet and saxophone in numerous orchestras, and has worked with the City of Birmhingham Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was the Saxophone Tutor at Birmhingham Conservatorie and also held various posts with the Birmhingham Education Department, including, from 1987-1992 being the Head of Music Service for the city.
Keith Allen founded the 45 strong Birmhingham Symphonic Winds in 1992 to meet the demand of players in the area wanting to perform with a high quality wind ensemble. Since then BSW has represented the UK at the 1997 WASBE Conference held in Schldming, Austria, and performed a Gala Concert at the 1999 RNCM International Wind Festival in Manchester, and again in 2004. At Easter 2000, BSW gained First Prize at the 4th International Wind Band Festival in Strasbourg, France. In December 2003, BSW were in Chicago, as the first UK ensemble ever to perform a concert at the prestigious Midwest Clinic. BSW were also invited to perform at the 2007 WASBE Conference in Killarney, Ireland. BSW has been presenting its own concert series annually at the prestigious CBSO Centre in Birmingham since 1998.
Keith Allen is an experienced conductor and adjudicator who has been working with a wide range of orchestras, choirs and youth ensembles for a number of years. He has conducted at many of the major concert halls in the UK, including the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London; Fairfield Hall, Croydon; Symphony Hall and Town Hall in Birmhingham; The Sage Gateshead. As well as being an accomplished woodwind and keyboard player, Keith Allen has always retained an active interest in vocal music and has been the Musical Director for over 40 shows.
Keith Allen has been responsible for many premiere performances by British, American and European composers (Malcolm Arnold, Benjamin Britten, David Bedford, Mark Camphouse, Nigel Clarke, Michael Daugherty, Jonathan Dove, Martin Ellerby, Kenneth Hesketh, Soren Hyldgaard, Jay Kennedy, David Maslanka, David Matthews, Mike Mower, Geoffrey Poole, Philip Sparke, Kit Turnbull and Guy Woolfenden) both in this country and abroad, and has worked with a number of distinguished soloists, including Katya Apekisheva (piano), Richard Baker (broadcaster), Alison Balsom (trumpet), Juliette Bausor (flute), David Childs (euphonium), Robert Childs (euphonium), Jack Gibbons (piano), Evelyn Glennie (percussion), Philip Mead (piano), Linda Merrick (clarinet), John Nettles (actor), Craig Ogden (guitar), Simone Rebello (percussion), Owen Slade (tuba), Frank Wibaut (piano) and Sarsh Williamson (clarinet).
Keith Allen is the Musical Director of Birmhingham Symphonic Winds, Director of NCBF (National Concert Band Festival), Artistic Director of a number of international festivals including the London International Wind Band Festival adn the 'Wand of Youth' Festival, Costa del Maresma, Spain. He has conducted Solihull Youth Wind Ensemble since May 2004 and in September 2005 was appointed conductor of Katabatic Winds, the new regional youth wind ensemble based at The Sage Gateshead. His busy schedule includes adjudicating at numerous music festivals across the UK and also Music for Youth, plus tutoring on the annual European Youth Summer Music Corse. At the end of 2001, he spent a month conducting and promoting British music in Australia and from 1999-2004 he was the Consultant Editor for the Faber Music Wind Band Series. In May 2004, he was invited to conduct British repertoire at St. Thomas University in Minnesota and in March 2006 presentd a lecture at the CBDNA Conference at NorthWestern University, Illinois and been invited to conduct at a number of American Universities in 2009.
Jim Bonney (b. 1971) is the Audio Director at Irrational Games currently working on BIOSHOCK INFINTE. Previously, he was a Composer and Project Audio Director for Midway Chicago, where he was Audio Lead for MORTAL KOMBAT: ARMAGEDDON, and created music and sound design for John Woo’s STRANGLEHOLD, as well as BLITZ: THE LEAGUE and BLITZ: THE LEAGUE 2, BALLERS PHENOM, and SLUGFEST 2.
Jim is also a founding member of the composer-consortium BCM International: four stylistically-diverse composers, dedicated to enriching the repertoire with exciting works for mediums often mired in static formulas. BCM’s music has generated a following of champions around the world, several thousand fans in an active online community, and two recordings: “BCM Saves the World” (2002, Mark Custom Records) and “BCM Men of Industry” (2004, BCM Records).
As a guitarist, Jim has recorded with the Empire Brass (on Telarc Records), and as a studio musician for numerous film scores, including The Meaning of the Blues, Alligator Alley, and the TV series Chicago Hope. He is also a regularly-featured soloist for his electric guitar concerto, Chaos Theory, as well as performing his other compositions for guitar and wind orchestra, Angels with Dirty Faces and Diabolus Ex Machina.
While living in Los Angeles, Jim was a ghostwriter for the television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer andThe Weekenders. He has also scored numerous short films, documentaries, commercials, casual and casino games, and industrial videos.
Jim graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1994 with a double degree in Classical Guitar Performance and Audio Recording Technology. He completed the Advanced Studies program in “Scoring for Motion Picture and Television” at the University of Southern California in May of 1999, and participated in the 1999 ASCAP Film Composer’s Workshop.
Jim currently resides in the Boston area, with his wife Nicki and their two daughters.
Steven Bryant (b. 1972, Little Rock, AR) is an active composer and conductor with a varied catalog, including works for wind ensemble, orchestra, electronic and electro-acoustic creations, chamber music, and music for the web.
Steven's music has been performed by numerous ensembles across North America, Europe, and East Asia. He is a three-time winner of the National Band Association's William D. Revelli Composition Award: in 2010 for Ecstatic Waters, in 2008 for Suite Dreams, and in 2007 for his work Radiant Joy. His first orchestral work, Loose Id for Orchestra, hailed by celebrated composer Samuel Adler as "orchestrated like a virtuoso," was premiered by The Juilliard Symphony and is featured on a CD release by the Bowling Green Philharmonia on Albany Records. Alchemy in Silent Spaces, a new large-scale work commissioned by James DePreist and The Juilliard School was premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra in May 2006.
Other notable commissions have come from the Amherst Saxophone Quartet (funded by the American Composers Jerome Composers Commissioning Program), the University of Texas - Austin Wind Ensemble, the US Air Force Band of Mid-America, the Japanese Wind Ensemble Conductors Conference, and the Calgary Stampede Band, as well as many others. Recordings include multiple releases by Eugene Corporon and the University of North Texas Wind Symphony, the Ron Hufstader and the El Paso Wind Symphony, William Berz and the Rutgers University Wind Ensemble, and Thomas Leslie and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Wind Orchestra. Steven has also created a recomposition of the Iggy Pop and the Stooges song, "Real Cool Time," for the independent Italian record label, Snowdonia, as well as music for portions of the Virtual Space Tour at space.com.
Steven is a founding member of the composer-consortium BCM International: four stylistically-diverse composers from across the country. BCM's music has generated a following of thousands around the world and two recordings: "BCM Saves the World" (2002, Mark Custom Records) and "BCM Men of Industry" (2004, BCM Records).
Steven studied composition with John Corigliano at The Juilliard School, Cindy McTee at the University of North Texas, and Francis McBeth at Ouachita University. He resides in Durham, NC. For more information, please visit his website at http://www.stevenbryant.com.
A product of the rich cultural life of Chicago, composer-conductor Mark Camphouse was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1954. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Music from Northwestern University, where he studied conducting with John P. Paynter, composition with Alan Stout, and trumpet with the late Vincent Cichowicz. A scholarship from the prestigious Civic Orchestra of Chicago (Training Orchestra of the Chicago Symphony) enabled Camphouse to study trumpet privately for two years with legendary Chicago Symphony Principal Trumpet Emeritus, Adolph Herseth.
Camphouse began composing at an early age, with the Colorado Philharmonic premiering his First Symphony when he was 17. His works for wind band (Alfred, Kjos, Southern, and TRN Music Companies) have received widespread critical acclaim and are performed widely in the U.S. and abroad. Many may be heard on the Albany, Citadel, and Summit labels.
Camphouse has served as a guest conductor, lecturer and clinician in 40 states, Canada and Europe. He was elected to membership in the American Bandmasters Association in 1999 and has served as coordinator of the National Band Association Young Composer Mentor Project since 2000. He conceived and edits the unique multi-volume book series for GIA, Composers on Composing for Band.
Camphouse is Professor of Music at George Mason University, where he conducts the wind symphony and teaches courses in conducting and composition.
David Gillingham earned Bachelor and Master Degrees in Instrumental Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and the PhD in Music Theory/Composition from Michigan State University. Dr. Gillingham has an international reputation for the works he has written for band and percussion. Many of these works are now considered standards in the repertoire. His commissioning schedule dates well into the first decade of the 21st century. His numerous awards include the 1981 DeMoulin Award for Concerto for Bass Trombone and Wind Ensemble and the 1990 International Barlow Competition (Brigham Young University) for Heroes, Lost and Fallen. Dr. Gillingham's works have been recorded by Klavier, Sony and Summit and Centaur. His works are regularly performed by nationally recognized ensembles including the Prague Radio Orchestra, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Wind Ensemble, The University of Georgia Bands, North Texas University Wind Ensemble, Michigan State University Wind Ensemble, Oklahoma State Wind Ensemble, University of Oklahoma Wind Ensemble, Florida State Wind Ensemble, University of Florida (Miami) Wind Ensemble, University of Illinois Symphonic Band, Illinois State Wind Symphony, University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble, Indiana University Wind Ensemble and the University of Wisconsin Wind Ensemble. Also, nationally known artists, Fred Mills (Canadian Brass), Randall Hawes (Detroit Symphony) and Charles Vernon (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) have performed works by Dr. Gillingham. Over sixty of his works for band, choir, percussion, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments are published by C. Alan, Hal Leonard, Southern Music, Music for Percussion, Carl Fischer, MMB, T.U.B.A, I.T.A., and Dorn. Dr. Gillingham is a Professor of Music at Central Michigan University and the recipient of and Excellence in Teaching Award (1990), a Summer Fellowship (1991 and a Research Professorship (1995). He is a member of ASCAP and has been receiving the ASCAP Standard Awared for Composers of Concert Music since 1996.
James Gourlay was born in Scotland where, at the age of ten, he was ‘volunteered’ to play in his school brass band. Being tallest in class, he was serendipitously given the tuba, an instrument he loves and continues to promote all over the world.
After much success as a solo champion, James entered the Royal College of Music but left after a short time to become, at eighteen, the Principal Tuba of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Four years later, he took up the same position with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with which he performed for ten years. He then performed for a further ten years with the Orchestra of the Zürich Opera.
James’s career as a chamber musician has been extensive. He has been a member of the Philip Jones and English Brass Ensembles with which he has toured the world. As a soloist, he performs extensively. He has recorded five solo CDs, the latest, British Tuba Concertos, recorded for the Naxos label, with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, has received international critical acclaim.
James Gourlay’s work within the Brass Band movement forms a vital component of his creative output. After early success with the Brass Band Berneroberland, he became music director of the Williams Fairey Band with which he won the English Masters and British Open Contests. James has also been professional conductor of the Grimethorpe Colliery and the Brighouse and Rastrick bands and has recently won the Swiss Open Championship conducting the fantastic Brass Band Treize Etoiles.
James Gourlay’s commitment to music education is a continuing passion. He has been Head of Wind and Percussion at the Royal Northern College of Music and Deputy Principal and Music Director at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Scotland’s International Conservatoire. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Salford University, a Masters Degree from Leeds University, a Fellowship of the Royal Northern College of Music, a Fellowship of the London College of Music and is a recipient of the Iles Medal, presented by the Worshipful Company of Musicians for services to the Brass Band Movement. Currently, James is International Vice President of the International Tuba and Euphonium Association and Director of Music of the world famous Grimethorpe Colliery Band.
Dr. Timothy Mahr is a professor of music at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he is the Conductor of the St. Olaf Band and teaches courses in composition, conducting and music education. Previous to his 1994 appointment at St. Olaf College, Mahr was Director of Bands at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, for ten years and taught instrumental music at Milaca High School (MN) for three years. Mahr is the principal conductor of the Twin Cities-based Minnesota Symphonic Winds and, while in Duluth, was the founder and conductor of the Twin Ports Wind Ensemble. He is Past President of the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association (1999-2001), and has served on the Board of Directors of the National Band Association (1996-98) and was a founding board member of the Minnesota Band Directors Association. He is presently the North Central Division Representative on the CBDNA Commissioning Committee.
Active in 35 states as a guest conductor and clinician, Mahr has also appeared professionally in Norway, Mexico, Singapore, and Canada. He has been in residence as a guest composer/conductor on over thirty college and university campuses and has twice conducted performances with the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra. In the past five academic years Mahr conducted all-state bands in Montana, Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Wyoming, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Kansas and North Dakota, and he has been engaged to conduct the Delaware All-State Band and the Florida 9th and 10th Grade All-State Band in 2006. His interpretations have earned the praise of notable composers such as Gian Carlo Menotti, Warren Benson, Vincent Persichetti, Ned Rorem, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Stephen Paulus, Libby Larsen, David Maslanka, Dominick Argento and Dan Welcher. Under Mahr's baton, the St. Olaf Band traveled to Norway in 1996, Britain and Ireland in 2000, and took a study tour of Mexico during January, 2004. Additionally, the St. Olaf Band performed at the 1997 American Bandmasters Association Convention in San Diego, gave its New York City debut at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in 2003 and performed in Minneapolis at the 2004 National Convention of the Music Educators National Conference. The St. Olaf Band traveled to Norway again in June 2005, this time alongside the St. Olaf Orchestra and St. Olaf Choir in a tour celebrating the centennial of Norway's peaceful independence from Sweden. Since 1994, the St. Olaf Band has produced nine compact disc recordings, four of which have received international acclaim.
Mahr is well known as a composer and has over 50 works to his credit, many of which are published for band. He received the 1991 ABA/Ostwald Award for his piece, The Soaring Hawk. Five other works have been finalists in national band composition contests. His works have been programmed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, numerous national and international music conferences and in twenty countries on four continents. This year Mahr will premiere commissioned works with a consortium of the high schools of the Lake Conference in the metro area of the Twin Cities, and the Northfield High School Concert Band. He has recently contracted commissions with the Shakopee (MN) and Bowling Green (OH) high school bands, The University of Iowa Symphony Band and the Lawrence University (WI) Wind Ensemble. His works are recorded on the Sony, Citadel, Crest, Mark, GIA, Cafua and St. Olaf labels. He has been the subject of interview articles in Clarino: Internationale Zeitschrift für Bläsermusik (July/August, 1997), The Instrumentalist (March, 1995) and BDGuide (March/April, 1993) and has authored articles for major music journals. He is a contributor to the new text, Composers on Composing for Band (2002), edited by Mark Camphouse, and his scholarly and compositional work is cited in Frank Battisti's The Winds of Change (2002).
Mahr was the first recipient of a commission from the American Bandmasters Association Commissioning Project, and the resultant work, Endurance, was premiered by the United States Interservice Band in Washington, DC. He has received over 30 commissions including works for the U.S. Air Force Band, the Music Educators National Conference, Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma (National Honorary Band Fraternities), the Nebraska and Indiana Bandmasters Associations, and a work celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the American School Band Directors Association. He is a recipient of the National Band Association's "Citation of Excellence" and was elected in 1993 to membership in the American Bandmasters Association. Mahr was recently inducted into his alma mater's Hall of Excellence at LaCrosse Central High School.
Mahr (b. 1956) graduated with two degrees summa cum laude from St. Olaf College in 1977 and 1978 (B.M. Theory/Composition and B.A. Music Education). In 1983 he received the Master of Arts degree in Trombone Performance from The University of Iowa, where in 1995 he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Instrumental Conducting.
Mahr is married to Jill Mahr, musician and educator, and they have two daughters, Jenna and Hannah.
Jonathan Newman composes music rich with rhythmic drive and intricate sophistication. A recipient of the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Newman creates broadly colored musical works, often incorporating styles of pop, blues, jazz, folk, and funk into otherwise classical models.
Upcoming projects include Vivid Geography, a new work for women's chorus and chamber orchestra commissioned by the 2011 Japan Wind Ensemble Conductors Conference and the University of Houston. Recent commissions include Stereo Action for percussion ensemble, Sowing Useful Truths, written for the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and Symphony No. 1 - My Hands Are a City, a wind ensemble consortium commission based on themes of mid-century American Beat Culture. Other recent works include Concertino, for flute solo, chamber winds, and piano, premiered in 2008 by a ten-ensemble consortium, The Vinyl Six, written for the chamber group Avian Music, arrangements of electronica for Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin (Cantaloupe), premiering at the 2005 Lincoln Center Festival, and Metropolitan, premiered by the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. As a MacDowell Colony Fellow, he began work on an opera based on the 1962 cult horror film Carnival of Souls, in collaboration with playwright Gary Winter.
Born in 1972, Newman holds degrees from Boston University's School for the Arts (MusB), where he studied composition with Richard Cornell and Charles Fussell and conducting with Lukas Foss, and The Juilliard School (MusM), where he studied with composers John Corigliano and David Del Tredici and conducting with Miguel Harth-Bedoya. At Juilliard, his collaborative works for dance enjoyed multiple performances at The Juilliard Theater, Alice Tully Hall, P.S. 122, and Dance Theater Workshop. Early training includes Boston University Tanglewood Institute and the Aspen Music Festival where he studied with composers George Tsontakis and Bernard Rands.
Newman's catalog for wind ensembles includes My Hands Are a City, recorded by the University of Georgia Wind Ensemble (Naxos), As the scent of spring rain..., recorded by Tokyo's TAD Wind Symphony (Basic Video Arts) and the University of New Mexico (Summit), Climbing Parnassus, commissioned and recorded by the 2008 Japan Wind Ensemble Conductors Conference (Brain Music), Avenue X, recorded by the Gotham Wind Symphony (ArtistShare), and Moon by Night, 2003 winner of the bi-annual NBA/Merrill Jones Composition Award. His work with the University of Nevada Las Vegas Wind Orchestra includes Chunk, a 2003 commission and title track of their 2004 CD release (Mark Custom Records), and OK Feel Good, a 1999 commission recorded on 3 Steps Forward (Klavier). The Rutgers Wind Ensemble has recorded three of his ensemble works on three CDs (Mark Custom Records), including Moon by Night, Uncle Sid, and The Rivers of Bowery.
Newman is a founding member of the composer-consortium BCM International: four stylistically-diverse composers from across the country, dedicated to enriching the repertoire with exciting works for mediums often mired in static formulas. BCM's music has generated a following of champions around the world, several thousand fans in an active online community, and two recordings: BCM Saves the World (2002, Mark Custom Records) and BCM Men of Industry (2004, BCM Records). He resides with his wife Melissa Schlachtmeyer, a costume designer, and their daughter Amelia, in New York City.
Dario Sotelo is graduated in Piano, Violin, Viola and Fine Arts and, in 1983 joined the Conservatory of Tatuí – one of the most important school of music in Brazil, nowadays with more than 3000 students of all instruments. In 1984 he formed his first child orchestra and since 1986 he has been in charge of the String Department.
In this position he formed many orchestras and developed major projects, such as the children’s opera. “The Plague and the Intriguer” by Mario Ficarelli, with the participation of 100 children and 30 technicians team. This opera was recorded and broadcasted over the State of São Paulo during two years on TV Cultura during Children’s Day. Other projects he worked on: “Christmas Cantata” by Ernest Mahle, and the ballet “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Edson Beltrami.
In 1991 Dario Sotelo received a scholarship from British Council to take the Master Degree in Conducting at “City University” of London, when he studied with Ezra Rachlin, disciple of the great conductor Fritz Reiner. As part of this course, he conducted four concerts, in one of them as a special guest.
Back to Brazil in 1993, Sotelo was invited to be the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Brazilian Wind Orchestra and Pedagogic Coordinator and Conductor of 4 Wind Festivals in Tatuí – 1993, 1994, 1997 and 1998. He also has participated as a teacher in the Campos do Jordão Winter Festival an Curitiba Music Workshop.
In 1998 he conducted music of Brazilian composers in three concerts during the Brazilian Music Festival, in Wattwill – Swiss. In 2000 he went to Hungary for lectures on Brazilian music, conducting two concerts and recording the “Sinfonia nº 1”- Villani-Côrtes and “Retratos do Brasil” – Brazilian Portraits of Hudson Nogueira, for the Hungarian State Radio.
In 2002 was the general coordinator of the “I South-America Conference for Composers, Arrangers and Conductors of Symphonic Band”
In 2002 he was invited by the University of Minnesota-Morris, for a series of four lectures and four concerts, and in 2003 conducted tree concerts during the JanFest at the University of Georgia-Athens.
Dario Sotelo has worked very close to Brazilian composers and arrangers such Hudson Nogueira, Villani-Côrtes, Sergio Vasconcellos-Correa, Edson Beltrami, Antônio Carlos Neves, Mário Ficarelli, promoting Brazilian music through new commissions, premiering their music with the Brazilian Wind Orquestra and the Paulista Symphonic Orquestra, and also preparing editions and reviewing traditional composers such as Villa-Lobos and Claudio Santoro.
Philip Sparke was born in London and studied composition, trumpet and piano at the Royal College of Music, where he gained an ARCM.
It was at the College that his interest in bands arose. He played in the College wind orchestra and also formed a brass band among the students, writing several works for both ensembles.
At that time, his first published works appeared - Concert Prelude (brass band) and Gaudium (wind band). A growing interest in his music led to several commissions, his first major one being for the Centennial Brass Band Championships in New Zealand – The Land of the Long White Cloud.
Further commissions followed from individual bands, various band associations and the BBC, for whom he three times won the EBU New Music for Band Competition (with Slipstream, Skyrider and Orient Express). He has written for brass band championships in New Zealand, Switzerland, Holland, Australia and the UK, including three times for the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall, and his test pieces are constantly in use wherever brass bands can be found.
A close association with banding in Japan led to a commission (Celebration) from and eventual recording of his music with the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. This opened the door worldwide to his wind band music and led to several commissions, particularly from the United States. In 1996 the US Air Force Band commissioned and recorded Dance Movements, which won the prestigious Sudler Prize in 1997. In September 2000 he was awarded the Iles Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians for his services to brass bands. In 2005 Music of the Spheres won the National Band Association/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest.
His conducting and adjudicating activities have taken him to most European countries, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and the USA. In May 2000, he took the major step of becoming a full-time composer by founding his own publishing company, Anglo Music Press. The company is devoted to publishing his brass band, concert band, fanfare band and instrumental publications as well as recordings dedicated to his latest works.
Dr. Jack Stamp is Professor of Music, Chairperson of the Music Department and Director of Band Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and teaches courses in graduate conducting. Dr. Stamp received his Bachelor of Science in Music Education degree from IUP, a Master's in Percussion Performance from East Carolina University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Conducting from Michigan State University where he studied with Eugene Corporon.
Prior to his appointment at IUP, he served as chairman of the Division of Fine Arts at Campbell University in North Carolina. He also taught for several years in the public schools of North Carolina. In addition to these posts, Dr. Stamp served as conductor of the Duke University Wind Symphony (1988-89) and was musical director of the Triangle British Brass Band, leading them to a national brass band championship in 1989.
Dr. Stamp's primary composition teachers have been Robert Washburn and Fisher Tull, though he was strongly influenced by his music theory teachers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and East Carolina. Other studies include work with noted American composers David Diamond, Joan Tower and Richard Danielpour.
He is active as a guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and composer throughout North America and Great Britain. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by leading military and university bands across the United States. He has won the praise of American composers David Diamond, Norman Dello Joio, Ron Nelson, Michael Torke, Samuel Adler, Robert Ward, Robert Washburn, Fisher Tull, Nancy Galbraith and Bruce Yurko for performances of their works. He is also a contributing author to the "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band" series released by GIA Publications.
In 1996, he received the Orpheus Award from the Zeta Tau Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha for service to music and was named a "Distinguished Alumnus" of Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In 1999, he received the "Citation of Excellence" from the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association. In 2000, he was inducted into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. He was awarded the title of "University Professor" for the 2008-2009 academic year at IUP. This is the highest award the university gives to a professor.
He is founder and conductor of the Keystone Winds, an ensemble dedicated to the performance of American band music. Two CD recordings on the Citadel label entitled "Past the Equinox: The Music of Jack Stamp" and "Cloudsplitter" by the Keystone Wind Ensemble with the composer conducting feature his band works. He is founder and conductor of this ensemble, and also leads them on the Citadel releases, "Night Fantasy: The Wind Music of Robert Ward", "Divertimento: Wind Music by American Composers", "Celebrations", "Wind Visions: The Music of Samuel Adler", "Songs of Abelard", "Pageant", "Cornerstones", and "Out of the Depths". He has also initiated a new series on the Klavier label which boasts three releases which include composer interviews: "The Composer's Voice: The Music of Norman Dello Joio", "The Composer's Voice: The Music of H. Owen Reed", "The Composer's Voice: The Music of William Schuman". "The Composer's Voice: the Music of Alfred Reed", "The Composer's Voice: The Music of Ron Nelson", and the newest release, "Leroy Anderson - The Phantom Regiment and Other Tales".
Frank Ticheli's music has been described as being "optimistic and thoughtful" (Los Angeles Times), "lean and muscular" (New York Times), "brilliantly effective" (Miami Herald) and "powerful, deeply felt crafted with impressive flair and an ear for striking instrumental colors" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel). Ticheli (b. 1958) joined the faculty of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music in 1991, where he is Professor of Composition. From 1991 to 1998, Ticheli was Composer in Residence of the Pacific Symphony, and he still enjoys a close working relationship with that orchestra and their music director, Carl St. Clair.
Frank Ticheli's orchestral works have received considerable recognition in the U.S. and Europe. Orchestral performances have come from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Dallas Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, the radio orchestras of Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Saarbruecken, and Austria, and the orchestras of Austin, Bridgeport, Charlotte, Colorado, Haddonfield, Harrisburg, Hong Kong, Jacksonville, Lansing, Long Island, Louisville, Lubbock, Memphis, Nashville, Omaha, Phoenix, Portland, Richmond, San Antonio, San Jose, and others.
Ticheli is well known for his works for concert band, many of which have become standards in the repertoire. In addition to composing, he has appeared as guest conductor of his music at Carnegie Hall, at many American universities and music festivals, and in cities throughout the world, including Schladming, Austria, at the Mid-Europe Music Festival; London and Manchester, England, with the Meadows Wind Ensemble; Singapore, with the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band; and numerous cities in Japan, with the Bands of America National Honor Band.
Frank Ticheli is the winner of the 2006 NBA/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest for his Symphony No. 2. Other awards for his music include the Charles Ives and the Goddard Lieberson Awards, both from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Walter Beeler Memorial Prize, and First Prize awards in the Texas Sesquicentennial Orchestral Composition Competition, Britten-on-the-Bay Choral Composition Contest, and Virginia CBDNA Symposium for New Band Music. He is a national honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and he was named by the American School Band Directors Association as the 2009 recipient of the A. Austin Harding Award, bestowed to individuals "who have made exceptional contributions to the school band movement in America."
Frank Ticheli received his doctoral and masters degrees in composition from The University of Michigan. His works are published by Manhattan Beach, Southern, Hinshaw, and Encore Music, and are recorded on the labels of Albany, Chandos, Clarion, Klavier, Koch International, and Mark Records.
Eric Whitacre is one of the most popular and performed composers of our generation. His first experiences singing in his Las Vegas college choir changed his life, and he completed his first concert work, Go, Lovely, Rose, at the age of 21. Eric went on to the Juilliard School (New York), earned his Master of Music degree and studied with Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning composer, John Corigliano.
Recent and forthcoming commissions include works for the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Julian Lloyd Webber and the Philharmonia Orchestra, Rundfunkchor Berlin, The King’s Singers and Conspirare. His musical, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, won both the ASCAP Harold Arlen award and the Richard Rodgers Award, and earned 10 nominations at the Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards. A versatile composer, he has also worked with legendary film composer, Hans Zimmer, co-writing the mermaid theme for feature film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Eric’s ground-breaking Virtual Choir 1.0, Lux Aurumque, on YouTube received over a million views in just 2 months, featuring 185 choir members from 12 countries. Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 2.0 Sleep, released in April 2011, involves over 2,000 voices from 58 countries. An exceptional orator, he was honored to address the U.N. Leaders’ programme (2010) and give a TED Talk (TED.com, March 2011) earning the first full standing ovation of the conference.
Signing a core classical recording contract with Universal/Decca, Whitacre joined the handful of composers to have secured an exclusive, long-term recording deal. His debut album, Light & Gold, released in October 2010, became the No 1 Classical Album in the US and UK charts within a week. His music has been featured on multiple commercial and independent recordings. Whitacre has also recently joined Storm’s Special Bookings division which was set up to run alongside the model agency to source prestigious commercial and creative collaborations for clients beyond the fashion industry. Among leading sportsmen and actors, Storm Special Bookings also represent other musicians including Michael Bublé, Paolo Nutini and Lily Allen.
An accomplished composer, conductor and lecturer, Eric was a Visiting Fellow and Composer in Residence at Cambridge University (Sidney Sussex College, UK) in 2010, addressed the UN Leader’s programme, and closed the first session of the TED conference in California in March 2011, speaking about his Virtual Choir. As a conductor, Whitacre has appeared with hundreds of professional and educational ensembles throughout the world. In the last ten years he has conducted concerts of his choral and symphonic music in the US, Japan, Australia, China, Singapore, South America and much of Europe. In October 2010, Whitacre conducted the world premiere of Songs of Immortality, a work commissioned by the London Symphony Chorus with the London Symphony Orchestra at The Barbican Centre in London. Conducting engagements in 2010-11 include appearances in Auditorium Theatre (Chicago), Carnegie Hall (NY), Disney Hall (LA), in Japan, Germany and other European cities including London.
Many of Whitacre’s works have entered the standard choral and symphonic repertories and have become the subject of several scholarly works and doctoral dissertations. His works Water Night, Cloudburst, Sleep, Lux Aurumque, A Boy and a Girl are among the most popular contemporary choral works. His Ghost Train, Godzilla Eats Las Vegas and October have achieved equal success in the symphonic wind community. Whitacre has received composition awards from the Barlow International Composition Competition, the ACDA and the American Composers Forum. In 2001, he became the youngest recipient ever awarded the coveted Raymond C. Brock commission by the ACDA. Eric Whitacre is one of four judges for the Abbey Road 80th Anniversary Anthem Competition and will conduct the recording of the winning entries with professional singers and the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road studio one this autumn.
Eric Whitacre was born in Nevada (U.S.) and currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife (Grammy award winning soprano, Hila Plitmann) and their son.