At the Lied Center...

Teaching Artists

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  Alicia Olatuja

  Featured Instructor
  Alicia Olatuja

  Featured Instructor

  Biography:

  "Olatuja possesses a special instrument: a full-bodied tone, precise pitch and personal engagement at the lowest whisper or highest wail." -Downbeat 

  Praised by the New York Times as “a singer with a strong and luscious tone and an amiably regal presence on stage”, Alicia Olatuja has been astounding audiences with her exquisite vocals, artistic versatility and captivating demeanor. She first came into the national spotlight in 2013, whilst performing as the featured soloist with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir at President Barack Obama’s Second Inauguration. Shortly thereafter, she assembled her own jazz based ensemble and recorded her first solo album, Timeless (2014). 

  Originally from St. Louis, MO, Alicia grew up immersed in a wide range of musical styles, including gospel, soul, jazz and classical. These influences have informed her artistic journey, and she later graduated with a Masters degree in Classical Voice/Opera from the Manhattan School of Music. After appearing in numerous operatic and musical theater productions, she started to perform more regularly in gospel and jazz concerts and worked with such esteemed artists as Chaka Khan, BeBe Winans and Christian McBride. 

  In 2014, Alicia came to the attention of the acclaimed composer/arranger/pianist Billy Childs, and was brought on to be part of the touring incarnation of “Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro” alongside vocalist Becca Stevens. The project has begun an extensive nationwide tour for the 2015-16 season in cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin, Denver, Tallahassee, New York, and Boston. 

  Her voice has also entranced the legendary Hammond B3 organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, and she has recently performed with him at multiple events including the Charlie Parker Festival and the BRIC JazzFest. 

  Alicia’s own band, over the past year, has been steadily in demand, and they have performed at the Jazz Standard, Vermont Jazz Center, Sioux Falls JazzFest, Rockport Jazz Festival, Markham Jazz Festival, Monty Alexander Jazz Fest, and the Harlem Stage Gatehouse, to name a few. 

  
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  Donna Gunn

  Guest Instructor
  Donna Gunn

  Guest Instructor

  Biography:

  In a career spanning more than 30 years, Donna is a never-ending seeker who delights in playing to her audience; whether at a conference or workshop on the coasts, an outreach performance in a small community, an all-school residency performance, or while teaching in her private studio. In 2018, Donna premiered the solo piano score of composer John Muccino’s The Great Train Robbery during a screening of the historic silent movie during a Great Plains Arts Museum’s First Friday event. Donna’s ongoing passion to dig deep culminated in her book, Discoveries from the Fortepiano, published by Oxford University Press in 2015. Research for the book was supported by MTNA, NMTA, and The Piano Technicians Guild. Donna has presented workshops related to this scholarship for the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, the MTNA National Conference, and continues to lead workshops and seminars throughout the United States. Donna resides in Lincoln, NE where she enjoys working her private studio students.

  
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  Greg Simon

  UNL GLENN KORFF SCHOOL OF MUSIC ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMPOSITION, AREA HEAD FOR COMPOSITION AREA OF FOCUS: COMPOSITION, JAZZ STUDIES
  Greg Simon

  UNL GLENN KORFF SCHOOL OF MUSIC ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMPOSITION, AREA HEAD FOR COMPOSITION AREA OF FOCUS: COMPOSITION, JAZZ STUDIES

  Biography:

  D.M.A. University of Michigan, 2015
  M.M. University of Colorado Boulder, 2010
  B.A. University of Puget Sound, 2007
   

  Greg Simon is Assistant Professor of Composition (Concert/Jazz/Commercial) in the Glenn Korff School of Music. He oversees the Flyover New Music Series and is the director of the UNL Jazz Orchestra, as well as teaching courses in composition, orchestration, jazz arranging/improvisation, and special topics in musicology. During the summer, Dr. Simon serves on the composition artist-faculty at the Brevard Music Center.

  Dr. Simon’s works have been performed by ensembles and performers around the country, including Alarm Will Sound, the Fifth House Ensemble, the Playground Ensemble of Denver, and the California All-State Symphonic Band. He has presented work at conferences for the American Band College, the College Band Directors’ National Association, the World Saxophone Congress, and the North American Saxophone Alliance, as well as being featured in radio and digital broadcasts from Pendulum New Music and WFMT. Dr. Simon won second prize in the Moscow Conservatory's 2020 New Classics Competition, and first prize in the National Association of Composers/USA (NACUSA) 37th Annual Young Composer's Competition; other awards and honors include the Brehm Prize in Choral Composition from the University of Michigan, the POLYPHONOS national commission from the Esoterics, and first prize in the TorQ Percussion Quartet’s first annual Composition Competition, with further recognition from Phantom Brass, the Pacific Chorale, and CBDNA, among others. Dr. Simon was the recipient of the 2018 Nebraska Music Teachers' Association Commission and the 2015 Young Composer-in-Residence for the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings. His music is published by Hal Leonard; and recordings are available from the Blue Griffin, Equilibrium, Open G, Fifth House, SMS Classical, and Terpsichore labels, as well as in the Naxos of America catalogue.

  As a jazz trumpeter, Dr. Simon studied with Bill Lucas, Ellen Rowe, and Brad Goode. He’s performed with the Marcus Lewis Big Band, the Shawn Bell Quartet, the Rhythm Society Orchestra, the Jodi-Renee Band, and many others, at venues ranging from The Jewell jazz club in Omaha to Brooklyn's Shapeshifter Lab; and played in the bands of The Temptations, Hannah Huston, and Andrew Dost of fun. As part of his ongoing efforts to bridge the classical and jazz worlds, he’s premiered and presented works for improvising musicians by a variety of composers, including Stephen Rush, Hunter Ewen, Michael Theodore, and himself. Currently, Dr. Simon plays trumpet/flugelhorn alongside his colleagues in the UNL Faculty Jazz Ensemble, and is an active freelancer in the Lincoln and Omaha jazz communities. He also stays busy as a jazz pedagogue, having worked with the Detroit Symphony Civic Jazz Orchestra and given clinics at the Westside Jazz Festival and the University of Michigan Jazz Festival. Currently, he is working on a series of compositions for mixed jazz/concert ensemble with electronics.

  Prior to his appointment at UNL, Dr. Simon taught at Concordia University Ann Arbor, the Metropolitan State University of Denver, and the University of Colorado. 

  More information is available at www.gregsimonmusic.com.

  
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  Jason Michael Webb

  Broadway Music Director, Arranger, and Composer
  Jason Michael Webb

  Broadway Music Director, Arranger, and Composer

  Biography:

  2019 Special Tony Award recipient and Drama Desk winner, Jason Michael Webb is a composer, lyricist, musical director, producer and arranger. From conducting orchestras in Broadway pits to writing and arranging music for a President’s inauguration, Jason has dedicated his life to using music to heal, uplift and encourage. 

  Mr. Webb’s early musical training consisted of formal classical study, playing in small churches and listening to pop music. By 21, he had a degree in classical piano, played in the biggest churches in New York City and made his orchestral solo debut with the Queens Symphony. 

  He then went on to become Musical Director of the six-time Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle, for whom Mr. Webb co-wrote and produced four albums for The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, leading to two Stellar Award nominations and a Dove Award win. His arrangement of BTC’s “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was featured at the 2013 inauguration of President Barack Obama and simultaneously heard by over one billion people worldwide.

  Mr. Webb wrote music and lyrics for Kenny Leon’s production of Much Ado About Nothing, running currently in Central Park (Shakespeare in the Park, The Public Theater) (also Music Supervisor/Incidental Music). His writing can also be heard on the hit TV series “Empire” (Fox), Netflix film “Juanita” (starring Alfre Woodard), recording projects and original musicals, including the new South African musical “WiLDFLOWER” (currently in development with NBT/Apollo Theater).

  Mr. Webb will receive a 2019 Special Tony Award for his "outstanding arrangements" in Tarell Alvin McCraney’s breathtaking play “Choir Boy” (MTC). He is also a Drama Desk nominee for Outstanding Original Music. 

  He served as Musical Director of the gorgeous Tony-, Emmy- and Grammy-winning 2016 Broadway Revival of "The Color Purple", directed by John Doyle and based on the timeless novel by Alice Walker. Mr. Webb is now currently Music Director/Arranger for Cynthia Erivo, who won a 2016 Tony Award as Celie in the Broadway Revival.

  Other credits include Associate Production Music Supervisor for The Greatest Showman (20th Century Fox); Musical Director and Arranger/Adaptor for Disney’s “Frozen: Live at the Hyperion” (Anaheim, CA); and Associate Musical Director of Broadway shows including Berry Gordy’s “Motown: The Musical”, Alan Menken’s “Leap of Faith” and Jeanine Tesori’s “Violet” (also Additional Arrangements).

  Mr. Webb has appeared as a Pianist onstage with Dame Shirley Bassey, Michael Bolton, Cece Winans, and Chaka Khan. He has conducted live and recording orchestras from New York to LA, including internationally acclaimed pianist Lang Lang’s 2016 love letter to NYC, “New York Rhapsody” (PBS), which featured performances by Rufus Wainwright, Regina Spektor and Suzanne Vega.

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  Jessica Osborne

  Featured Artist
  Jessica Osborne

  Featured Artist

  Biography:

  Jessica Xylina Osborne, a native of San Antonio, Texas, has been playing the piano since she was four years old. She comes from a musical family: her mother, an accomplished pianist herself, was Jessica’s first teacher. Her mother’s father was a self-taught bluegrass guitarist, and his father played the piano as background music for silent movies.

  Jessica has enjoyed an illustrious and diverse career in music.She pursues ambitious projects that reflect creativity in programming with the goal of bringing attention to infrequently performed works. She enjoys presenting programs that pair well-known audience favorites with music being written today, in addition to programming works written by composers who have been historically overlooked within the classical music canon.

  Jessica has regularly performed with some of the classical music world’s biggest stars, including Hilary Hahn, Ani Kavafian, and Timothy Eddy, among many others. In addition to performing at some of the world’s top concert halls-including Carnegie Hall, the Seoul Arts Center, and the Kennedy Center-she has gotten to perform at many of the world’s most unique and interesting venues: some of her favorites include the Walton Gardens in Ischia, Italy; the Louvre Museum in Paris; and the Folly Theater in Kansas City.

  Jessica is an experienced and enthusiastic pedagogue. She has been teaching piano for over 20 years, privately as well as within an academic setting. She regularly offers guest masterclasses and recitals at colleges and universities nationwide. She was Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at the Sam Houston State University School of Music during the 2019-2020 school year. She is currently building her studio both in person in Houston, Texas, as well as internationally online. She is accepting students of all levels.

  Jessica received her Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the Juilliard School and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music; her Master of Music degree from Rice University; and her Doctorateof Musical Arts from Yale University. Her teachers and mentors include her mother Patricia Osborne, Dr. Marjorie Lee, Seymour Lipkin, Emile Naoumoff, Jon Kimura Parker, and Claude Frank.

  In her spare time, Jessica loves reading, yoga, playing with her two veryenergetic cats, and learning foreign languages.

  
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  Katie Pohlman

  Featured Instructor
  Katie Pohlman

  Featured Instructor

  Biography:

  Katie Pohlman is a professional dancer, actor, and singer from Omaha, NE. She graduated from Oklahoma City University with her Bachelor of Performing Arts in Dance Performance and trained in New York City at Broadway Dance Center in their Professional Semester program. Katie has spent the past several years performing around the country at Music Theatre Wichita and The Muny. She was most recently seen as the swing and dance captain on the first national tour of Bandstand. Katie is over the moon excited to be sharing her passion and knowledge of dance with the musical theater students in Nebraska!

  
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  Lelund Durond Thompson

  Featured Instructor
  Lelund Durond Thompson

  Featured Instructor

  Biography:

  Lelund Durond Thompson is an actor, acting coach, photographer, writer and director based in Los Angeles, California. He enjoys using his diverse skill set to tell stories that heal and capture people in their best light. After studying acting at North Carolina A&T State University (BFA) and Case/Cleveland Play House (MFA), he started his career as a professional actor in New York while also working regional, off-Broadway, and international shows in theaters and venues like Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Sons d’Hiver Festival in Paris (with iconic American artist Melvin van  Peebles). In 2010, he discovered his passion for photography. Since then, he’s enjoyed capturing Cynthia Erivo, Danielle Brooks, Sting, Daniel Radcliffe, and many of New York’s and Hollywood’s most talented artists. 

           In 2014, he founded Lelund Durond Studios, attracting and securing clients/projects like Diane Guerrero and Joivan Wade (“Doom Patrol”, HBO Max), Radha Blank (Sundance 2019 Directing Award Winner for “The Forty Year Old Version”) and the upcoming MGM feature film “Respect” (featuring clients Jennifer Hudson and Marlon Wayans).

  In 2016, the world famous Apollo Theater (in collaboration with The Classical  Theatre of Harlem) premiered “The First Noel”, an original holiday musical he wrote with Special Tony Award recipient, Jason Michael Webb (“Respect”, Executive Music Producer). He and Jason are honored to be commissioned by National Black Theatre as they write their new musical, “WiLDFLOWER.”

  
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  Mark Clinton

  UNL GLENN KORFF SCHOOL OF MUSIC HIXSON-LIED PROFESSOR OF PIANO, AREA HEAD FOR KEYBOARD AREA OF FOCUS: KEYBOARD
  Mark Clinton

  UNL GLENN KORFF SCHOOL OF MUSIC HIXSON-LIED PROFESSOR OF PIANO, AREA HEAD FOR KEYBOARD AREA OF FOCUS: KEYBOARD

  Biography:

  B.M. 1984, Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University
  M.M. 1986, Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University
  D.M.A. 1989, Shepherd School of Music, Rice University
   

  Since entering the Preparatory Division of the Peabody Conservatory at age eight under the tutelage of Julian Martin, Mark Clinton has worked extensively with some of the world's foremost pianists, among them Leon Fleisher, John Perry, Carlo Zecchi, and Tatiana Nikolayeva. This critically acclaimed pianist has garnered prizes at such prestigious international competitions as the 1987 William Kapell International Piano Competition and the 1991 Joanna Hodges Piano Competition. He has been featured frequently on national radio and television broadcasts, including National Public Radio's Performance Today and Monitor Radio. Critics have noted his “powerful performance [combined with] sublime lyricism” (Salisbury Daily Times), the “…drive and security of his pianism” (Baltimore Sun), and his “luminous, concentrated playing” (Washington Post). He has appeared throughout the United States as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the National Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the United States Air Force Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony, Concert Artists of Baltimore, the Lincoln Symphony, and the Springfield (Missouri) Symphony.

  For a number of years, Clinton joined with pianist Nicole Narboni to form the highly successful Clinton/Narboni Duo. They received prizes at several major international competitions, including the 1994 ProPiano New York Recital Competition, the 1995 National Federation of Music Clubs Ellis Duo Piano Competition, the 1996 Concorso Internazionale «Carlo Soliva» (four-hand division), and the Alvin Perlman Prize at the Fifth Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition. Clinton and Narboni’s debut compact disc recording (Élan CD #82278), featuring previously unpublished works for two pianos by the French composer Germaine Tailleferre, received critical acclaim in broadcast and print media throughout the United States and abroad. Gramophone magazine honored the recording as an “editor’s choice” selection for the month of November 1997, while describing Clinton and Narboni as “absolutely first rate.” Their recording of works for two pianos by Czech composer Bohuslav Martinù (Élan CD #82422) was hailed by critics as “a major release” and “an indispensable album for devotees of European Modernism.”
   

  Clinton’s current concert activities reflect his commitment to a wide range of performing experiences.  Highlights of his recent calendar include enthusiastically received recitals at the American Cathedral in Paris, Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, and the historic rotunda of Steinway Hall in New York City.  Other noteworthy performances have included an appearance as guest soloist in Beethoven’s “Emperor” Piano Concerto with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra, an international tour with the Montecristo Ensemble (together with violinist Mihai Craioveanu, violist Lisa Nelson, and cellist Nina Gordon), a performance of the Dvorak Piano Quintet in A major with the Chiara Quartet, a Midwest tour with the Amicitia Duo, and a concert of chamber music with strings at the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts in Holland, Michigan.

   

  Mark Clinton has shared his musical insights with gifted students from around the world while serving on the faculties of Salisbury University, the Aspen Institute, Missouri Southern State University, the Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Prague, Czech Republic, and the International Chamber Music Festival in Kyustendil, Bulgaria.  He also frequently serves as an adjudicator for important national and international competitions.  Clinton is currently Hixson-Lied Professor of Piano and Head of the Keyboard Area at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Mark Clinton is a Steinway artist.

  
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  Paul Barnes

  LIED CENTER PIANO ACADEMY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND UNL GLENN KORFF SCHOOL OF MUSIC MARGUERITE SCRIBANTE PROFESSOR OF MUSIC, PIANO AREA OF FOCUS: KEYBOARD
  Paul Barnes

  LIED CENTER PIANO ACADEMY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND UNL GLENN KORFF SCHOOL OF MUSIC MARGUERITE SCRIBANTE PROFESSOR OF MUSIC, PIANO AREA OF FOCUS: KEYBOARD

  Biography:

  Praised by the New York Times for his “Lisztian thunder and deft fluidity,” and the San Francisco Chronicle as “ferociously virtuosic,” pianist Paul Barnes has electrified audiences with his intensely expressive playing and cutting-edge programming. He has been featured seven times on APM’s Performance Today, on the cover of Clavier Magazine, and his recordings are streamed worldwide.

  Celebrating his twenty-four-year collaboration with Philip Glass, Barnes commissioned and gave the world premiere of Glass’s Piano Quintet “Annunciation.” The work is Glass’s first piano quintet and first work based on Greek Orthodox chant. In a Journal Star interview, Glass stated: “You have a world-class pianist in Paul Barnes. He’s a pure piano virtuoso.” The Journal Star described the world premiere performance as “meditative… striking… touchingly played by Barnes and the Chiara Quartet, ‘Annunciation’ is a romantic, late-period Glass masterwork.” Fred Child, host of APR’s Performance Today was present for the premiere and wrote: “Pianist Paul Barnes put together and performed a thrilling evening of music!” Child’s interview with Barnes and Glass and the word premiere performance of the quintet was featured twice on Performance Today. The New York premiere took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where New York Classical Review called the quintet “a fascinating mosaic of Glass’s late style…with a warm inner expression that seemed to echo Brahms.” PBS NewsHour recently featured a Nebraska Educational Telecommunications video production highlighting Barnes’ creative collaboration with Glass and the new quintet. Barnes recording of the quintet with string quartet superstars Brooklyn Rider was released in October of 2019 to critical acclaim. French publication ResMusica wrote: "Paul Barnes, whose pianistic lines are always clear, is a marvel of diologue with Brooklyn Rider."

  Barnes’ twelfth CD New Generations: The New Etudes of Philip Glass and Music of the Next Generation has also received rave reviews. Gramophone Magazine wrote, “Pianists of Barnes’s great technique and musicality are a boon to new music.” And American Record Guide commented, “This disc provides further proof of Barnes’s ability to communicate new music with flair and passion.” Produced by Orange Mountain Music, the recording features a selection of Glass’s etudes juxtaposed with works by N. Lincoln Hanks, Lucas Floyd, Jason Bahr, Zack Stanton, Ivan Moody, and Jonah Gallagher. The sonic result is a breathtaking panorama of the energetic and expressive landscape that is twenty-first century piano music. Barnes has performed the recital version of New Generations in Vienna, Seoul, Rome, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago, Interlochen, and most recently at the Music Teachers National Association Convention in Glass’s hometown of Baltimore. Barnes also commissioned and gave the world premiere of Glass’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (After Lewis and Clark). The Omaha World Herald praised Barnes playing for his “driving intensity and exhilaration.” Nebraska Educational Telecommunications' production "The Lewis and Clark Concerto," a documentary/performance of the concerto featuring Barnes, won an Emmy for Best Performance Production. Additional performances included collaborations with conductor Marin Alsop at the prestigious Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and the Northwest Chamber Orchestra where the Seattle Times called Barnes' performance "an impressive feat." The world-premiere recording with the NWCO was released by Orange Mountain Music. Gramophone Magazine remarked that this recording is "certainly one of the most enjoyable recent releases of Glass's music...Paul Barnes is a shining soloist." Barnes recently gave the Chinese premiere of the concerto at the famous Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu China as part of an inaugural American Music festival.

  Orange Mountain Music also released Barnes' recording of his transcriptions from the operas of Philip Glass, including both the Trilogy Sonata and the Orphée Suite for Piano. Gramophone Magazine observed, “Barnes offers a surprisingly expressive reading…. Atmosphere and rhythmic vitality are important, and these qualities Barnes has in abundance.” The American Record noted, "Barnes is an expressive pianist with a lovely tone and a flair for the dramatic." The Trilogy Sonata and the Orphée Suite for Piano are published by Chester Music of London and are available at sheetmusicplus.com. Barnes’ eleventh CD The American Virtuoso featuring the music of Philip Glass, Samuel Barber, and Joan Tower was released on Orange Mountain Music to much critical acclaim. The American Record Guide wrote, "Another fine release from the amazing pianist Paul Barnes...with a pianist like this, new American music is in good hands." Barnes also commissioned a new piano concerto Ancient Keys written by Victoria Bond based on a Greek Orthodox chant. The world-premiere recording of this concerto as well as Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was released on Albany Records. Barnes also commissioned Victoria Bond to write a new piano work based on a Greek Orthodox crucifixion hymn. Simeron Kremate (Today is Suspended) was co-commissioned by the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and the SDG Music Foundation in Chicago. The world premiere of Bond’s new work was given at Kimball Recital Hall on March 3, 2019 with the Chicago premiere on March 10 at the beautiful Nichols Hall at the Music Institute of Chicago. Barnes is Marguerite Scribante Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music. He teaches during the summer at the Vienna International Piano Academy and the Amalfi Coast Music Festival. In great demand as a pedagogue and clinician, Barnes has served as convention artist at several state MTNA conventions, most recently at Virginia in October of 2018, and was recently named ‘Teacher of the Year” by the Nebraska Music Teachers Association.

  Barnes latest recital A Bright Sadness: Piano music inspired by Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Native American chant features a contemplative and cathartic program of piano works inspired by the mystical world of chant. Barnes, also a Greek Orthodox chanter, has collaborated most recently with Philip Glass and Victoria Bond to create piano works based on ancient byzantine and Jewish chant. Barnes has also been a passionate champion of the works of Liszt and performs Liszt’s late masterpiece, Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross exploring the painful but ultimately hopeful journey of Christ to the cross. The overall theme of “bright sadness” permeates the program as the tremendous depth and intensity of ancient chant is seen through the bright prism of hope and love. New chant-based works by Native flutist Ron Warren, David von Kampen, and Matthew Arndt are given their premiere performances. Barnes’ recordings are available on Spotify, Pandora, ITunes, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon.

  
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  Sarah McKinistry-Brown

  Seminar Facilitator
  Sarah McKinistry-Brown

  Seminar Facilitator

  
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  Tom Larson

  UNL GLENN KORFF SCHOOL OF MUSIC ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMPOSITION, EMERGING MEDIA AND DIGITAL ARTS AREA OF FOCUS: COMPOSITION, EMERGING MEDIA ARTS, JAZZ STUDIES
  Tom Larson

  UNL GLENN KORFF SCHOOL OF MUSIC ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMPOSITION, EMERGING MEDIA AND DIGITAL ARTS AREA OF FOCUS: COMPOSITION, EMERGING MEDIA ARTS, JAZZ STUDIES

  Biography:

  Tom Larson is Assistant Professor of Composition (Emerging Media and Digital Arts) at the Glenn Korff School of Music. At the GKSoM, Tom has taught courses in Film Scoring, Digital Audio Recording and Production, Jazz History, Rock History, and Jazz Piano. His current course work includes teaching Film Scoring and Creative Sound Design, Digital Audio Recording/Production, and private Composition lessons. He also is a member of the UNL Faculty Jazz Ensemble, for which he serves as Music Director and Composer in Residence.

  Prior to becoming a faculty member at UNL, Tom was the co-owner of Studio Q Recording in Lincoln, where he produced music for TV and radio advertising, industrial videos, and documentary films. Among his credits are the scores for three documentaries for the PBS American Experience series (a production of WGBH-TV, Boston): In the White Man's Image, Around the World in 72 Days, and Monkey Trial (which won a 2002 Peabody Award). He also scored the documentaries Willa Cather: The Road is All for WNET-TV (New York), Ashes from the Dust for the PBS series NOVA, and the PBS specials Standing Bear's Footprint, Most Honorable Son, and In Search of the Oregon Trail. Tom has written extensively for the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, and the University of Illinois Asian Studies Department. His music has also been used on the CBS-TV series The District. His commercial credits include music written for Phoenix-based Music Oasis, LA-based Music Animals, Chicago-based Pfeifer Music Partners and General Learning Communications, and advertising agencies in Lincoln and Omaha.

  As a recording engineer, Tom has worked on numerous projects as tracking, mixing, and/or mastering engineer for artists such as Paul Barnes, Jackie Allen, Hans Sturm, François Rabbath, Diane Barger, Hannah Huston, Jandy Shin, The Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, The Concordia String Trio, Brad Colerick, and others.

  Tom is also the author of three textbooks, The History and Tradition of Jazz (6th ed.), Modern Sounds: The Artistry of Contemporary Jazz (2nd ed.), and The History of Rock and Roll (6th ed.), all of which are published by Kendall/Hunt Publishing (Dubuque, IA). He has released two albums of original jazz compositions, Flashback (2003), and Focus (2019). He has studied jazz piano with Dean Earle, Fred Hersch, Bruce Barth, and Kenny Werner, jazz arranging with Herb Pomeroy, and music composition with Robert Beadell and Randall Snyder. In addition to performing with jazz ensembles throughout the Midwest and East Coast, he has performed with The Tokyo Brass Art Orchestra, Paul Shaffer, Victor Lewis, Dave Stryker, John Ellis, Jerry Bergonzi, Chris Potter, Alex Riel, Howard Levy, Jackie Allen, Bobby Shew, Claude Williams, Bo Diddley, the Omaha Symphony, the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra, the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, and Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra.

  A Lincoln native, Tom received a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is also an avid runner and completed the Boston Marathon in 2005, 2006, and 2007.