Resident Artists & Faculty
Our faculty are performers and teachers of the highest caliber who work closely with students in ensembles, seminars, and private lessons.
CONDUCTOR/DIRECTOR
Dr. Jason Leo Curley
Jason Leo Curley obtained his Masters of Music (MM) and Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA), both in instrumental conducting from the University of Arizona. Dr. Curley’s Bachelor of Science (Music Education) and Bachelor of Arts (Music Performance) were granted from the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND. He was an Emerson (Governor’s) Scholar to Interlochen Arts Camp in 1998.
Professor Curley has had an array of conducting experience. Orchestras, wind ensembles, concert bands, choirs, and chamber groups stud his resume. After his final degree was achieved, he spent 2007 on the road with the National Tour of the 50th Anniversary revival of Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot, serving as Associate Conductor and French hornist in the pit orchestra. This followed a string of musical theatre experience in grad school (UA) as music director/conductor of works like Oklahoma, Guys & Dolls, Carousel, She Loves Me, and Kiss Me Kate to name a few.
Recently, he has guest conducted the Catskill Symphony Orchestra and Utica Symphony Orchestra in their Spring 2009 concert season. Other guest conducting engagements in NY include numerous All-County Music Festivals (Orchestra and Band), and music directing Pal Joey for the Orpheus Theatre Company here in Oneonta.
As the Director of Instrumental Music at Hartwick College, Professor Curley states:
“Along with recruiting and other more general goals for the Department, my primary duty is to the student musicians. I aim to provide an eclectic set of experiences for the players….not just band concerts. We go on tours, celebrate chamber music, produce Radio Shows, host Madrigal Dinners and Festivals, and represent the College at many ceremonial functions. The PRIDE pep band is one of the many hearts that beat strongly within the program; it is especially successful because it, like many large ensembles at Hartwick, is compiled of nearly 50% non-Music majors! We are here to celebrate the many facets of music and how we can share that dynamic with the community.”
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STRING FACULTY
Cassatt String Quartet
http://www.cassattquartet.com
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Acclaimed as one of America's outstanding ensembles, the New York City based Cassatt String Quartet has performed throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East, with prestigious appearances at New York's Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Tanglewood Music Theater, the Kennedy Center and Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and Maeda Hall,Tokyo.
Established in 1985, the Cassatt recently made its debut in Italy and Mexico with concerts at the American Academy in Rome, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and the Festival de Música de Cámera in San Miguel de Allende. In 2008, they join Joan Tower in celebrating her seventieth birthday through performances at New York's Symphony Space and Sarah Lawrence College.
Named three times by The New Yorker magazine's Best Of The YearCD Selection, they have recorded for the Koch, New World, Albany and CRI Labels. The Cassatt is named for the renowned American impressionist painter Mary Cassatt.
Muneko Otani, violin is on the faculty of Columbia University and The Mannes College of Music in New York City and the Mozarteum Summer Festival in Salzburg. Ms. Otani plays a 1770 J.B. Guadagnini of Parma violin. Jennifer Leshnower, violin coaches chamber music worldwide with recent masterclasses in Ireland at Trinity College and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Ms. Leshnower's violin is a 1655 Jacobus Stainer.
Michiko Oshima, viola has performed as a recitalist and chamber musician throughout the U.S.A. and abroad, having appeared at the Pacific Music Festival and NHK Radio in Japan. In 2004, she created ABChamberMusic which offers bi-annual chamber music workshops for amateur musicians in Japan. Her viola is a Hiroshi Iizuka made in 1997. Nicole Johnson, cello has performed as a recitalist and chamber musician throughout the U.S.A. and Germany, having appeared with the Vermeer Quartet, on the Composers' Guild concerts in New York City and at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Ms. Johnson plays an 1806 Nicholas cello.
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Jered Egan, BASS
Jered Egan is a professional freelance musician from New York City who has relocated to the western Catskills. He is equally at home on the concert stages of Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, in a Broadway pit or in cabaret rooms and theaters around the city and across the country. Concert work has included performing with the American Composers Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the New York Chamber Symphony and the New York Pops. Mr. Egan also spent a season as a member of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. In addition, he has appeared with the Royal Ballet Orchestra at the Metropolitan Opera, toured the U.S. and Asia with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, and has held the position of principal bass with the Berkshire Opera, the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale in Italy and with the Martha Graham Dance Company at the New York City Center.
As a chamber musician, he has worked with Bargemusic, the North Country Chamber Players, the Monadnock Music Festival, the Manchester Music Festival and the New York Viola Society, among others. His Broadway pit credits include shows from Phantom of the Opera to The Producers and he made his onstage Broadway debut playing and singing in An Evening with Jerry Herman and also appeared onstage in Patti LuPone on Broadway. Other show credits include several months touring with Ken Hill’s Phantom of the Opera playing in Berlin, Vienna, Zurich, Amsterdam and Paris. In the cabaret field he plays an annual two-month engagement with Andrea Marcovicci at the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room and has also performed with her throughout the eastern part of the country, most notably at Philadelphia’s Prince Theater and as the inaugural act at Miami’s Performing Arts Center.
He has performed regularly in New York City at the Café Carlyle, Feinstein’s at the Regency, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, The Metropolitan Room, the Rainbow and Stars, the Firebird Café, Maxims, Eighty-eights, Arci’s Place, Judy’s, Danny’s and Don’t Tell Mama with singers such as Polly Bergen, Faith Prince, David Campbell, Ann Hampton Callaway, Liz Callaway, Jeff Harnar, Tom Anderson and Phillip Officer. He has played for those singers and many more at New York’s annual Cabaret Convention, held at Town Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center, and was honored to be selected by Backstage Magazine to receive its 2006 Bistro Award for Outstanding Instrumentalist for his work in cabaret. Last month marked his sixth appearance on the prestigious Lyrics and Lyricists series at the 92nd Street Y. Other recent projects include making a CD with the New York New Music Ensemble, playing for the Pope at Yankee Stadium, and opening a Bed and Breakfast in Delhi, NY. Mr. Egan studied with Homer Mensch at The Juilliard School and completed his training with fellowships at Tanglewood, Waterloo, the New York String Orchestra Seminar and the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi in Italy.
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Dennis Turechek, GUITAR
Hartwick College Artist in Residence
Classical guitarist Dennis Turechek has presented many solo recitals and has performed with a wide array of chamber ensembles throughout the Central New York area. He spent a number of years in New York City teaching guitar in many colleges and music schools, as well as studying classical guitar with Albert Elaine, José Tomás and Narciso Yepes. He has released a CD of his original compositions, entitled "Dennis Threchek Plays Dennis Turechek", also on Lil' Pumpkin Records. He has performed with John Davey as a jazz duo for the past wenty years. He teaches guitar ensembles at both Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta, where he offers a jazz history course, and is a fouding member of The Classical Guitar Society of Upstate New York.
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BRASS FACULTY
Andy Odell has a passion for Instrumental Music Education and strives to inspire a love for music in his many students. He has been the Band Director at Worcester Central School since 1994 where he teaches all ages and ensembles. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Hartwick College teaching Percussion Methods. He has conducted High School and College students at Festivals throughout New York State.
Mr. Odell received his B.S. in Music in Education from Houghton College in 1994. He earned a Masters Degree in Conducting from Binghamton University in 1999. Mr. Odell continues his education each day as he strives to capture that beautiful round brass sound and pass it on to his students. He lives with his wife and four beautiful children in Worcester, NY.
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Jason Curley, HORN
In addition to being an advantageous conductor of bands and orchestras, Jason Curley is an active professional French hornist. Currently he serves as Utility Horn for Utica and Catskill Symphony Orchestras, and has performed with other professional groups including the Powder River Symphony, Missouri Valley Chamber Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Arizona Symphony Orchestra, and the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra. During his 300+ performances of the revival tour of Camelot in 2007, Dr. Curley alternated between playing principal horn and conducting the pit orchestra.
As Hartwick’s horn instructor, Dr. Curley seeks to provide a diverse learning environment for his students, encouraging an array of performance opportunities (solo, chamber and large ensembles). No matter the degree sought, Education or Performance, a working musician needs to live a multi-faceted life if they are to live comfortably. This is why Dr. Curley encourages all majors to build every avenue of strength (studio sessions, ensemble and solo gigs, classroom teaching) during their degree program to that they are fortified with the knowledge and tools to succeed as career musicians.
Studio members enjoy earning income performing in local venues as members of No Strings Attached, Hartwick’s brass ensemble. Churches, dances, and holidays are among many PAID gigs where the brass ensemble is regularly employed. Each December, brass players from Hartwick trek to NYC for the annual Tuba Christmas at Rockefeller Plaza, a benefit for the Harvey Phillips Foundation. The studio engages members to actively record their lessons/performances for developmental and archival purposes, using current technologies, many of which are freely accessible through the internet.
As a brass pedagogue, Professor Curley takes great care in sharing the physics, history, performance practice, and repertoire of brass instruments. Brass Methods, taught primarily to Music Education majors, is an exploration of the aforementioned as well as the approach to teaching beginners. Former instructors include Karen Gleason, Dr. Thomas Bacon, Pamela Glasser, Dr. Douglas Campbell, Dennis Gowen, and Dr. Keith Johnson.
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Gregg Norris, TROMBONE
Gregg Norris earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education from Hartwick College (Oneonta, NY) in 1984, and his Master’s Degree in Social Sciences from Binghamton University in 1991. He has been the senior high band director in the Sidney Central School District since 1985. Among his responsibilities are directing the senior high concert band, stage band, jazz combo and marching band, as well as teaching classes in music theory and music appreciation. He is also chapter advisor to the Sidney High School Tri-M Music Honor Society.
Mr. Norris has been a guest conductor for music festivals in Chenango, Delaware, Fulton and Greene Counties in New York, as well as Berks County PA. He has also been a past guest conductor at the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival in Oneonta, New York. He is also founder of the Catskill All-Star Jazz Festival, which features talented local high school jazz artists from a five county area. Mr. Norris is a past NYSSMA (New York State School Music Association) All-State Instrumental Jazz Chair, and is also a certified adjudicator for both jazz and brass. He is an active member of the Association of Chenango Area Music Teachers (ACAMT), having served as both President and Vice-President.
Eager to give back to his “roots,” Mr. Norris has also served Hartwick College as an adjunct professor, having taught brass methods to music education majors. He has also been working with student teachers in the music education program at Hartwick College since 1987.
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WOODWIND FACULTY
Daniel Hane, BASSOON
Daniel Hane received a B.M. magna cum laude, from Georgia Southern College, where he studied bassoon with Constance Wells (Savannah Symphony). Prior to college he studied with Carl Nitchie (Atlanta Symphony). Mr. Hane earned a M.M. from the Manhattan School of Music, as a student of Leonard Hindell (New York Philharmonic). While at MSM, he also studied chamber music and breath technique with Stephen Maxym (Metr Opera), and completed the coursework towards a minor in music theory.
After MSM, Mr. Hane began performing actively in the NYC area as the principal bassoonist with the Bronx Opera, Bronx Symphony, Bronx Chamber Orchestra, and the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra. Along with two of his former classmates from the MSM, Lorraine Duso (oboe) and Franck Chiron (clarinet), he formed The Pyramus Trio, and went onto to win the First Prize at the Carmel Chamber Music Competition. The Pyramus Trio was invited to study and perform at the Conservatoire Americaine in Fontainebleau France, and while there Mr. Hane was awarded the Prix de Ravel by the faculty of the Conservatoire. He studied composition with Isabelle Duha of the Conservatoire de Paris. He has appeared as a concerto soloist performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante (K.297b) with the New York Harmonic Orchestra in Merkin Hall and with the Bronx Symphony, and Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto (K.191) with the Statesboro-Georgia Southern Symphony. He has performed internationally with the New York Kammermusiker in such venues as the Algarve Music Festival (Portugal), the Bregenz Music Festival’s Chamber Series (Bavaria) and the Attergau Cultural Summer (Austria).
Mr. Hane plays principal bassoon with the Bronx Opera and the Orchestra of the Bronx, and second bassoon with the Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton. He also freelances with many other ensembles such as the Binghamton Philharmonic, Bridgeport Symphony, Regina Opera, Catskills Symphony, Catskills Choral Society, Schenectady Symphony, the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, Opera at Florham, and the Delaware Valley Opera. Mr. Hane also keeps up an active chamber music performance schedule, appearing with The Double Entendre Music Ensemble (www.doubleentendre.org), The Bardekova Ensemble, and the New York Kammermusiker. He is a Resident Artist at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY.
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Mark Engebretson, SAXOPHONE
http://home.earthlink.net/~mark.engebretson/index.html
Mark Engebretson attended the University of Minnesota, graduating Summa cum Laude in 1986. He pursued composition and saxophone studies in Bordeaux, France on a Fulbright Fellowship and then pursued Masters studies at Northwestern University. He subsequently lived as a freelance musician in Stockholm, Sweden and spent three years living in Vienna, Austria, where he performed with the Vienna Saxophone Quartet and received commissions from the Austrian Ministry of Culture. Returning to Northwestern in 1995, Engebretson received the Doctor of Music degree in 2000. He has taught at the Eastman School of Music, the University of Florida and at SUNY Fredonia. He joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the fall of 2003 as Assistant Professor of Composition.
Dr. Engebretson's works have been performed in concerts, festivals and venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, Wien Modern (Vienna), Gaida Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania), Hörgänge Festival (Vienna), Filharmonia Hall (Bialystock, Poland), Ny Musikk (Bergen, Norway), Théâtre la Chapelle, (Montreal), Indiana State University New Music Festival (Terre Haute, IN), ISCM Festivals (Tirana, Albania and Baku, Azerbaijan), World Saxophone Congresses (Pesaro, Italy, Montreal) and Stockholm Radio. He has received numerous commissions from the Austrian Ministry of Culture as well as from STIM (Sweden) and the American Composers Forum Composers Commissioning Program.
As a performer, he was a member of the Vienna Saxophone Quartet from 1992-1999. In addition to performances all over the world with the quartet, he has performed in many countries as soloist with orchestra, in recital and as a chamber musician, particularly with Susan Fancher, Swedish percussionist Anders Åstrand and the Chicago-based ensemble MeloMania!.
Dr. Engebretson's teachers in France were Michel Fuste-Lambezat (composition) and Jean-Marie Londeix (saxophone). At Northwestern University he studied composition with M. William Karlins, Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska, Michael Pisaro, Stephen Syverud and Jay Alan Yim and saxophone with Frederick Hemke.
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Susan Fancher, SAXOPHONE
http://home.earthlink.net/~fanch/index.html
Red Clay Saxophone Quartet
Susan Fancher's efforts to develop the repertoire for the saxophone have produced dozens of commissioned works by contemporary composers, as well as published transcriptions of music by composers as diverse as Josquin Desprez and Steve Reich. Her career has featured hundreds of concerts internationally as a soloist and as the member of chamber music ensembles, including the Red Clay, Amherst, Vienna and Rollin' Phones saxophone quartets. A much sought after performer of new music, she has worked with a multitude of composers including Terry Riley, Charles Wuorinen, Philip Glass, Hilary Tann, Friedrich Cerha, M. William Karlins, Ben Johnston, Ed Campion, Perry Goldstein, Olga Neuwirth, David Stock, Michael Torke, Robert Carl and Paul Chihara, just to name a few.
Susan Fancher has performed in many of the world's leading concert venues including Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, the Amphitheater at the Chautauqua Institution, London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Vienna's Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Filharmonia Hall in Warsaw, Orchestra Hall in Malmö, Sweden, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and at ISCM festivals in Albania and Bulgaria, the Gaida Festival in Lithuania, June in Buffalo, Hörgänge an Wien Modern Festivals in Vienna, and on CBS Sunday Morning. Tours have taken her to Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and throughout the US.
Susan Fancher has recorded over 10 CDs available on the Philips, New World Records, Lotus Records Salzburg, Extraplatte and Innova labels. The most recent additions to her discography are a solo CD entitled Ponder Nothing on the Innova label, which features her composer-approved arrangements of music by Steve Reich and Ben Johnston, and a recording as soprano saxophonist with the Amherst Saxophone Quartet and the Arcata String Quartet on New World Records of Forever Escher by Paul Chihara. Her many radio recordings as well as live broadcasts have been heard on Swedish, Austrian, Canadian and American radio stations.
Susan Fancher is a regularly featured columnist for the nationally distributed Saxophone Journal. She holds the Médaille d'Or from the Conservatoire of Bordeaux, France, and the Doctor of Music in saxophone performance from Northwestern University, for which her dissertation topic was the saxophone music of Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988). Her principal teachers were classical saxophone masters Frederick Hemke, Jean-Marie Londeix and Michael Grammatico, and Chicago jazz legend Joe Daley. Susan Fancher is a clinician for the Selmer and Vandoren companies and teaches saxophone at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
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Ana Laura González, FLUTE / PICCOLO
A native of Argentina, Ana Laura González maintains an active career as a flautist. Her repertoire spans from classical to contemporary music, with an emphasis on academic Argentinean music as specialty. She has been a member of many chamber music ensembles, among them the Elision Quintet, the Shimmering Silver Flute Quartet, Flutefinity, the Artemise Quartet and the Duo Armadilla. Recent solo performances include recitals at Delta State University in Mississippi, the National Conservatory in Buenos Aires and the Conservatory of Junin in Argentina.
As an orchestra player, she appeared with the Nueva Leon, Symphony Orchestra in Monterrey, Mexico, the AZ Chamber Artists in Tucson, the Exaudi Camerata of Buenos Aires, and the Arizona Repertory Theatre Orchestra. She has also performed at many music festivals: National Flute Association conventions of Nashville, San Diego, Albuquerque and Kansas City, The Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point, Chamber Music in Sedona, Music on the Edge in Highland Heights, KY, and Music from Japan Today in Baltimore.
In her native country, Ms. Gonzalez has performed with many of the Youth Symphony Orchestras as principal flute as well as soloist and chamber music ensembles. She also premiered several chamber music works for the Argentinean Association of Composers.
Ms. Gonzalez currently resides in Dallas, Texas where she has performed with the Irving Symphony Orchestra and conducted the Flutissimo Flute Choir. She also holds a private studio and teaches at the Carrollton/Farmers Branch School district.
She holds a DMA from the University of Arizona, an MM from Ohio University and a B.S. from the National Conservatory of Buenos Aires. Her teachers include Brian Luce, Alison Brown Sincoff, Laura Falcone and Raul Becerra.
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Andrea Shaheen, OBOE
Ms. Shaheen is a Syrian American musician specializing in oboe performance and ethnomusicology. Born and raised in El Paso, TX, she attended the University of North Texas (UNT) for a Bachelor’s in Music Performance and Music Theory, and graduated magna cum laude. During her time at UNT she performed in the Wind Ensemble under the baton of Eugene Corporon, with whom she recorded several albums under the Klavier label.
After her time at UNT Ms. Shaheen entered the Master’s program in Music Performance at the University of Arizona as Nelson Riddle Symphony Orchestra Fellow. While residing in Tucson she was principal oboe with the Arizona Symphony Orchestra and Weick Chamber Players, and was a founding member of the wind quintet, Elision. She frequently performed with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and traveled to Monterrey, Mexico, to perform with Orquesta Sinfonica de U.A.N.L Upon the completion of her Master’s degree, Ms. Shaheen was invited to lecture at the University of Arizona while working on her Doctorate in Performance and Ethnomusicology. She taught courses such as Music in World Cultures and Music of the Middle East and Asia.
Ms. Shaheen recently toured with the Aegean Verdi Orchestra in Europe and is currently principal oboe with the Syrian Philharmonic Orchestra of the High Institute of Music in Syria. She is a Medici scholar and three-time FLAS recipient, and an active member of the Society for Ethnomusicology. Ms. Shaheen currently resides in Damascus, Syria, where she is studying performance practice of Arabic music as a Fulbright Fellow in ethnomusicology.
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Calvin Falwell, CLARINETS
Kentucky native, currently living in Rochester, NY, Calvin Falwell enjoys a varied career as an orchestral musician, soloist and educator. As a performer, Calvin is currently serving in the clarinet sections of the Opera Tampa Orchestra and Opera Naples Orchestra in addition to playing principal clarinet in The New Sigmund Romberg Orchestra, Hollywood Concert Orchestra, and Opera in the Ozarks. As an educator, Calvin enjoys teaching at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp each summer.
Calvins previous orchestral positions include The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, The Bronx Symphony Orchestra, Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, Paducah Symphony Orchestra, and The American Wind Symphony. Calvin has also appeared with the Louisville Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, McKeesport Symphony, Wheeling Symphony Orchestra and Symphony in C (formerly Haddonfield Symphony). Additionally, Calvin has served on the faculties of Holy Family University, Lancaster Bible College, and Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.
Calvin has enjoyed performing as a soloist in both recital and orchestral settings, and has had the privilege of premiering two bass clarinet concertos by Todd Goldman and Joseph Hallman. His other solo appearances have included performances with the Beaver Valley Philharmonic, University of Louisville Wind Ensemble, Duquesne University Wind Symphony, and the Duquesne Contemporary Ensemble.
Driven by a love of all music, Calvin is the co-founder of Content Under Pressure (CUP). CUP is a contemporary chamber ensemble that uses traditionally classical instruments (flute, violin, viola, bass clarinet, piano, drums) to perform transcriptions of popular rock tunes.
His principal teachers and mentors include Paul Demers (Philadelphia Orchestra), Ron Samuels (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra), Tim Zavadil (Minnesota Orchestra), and Dallas Tidwell (Louisville Orchestra). Both Calvin's BM and MM are in Clarinet Performance and are from the University of Louisville and Duquesne University respectively.
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KEYBOARD & PERCUSSION FACULTY
Kim Paterson, piano
Hartwick College Artist in Residence
http://www.catskillklezmorim.com/bios.html
Kim Paterson is on the faculty of Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta and freelances as a pianist, composer, and arranger. He has composed incidental music for Shakespeare’s “Cymbelline” and Euripedes’ “The Baechae”, the latter a winner of the meritorious acheivement award from the Kennedy Center College Theater Festival in Washington, D.C. He has also adapted numerous scores for theatrical productions, the most recent being Kurt Weill’s “Three Penny Opera”. He is a member of the Catskill Symphony and Catskill Klezmorim. Mr. Paterson is a graduate of SUNY Purchase where his teachers included Dennis Helmrich, Samuel Sanders, and Gilbert Kalish. He is also an alumnus of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood.
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Joel Smales, PERCUSSION
http://www.joelsmales.com
Joel Smales earned his Bachelor's of Music in Performance from the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam where he studied with James Petercsak. Subsequently, he earned his Master's in Music from Binghamton University. He is currently the band director at Binghamton High School's Rod Serling School of Fine Arts, where he conducts the Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Stage Band and several chamber groups including Percussion Ensemble, Marimba Band, and Steel Drum Band.
Mr. Smales maintains a private percussion teaching studio and is the Vice President for the NYS Percussive Arts Society and Percussion Chair for NYSSMA. He also serves on the keyboard percussion and snare drum music selection committee for NYSSMA.
Smales is the Principal Percussionist with the Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra in Binghamton, NY and a member of the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra and Downtown Singers Orchestras. Smales leads his own percussion trio "Rhythm Song" and performs jazz drumset and vibes. He can also be seen playing lead steelpan with the popular Caribbean music group, Panigma, and is an active freelance drummer and percussionist. He maintains a busy composition schedule, writing music for percussion, runs an annual summer percussion camp and hosts an annual PAS Day of Percussion. He also freelances with many area jazz and orchestral groups and can be heard on over 30 recordings spanning from swing to rock to folk to classical music for CD albums, commercials and audio books.
Mr. Smales has presented clinics for the New York State School Music Association, New York State Band Directors Association, MENC and throughout upstate and central New York and northern Pennsylvania in areas of percussion specialization concerning drumset, mallet performance, percussion accessories and warm-up techniques for area schools, band workshops, church groups, and percussion workshops. Mr. Smales is an active adjudicator for the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA). Many of his publications are in the NYSSMA manual as well as in other states' music educators groups' manuals. He endorses Pro-Mark Drumsticks and products and Grover pro Percussion Products. His articles on music and percussion have appeared in Percussive Notes, School Band and Orchestra, School Music News, and Band World magazines.
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COMPOSITION & TECHNOLOGY FACULTY
Mark Engebretson
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Mark Engebretson attended the University of Minnesota, graduating Summa cum Laude in 1986. He pursued composition and saxophone studies in Bordeaux, France on a Fulbright Fellowship and then pursued Masters studies at Northwestern University. He subsequently lived as a freelance musician in Stockholm, Sweden and spent three years living in Vienna, Austria, where he performed with the Vienna Saxophone Quartet and received commissions from the Austrian Ministry of Culture. Returning to Northwestern in 1995, Engebretson received the Doctor of Music degree in 2000. He has taught at the Eastman School of Music, the University of Florida and at SUNY Fredonia. He joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the fall of 2003 as Assistant Professor of Composition.
Dr. Engebretson's works have been performed in concerts, festivals and venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, Wien Modern (Vienna), Gaida Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania), Hörgänge Festival (Vienna), Filharmonia Hall (Bialystock, Poland), Ny Musikk (Bergen, Norway), Théâtre la Chapelle, (Montreal), Indiana State University New Music Festival (Terre Haute, IN), ISCM Festivals (Tirana, Albania and Baku, Azerbaijan), World Saxophone Congresses (Pesaro, Italy, Montreal) and Stockholm Radio. He has received numerous commissions from the Austrian Ministry of Culture as well as from STIM (Sweden) and the American Composers Forum Composers Commissioning Program.
As a performer, he was a member of the Vienna Saxophone Quartet from 1992-1999. In addition to performances all over the world with the quartet, he has performed in many countries as soloist with orchestra, in recital and as a chamber musician, particularly with Susan Fancher, Swedish percussionist Anders Åstrand and the Chicago-based ensemble MeloMania!.
Dr. Engebretson's teachers in France were Michel Fuste-Lambezat (composition) and Jean-Marie Londeix (saxophone). At Northwestern University he studied composition with M. William Karlins, Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska, Michael Pisaro, Stephen Syverud and Jay Alan Yim and saxophone with Frederick Hemke.
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