Education
Northwestern University, D.M.A., Composition, 1999
Northwestern University, M.M., Composition, 1990
Michigan State University, B.M., Theory/Composition, 1989
University Teaching Experience
Senior Lecturer, Music Theory and Composition (2017-Present)
Director, Music Composition Program (2009-Present)
Instructor of Music, (2009-2017)
Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Michigan Technological University
Created the minor in Music Composition supporting majors in Sound Design and Audio Production. Designed the composition curriculum including creating courses in composition, music theory, film music studies and contemporary music. Developed integrated coursework from music, theater and sound design/audio production.
Teach courses tailored to the specific needs of Sound Design/Audio Production and non-music majors including:
FA 2500 Music Theory I
FA 3530 Music Theory II
FA 3560 Music History
FA 4950 Final Project in Music Composition
FA 2222 Film Music (both classroom and distance learning versions)
FA 3112 Composition I: Techniques of Contemporary Composition
FA 3122 Composition II: Composition for Media
FA 3133 Contemporary Music: The Search for New Sounds
FA 3333: World Music
FA 3560: Music History (distance learning version)
FA 3673: Audio Creative Lab
Additional instruction in Sibelius, Finale and Logic Pro
Compose/advise student composers for theater productions and other media
Administrative Positions: Third Coast New Music Festival Organizer, Director of the music composition program
Committee Service: Grants Committee
Other Relevant Professional Experience
Executive Director
Copper Country Suzuki Association, Hancock, MI, 2001-2017
Manage all operations of a non-profit community music program including hiring and supervising instructors and volunteers, budgeting, grant writing, cultivating partnerships, development, programming, establishing artistic/educational vision.
Teach violin/violin and Irish fiddling to beginning through advanced students, group classes and chamber music coaching
Accomplishments: successfully sustained and grew program in spite of bad economic circumstances and a 75% reduction in external funding. Expanded program and operations from one instructor to seven. Added piano and early childhood music programs. Established the Keweenaw Youth Symphony Orchestra, the only youth orchestra in the Western Upper Peninsula. Created additional classes including Irish fiddling, music theory and parent education classes. Consolidated multiple teaching, performance, rehearsal and office spaces to one location creating a more synergistic program. Built partnerships with several community organizations including Finlandia University, Michigan Tech University, Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College, Copper Country Community Arts Program and many others
PROFESSIONAL Grants/Awards/RESIDENCIES
National Endowment for the Arts; Imagine Your Parks: Presenting and Multi Disciplinary Works, Co-PI - Funding for the creation of a touring sound installation and the composition of new work. 2016
Michigan Music Teachers Association – Professional Development Grant funding to study Irish Fiddle in Asheville, NC, 2014, 2015 and 2016
Jackson Grant - MTU Center for Teaching and Learning - Funding to develop projects in blended learning, Co-PI, 2014
Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs - Mini Grant Program - Professional Development Grant – Funding to study Irish Fiddle in Asheville, NC, 2014-2016
Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs - Mini Grant Program - Funding to bring Pulitzer Prize winning composer, John Luther Adams and acoustic Ecologist Bernie Kraus to campus for a series of lectures and workshops entitled “Intersection of the Arts and the Natural World”, PI, 2014
Norcross Wildlife Foundation - Assisted the Keweenaw Land Trust as a community partner in developing a grant proposal for field and sound recording equipment for the Keweenaw Soundscape Project. 2014
ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop in Memory of Buddy Baker – New York University School of Performing Arts Professions. Selected as one of only 20 participants. Awarded the Sorel Women in Film Music Scholarship, 2010
Isle Royale National Park Artist-in-Residence, 1999
American Composers Forum - Artist residency in the Douglass Park Music Academy, Chicago, 1999
Selected Orchestral/Chamber Compositions
To What Listens for chamber choir, piano, trombone, percussion based on poetry by Wendell Berry (used with permission from the author), premiered by Conscience Chamber Choir, 2016
Out Like a Lion for wind symphony, commission by Superior Winds, premiered 2015
Ours is the Sky for chamber choir and tuned glasses, poetry by M. Bartley Seigel,premiered by Conscience Chamber Choir, premiered 2014
Sea Caves, Hear Caves for large orchestra and recorded soundscapes from the sea caves at the Apostle Islands National Lake Shore, commissioned by the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, premiered October 2013
Waltzing with Amadeus for clarinet, flute, violin, percussion and recorded horse sounds, premiered at the Calumet Art Center New Music Festival, August 2011
Shouting Teresa for string orchestra and narrator text by Italo Calvino, premiered by the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, 2009
Butterflies for string orchestra, premiered, 2008
Superior Dances for two violins, commissioned by the Dlutkowski/Harmon family. Premiered 2008
Melusina calls to the Loon – solo violin and chamber orchestra, composed for the
Isle Royale Artist and Residency Program, premiered by the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, 2003
Melusina Calls to the Loon for solo violin performed at the Pine Mountain Music Festival
New Chamber Works concert, 2003
Piece for Viola Alone for Solo Viola, 1999
Shadows For Orchestra, 1998
Four Movements for String Trio, 1998
Hexa…. For String Quartet, commissioned by the Michigan Technological University Department of Physics, 1997.
Gabrielle for Eight Violas, commissioned by the Teacher Composer Alliance, Chicago, 1997
Two Movements for String Orchestra, commissioned by the Teacher-Composer Alliance, Chicago, 1996
Quartet for String Quartet, Masters Thesis, Northwestern University, 1999
Theater/Dance Compositions
Silent Sky, Tech Theater Company, 2016
Rose and the Rime, Tech Theater Company, a new multi-media production including dance, aerial work, lighting and sound design, 2014
Selected music for Beautiful, an original aerial ballet, June 2013
Stealing Fire, an original aerial dance show based on the Prometheus Legend, 2013
Incidental Music for Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Tech Theater Company, 2011
Hecate for flute, oboe, cello, harp and percussion, performed as part of a multi-composer dance production, 2007
Current Projects
A recording of works for Chamber Choir with Capella Clausura and chamber works at the WGBH Studios, Boston, MA, May, 2019. Recording to be released on Albany Records in December 2021 (postponed due to Covid-19).
Keweenaw Soundscape Project, Co-Founder – An ongoing artistic exploration and documentation of the natural soundscapes of the Keweenaw Peninsula for ecological and social reasons.
Commission from the American Wild Ensemble to be premiered Fall 2021
Commission from Isle Royale National Park in honor of the 80th anniversary of the park to be premiered in July 2022 (postponed due to Covid-19)
Commission from the Pine Mountain Music Festival in honor of the 30th anniversary of the festival to be premiered in June 2022 (postponed due to Covid-19)
Score for the 1912 comedy short C’est la faute à Rosalie for Cinema’s First Nasty Women a 4-disc DVD/Blu-ray set featuring rarely-seen silent films about feminist protest, anarchic slapstick destruction, and suggestive gender play
Professional Development
Swannanoa Gathering Celtic Week – Asheville, North Carolina, July 2014 and July 2015, Irish (Martin Hayes) and Scottish Fiddling – awarded Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs Mini-Grant to attend these workshops will attend in July of 2016 – awarded Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs grant and a Michigan Music Teachers Association grant to attend.
American Choral Directors Association, National Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, April 2015
Suzuki Violin Teacher Training - Suzuki Institute at Stevens Point, 2002
Gaelic College, Cape Breton Island – Cape Breton Fiddling, July 2002
Augusta Heritage Center Celtic Week – Elkins West Virginia, Irish Fiddling, July 200
Related Professional Experience
Active chamber musician and Celtic fiddler involved several performances each year from chamber/orchestra performances and recitals to festivals and fundraisers.
Section viola, Marquette Symphony Orchestra 2001-present
Organized and performed in the MTU Chamber Music Series
Fiddler, Celtic Music Duo, Craic
Fiddler, Celtic/Folk ensemble, Fiddlehead
Fiddler, Traditional Music Group The Thimbleberry Band
Fiddler, Eclectic acoustic band, What the Folk?
Section Viola, Pine Mountain Music Festival 2006-2009
Porcupine Mountain Music Festival, performed with Fiddlehead, 2006
Guest Lecturer, Music History, Theory and Contemporary Music, Columbia College, Chicago, 1998-99
Principle viola, Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra 2002-2006
Northwestern University New Music Ensemble
Violist/Violinist, CUBE New Music Ensemble
Professional Memberships
International Association of Women in Music
Chamber Music American
American Composers Forum - Founding member of the Chicago Chapter
ASCAP
Society of Composers
Landscape Music Network
Languages
French.
Additional Areas of Interest
Sea Kayaking, organic gardening, beekeeping, cross country skiing, running, vegetarian cooking, dressage horseback riding, yoga, open water swimming, sustainable food systems