Band
Peter Haberman
Peter Haberman serves as the director of bands and professor of music at Concordia College where he conducts The Concordia Band. He also leads the Echo Band, works with student conductors, teaches music education courses, and coordinates the comprehensive band program. Prior to his appointment at Concordia, Haberman held similar positions as director of bands at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Bucknell University.
Haberman maintains an active schedule as a conductor, guest conductor, and clinician, having worked in more than 10 states and on five continents. His ensembles have performed at both national and international conferences and music festivals. He also has served as music director for many community ensembles including the Chippewa Valley Youth Symphony.
Prior to his college career, Haberman spent several years teaching at the Mercer Island School District in Washington and the Maple Lake School District in Minnesota. He was honored to be the recipient of the Educator of the Year Award and the Principal’s Award for Outstanding Teaching at Mercer Island, and the Maple Lake Employee of the Year Award.
Haberman is an active board member of the Minnesota Band Directors Association. He is also a member of the College Band Directors National Association, Minnesota Music Educators Association, National Association for Music Education, and World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles. His honorary memberships include Phi Beta Mu, Phi Mu Alpha, and Pi Kappa Lambda. A native of Minnesota, he has earned degrees from Concordia College, the University of Montana, and the University of Minnesota where he completed a Doctor of Music Arts in conducting. Peter lives in Moorhead, Minnesota, with his wife, Erika Tomten, and their daughter, Claire.
Orchestra
Robert Hasty
Robert G. Hasty is the Music Director of the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Highland Park Strings, and the conductor of the Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia at the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University where he also serves as the Associate Director of Orchestras. He is also Artistic Director of the International Schools Choral Music Society.
Hasty began his career teaching music in the public schools in Southern California; this included tenure in administration as the District Music Coordinator of the Capistrano Unified School District where he supervised the K-12 music education program and its staff of 39 teachers. He also served an elected term as Vice President in charge of String Education for the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association. A noted researcher in music cognition, Hasty has been an author for two publications delivered at the 7th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition in Sydney, Australia. His research on conducting was published in 2005: “Critical Listening While Conducting”. The European Society for Cognitive Sciences of Music invited him to speak at their conference in Portugal on these studies.
As a conductor, Hasty has appeared with the All-American College Orchestra at Walt Disney World, Beijing Youth Orchestra, Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, Irvine Youth Symphony, La Primavera Orchestra, Merit Symphony Orchestra, Metropolis Youth Symphony, National High School Music Institute Orchestra, Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, NU Opera Theater, and the NU Contemporary Music Ensemble. His performances have been broadcast on WFMT radio in Chicago and on the Big Ten Network. Hasty’s international engagements include sold-out performances at the National Concert Hall of Taipei, Taiwan, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, China, the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center Concert Hall and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall in Shanghai, China, the Busan Cultural Center Main Theater in Busan, South Korea, and the Suzhou Culture and Arts Centre Grand Theatre in Suzhou, China. He is sought-after as an honor orchestra conductor, conducting honor groups across the United States. He is a member of the conducting and music education faculties at the Bienen School of Music. Hasty has also spent his career as a freelance violinist and violist, having been a student of Alice Schoenfeld at the USC Thornton School of Music. These days, you will find him fiddling in several Chicagoland clubs and venues with various local bands, including as fiddler and vocalist for singer-songwriter Christina Trulio (ASCAP). Noted as an “avid cyclist” by the Chicago Tribune, he trains for official century rides every fall. Bob is especially proud to have been appointed as the newest member of the Dancing Bohemian Ukulele Team.
Jazz Ensemble
Johannes Wallmann
Johannes Wallmann is a pianist, composer, and the Peterson Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Wallmann has recorded ten critically acclaimed albums as a leader, including Elegy for an Undiscovered Species, which was named a “Best of 2021” album by DownBeat magazine and described as “delightfully mind blowing throughout” by Midwest Record. DownBeat magazine has called Wallmann “a remarkable pianist and composer [whose] evocative compositions are brimming with melodic cogency and rhythmic pull” and called his playing “confident, muscular and elegant.” His latest album, Precarious Towers, was named a “Best of Bandcamp, June 2022” album, and Milwaukee’s Shepherd’s Express said: “Wallmann rises to precipitous heights in his 10th album, Precarious Towers, proving his ability to create a concept album, with extra-musical aspects streaming gracefully throughout.”
Born in Germany and raised on Canada’s Vancouver Island, Wallmann studied jazz piano and composition at Berklee College of Music (BM 1995) and at New York University (MM 1997, PhD, 2010). Over twelve years in New York City and five years in Oakland, CA, he established himself as a versatile and in-demand sideman before moving to Wisconsin in 2012. Wallmann has toured throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, and has recorded or performed with Brian Lynch, Ralph Alessi, Seamus Blake, Gilad Hekselman, and Kevin Mahogany, among many others. He is a Yamaha piano artist, a Shifting Paradigm recording artist, and the recipient of two Canada Council grants, a 2019 Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts, and a 2021 H.I. Romnes Fellowship.
Treble Choir
Julie Skadsem
Julie Skadsem is Associate Professor of Choral Music Education and Conducting at the University of Michigan where she conducts the Women’s Glee Club and teaches courses in conducting, choral techniques and vocal methods. She has earned degrees in choral music education from St. Olaf College (B.A.), Florida State University (M.M.E.), and the University of Missouri-Kansas City (Ph.D.).
Before coming to Michigan in fall 2006, Skadsem was Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Alabama where she taught courses in choir, conducting and music education, and was the Founding Director of the Birmingham Children’s Choir. She taught vocal music (7-12) in Ironwood, Michigan and is an active clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor. She is a member of the VoiceCare Network and is certified in Dalcroze eurhythmics, Orff-Schulwerk and Kodaly.
Skadsem has performed regionally and internationally with the University of Michigan Women’s Glee Club (WGC) over the past 16 years. Under her direction the WGC has been able to complete yet another successful European tour in Vienna, Austria as a participant and featured ensemble in the International Haydn Festival, as well as tours to South Africa, Canada, Brazil and Italy. Conference performances include the fall ACDA Michigan Conference in 2011 and the Central Division ACDA Conference in 2012 and 2014. Her research areas choral rehearsal pedagogy and conducting, and presents regional and national workshops on these topics. When not making music she enjoys spending time with her children Heidi, Jessica, Isaac, Sophia and Hailey, her grandchild Evelyn, and a menagerie of pets.
Mixed Choir
Andrew Last
Dr. Andrew Last is an Associate Professor of Music at Luther College where he conducts the Nordic Choir and teaches conducting. He also serves as the Director of Choral Activities at Luther and as Director of Dorian Summer Camps. Dr. Last is part of a vibrant choral program at Luther College that includes four choral faculty and over 500 singers in six choral ensembles. Luther choirs participate in the annual Christmas at Luther celebration, perform in biennial oratorios, and are featured at regional and national American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) conventions. Prior to his appointment, Last served on the voice faculty of Concordia University (NE). Last holds a DMA in choral conducting from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he was named a Hixon-Lied Fellow. He received his Master of Music from Northern Arizona University and his Bachelor of Arts in music education and voice from Luther College. Dr. Last is a member of the music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda and the academic honor society of Phi Kappa Phi. His high school teaching experience includes positions at Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Tipton High School in Tipton, Iowa. A frequent clinician and guest conductor around the United States and abroad (leading choirs in Namibia, South Africa, and Guam), Last is a member of the American Choral Directors Association.
