Band
Carolyn A. Barber
Carolyn A. Barber is the Ron and Carol Cope Professor of Music and Director of Bands in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Glenn Korff School of Music. She earned a B.M. in horn performance at Northwestern University, an M.M. in horn performance from Yale University, and returned to Northwestern to earn her D.M. in conducting as a student of John P. Paynter and Victor Yampolsky.
Dr. Barber began her career as a lecturer and assistant to the dean of the Northwestern University School of Music. Her duties included teaching advanced conducting and directing the university’s Concert Band. Prior to her appointment at UNL, Dr. Barber also served as the director of bands at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Apart from her conducting and teaching at UW-L, Dr. Barber served for five years as the principal horn of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Barber has been a presenter at the Midwest Clinic, CBDNA, ASTA, and NAfME
conferences, state music educators conventions, and district training workshops nationwide. She
has received numerous awards for musical and academic achievement, including the Hixson-
Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Distinguished Teaching Award, a Hixson-Lied
Professorship, multiple National Band Association Citations of Excellence, and a United States
Navy Good Conduct Medal – an unusual distinction for someone who has never had the honor to
serve in the military. In addition, she was named the 2019 Martha Daniel Newell Scholar at
Georgia College where she spent a semester developing a course and engaging in research
focusing on the creative process.
Her writing has been published in the Journal of Band Research, and she is a regular contributor
to the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band reference series. In addition to her
scholarly activities, Dr. Barber maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor throughout the
United States and Canada. She is state chair for CBDNA, a peer reviewer for the Journal of the
Conductors Guild, past president of the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association, and a past
president of the Big Ten Band Directors Association.
Orchestra
Mark Dupere
Mark Dupere is Assistant Professor of Music at Lawrence University, where he is the Director of Orchestral Studies. Born in Phoenix, Mark studied cello at the University of Texas at Austin and continued his studies in baroque cello with Jaap ter Linden at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, The Netherlands. He completed his Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting at Michigan State University with Kevin Noe. Mark was a ‘New Young Artist’ at the Victoria Bach Festival, performed in the Leipzig Bach Competition, and was an apprentice with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London. He performed throughout Europe with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Haagsche Hofmuzieck, Anima Eterna Brugge, The Wallfisch Band, Arte Dei Suonatori and Holland Baroque Society. He appears on numerous recordings including discs of Debussy, Ravel and Mussorgsky with Anima Eterna Brugge, Marcello Psalms with Voces8, and the complete chamber works of Locatelli for Brilliant Classics. As a conductor, Mark has worked with Musica Redemptor (Austin), Cypress Symphony (Houston), Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra & Concert Orchestra and the Lawrence University Symphony Orchestra. Mark is a passionate educator and hopes to impart a love of music-making and active engagement with audiences in the performance of music from all periods.
Jazz Ensemble
Jamey Simmons
Arranger, composer, trumpeter, and educator Jamey Simmons grew up in Wisconsin and knew early on that music was his unique gift. He earned his Bachelor of Music at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, and studied under Robert Baca. He earned his Master of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music where he studied under jazz composer and arranger Fred Sturm. Simmons is currently Director of Jazz Studies at Middle Tennessee State University where he teaches courses in jazz and directs Jazz Ensemble I.
As a trumpet player, Simmons toured internationally with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He is active on the Nashville professional music scene, and has made appearances with artists as diversified as the Temptations, Dave Weckl, Buddy DeFranco, Lee Konitz, Duffy Jackson, Vince Gill, Debby Boone, and the Nashville Jazz Orchestra. He has written arrangements and compositions that have been performed by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Buffalo Symphony Pops, the Nashville Jazz Orchestra, Brussels Jazz Orchestra and numerous university and high school ensembles. His first original jazz sextet CD, Gold Refined in the Fire, features New York saxophonist Scott Robinson. His recording of hymns and spirituals called In the Garden: Hymns for Piano , was recorded by pianist Arunesh Nadgir and can be found at your favorite source for downloading music. His Duo/Trio project, featuring guitarist Rory Hoffman and pianist Matt Endahl are archived on youtube, free for the public. Active as a commissioned composer and arranger, Simmons’ published compositions and arrangements are available through Heritage Jazz Works/ Lorenz Music, Sierra Music, ejazzlines.com, and Kjos Music Publishing.
Simmons enjoys spending time with his wife P.J. and three children at their home on a farm near Wartrace, Tennessee. Find Jamey online at www.jameysimmons.com
Treble Choir
Joni Jensen
Dr. Joni Jensen is the Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Voice at Texas Woman’s University (Denton, TX). She conducts two TWU choirs and teaches voice, conducting, and rehearsal techniques.
She received her Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy and her Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. She received her DMA in Choral Conducting, minor in vocal performance, at the University of Arizona. Dr. Jensen studied under renowned conductors and arrangers Dr. Mack Wilberg, Dr. Ronald Staheli, and Dr. Bruce Chamberlain.
Dr. Jensen has conducted numerous festival, honor, and community choirs and serves as a choral clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States. Under her direction, the TWU Concert Choir (women’s chorus) has performed at the 2012 SWACDA conference in Dallas, TX and the 2017 NCCO conference in Baton Rouge, LA. Active as a composer/arranger, she has several pieces published with Walton Music including “El Vito,” which has been an all-state selection across the nation. She is also the editor of the “Joni Jensen Choral Series” at Hal Leonard for advanced women’s choral music, and has several pieces published there.
Dr. Jensen is also an Associate Musical Director of the Millennial Choirs and Orchestras (MCO). MCO is a multi-location community organization, the largest of its kind in the world, and promotes the highest quality of sacred music for all ages and all faiths. She conducts in locations in Texas, Idaho, California, Utah, and Arizona. Each location has six choirs ranging from children to adults as well an orchestra. MCO released their album “Amazing Grace” in October 2016, which peaked at 3rd on the Classical Album Billboard Chart. In the summer of 2019, they will be performing three solo concerts in Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Aside from her performing and teaching activities, Dr. Jensen has research interests in vocal pedagogy in the choral setting, choral conducting technique, women’s chorus literature, choral arranging, and the choral music of Vaughan Williams, Britten, and Bach.
Mixed Choir
Frank Watkins
Frank A. Watkins is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. A native of Omaha Nebraska, Watkins taught secondary choral music in Texas for six years. He holds degrees in piano performance from Jackson State University (BM), the University of Arkansas (MM), and choral conducting from Northwestern University (MM) and Michigan State University (DMA).
Watkins is in demand as guest conductor and clinician. In 2016, he was appointed Conductor and Music Director of the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra. Recent engagements include the Big Nine Festival Honor Choir (2017), the Great Northern Conference All-Conference Choir (2017), Cloverbelt All-Conference Honor Choir (2018), the 2018 Men’sChoir Festival, and the 2019 Big 8 Choral Festival. He has presented workshops on choral methods for the International Music and Christian Arts Conference, Michigan State
University, and the Ohio State University. In 2015 he presented at both the Wisconsin Music Educators State Convention and the National Collegiate Choral Organization National Conference. Choirs under his direction have performed at the Wisconsin Music Educators State Conference and the North Central Divisional Conference of the American Choral Directors Association.
In 2017-18, Watkins lead an International Fellows Trip to Dakar, Senegal to study the use of hip-hop and rap as a form of non-violent political protest. In 2019, Watkins will be a guest lecturer in Cape Town, South Africa. Watkin’s research interests include the intersectionality of race, class, and gender in the music of African-American Women in the 21st century.
Watkins joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2014. A dynamic young conductor, Watkins’ love and passion are teaching. He believes that in order to educate, you must first inspire! It is his goal to make an impact…not just an impression on
the lives of those that follow his baton.