Band
Dr. Phil Ostrander
Phil Ostrander is Professor of Trombone and Bands at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where he conducts the Symphony Band, teaches private trombone, and trombone ensemble. Dr. Ostrander completed his doctoral studies at the Eastman School of Music. Dr. Ostrander received master’s degrees in both trombone and wind conducting from the New England Conservatory, as well as a bachelor’s and Performer’s Certificate from Eastman.
He has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Kansas City Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the popular chamber groups Rhythm and Brass and the Burning River Brass Ensemble. Currently, he is Principal Trombone of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra. He performs in Broadway shows regularly at the Orpheum and State theatres in Minneapolis – most recently on Some Like It Hot. An accomplished jazz trombonist, Dr. Ostrander has collaborated with jazz artists Maria Schneider, Jim McNeely, Jimmy Heath, Claudio Roditi and Rich Beirach. He teaches jazz and created the Trombone Workshop at the Shell Lake Arts Camp in northern Wisconsin. He has recorded on Sony Classical with the Eastman Wind Ensemble and Naxos with the IRIS Orchestra and recently Mahler Symphony No. 8 with the Minnesota Orchestra. Dr. Ostrander is a clinician for the Conn-Selmer Musical Instrument Company.
Orchestra
Dr. E. Edward Kawakami
Professor E. Edward Kawakami, the 2017-18 Carthage College Distinguished Teacher of the Year award recipient, an active clinician, guest conductor, and adjudicator, is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Activities at Carthage College.
Prof. Kawakami has held a range of musical roles throughout his career, including collaborations with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwillich and with multi-Grammy award winner, violinist Mark O’Connor. While living in the Tallahassee, Florida region, his credits also include Associate Music Director and conductor of the Tallahassee Youth Orchestras, Music Director of the Florida State University Campus Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the Big Bend Community Orchestra, Music Director of the Tallahassee Virtuosi and the affiliated Music Rebuilds philanthropic organization. He has conducted various opera and ballet productions, adjudicated a variety of music festivals, and was an invited guest clinician for an assortment of ensembles around the state.
Before moving to Florida, Prof. Kawakami worked in Los Angeles as the conductor of the California State University, Northridge Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, as well as being employed as a conductor of various musicals, film soundtracks, and varied guest conducting positions around Southern California. Other conducting experiences included international appearances with the Jünge Philharmonie Salzburg, the Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik, and the Kharkov Philharmonic of Ukraine.
Prof. Kawakami’s research and educational interests lie in the perception and cognition of music and applied interpersonal skills teaching and conducting environments, which reflect his background in the social and physical sciences. He has presented research posters at the 2014 NAfME Conference and the 2012 AMTA Conference. Former pupils from both the Southern California and Florida regions have become successful in a variety of fields ranging from professional solo and ensembles musicians to public school and higher education teachers.
Prof. Kawakami holds a B.M. in Wind Performance from California State University, Northridge, an M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from the Florida State University, and a Ph.D. in Music Education with an emphasis in Orchestral Conducting from the Florida State University.
Choir
Dr. Amon Eady
Amon Eady serves as the Director of Choral Activities at Central Michigan University, where he conducts four ensembles and teaches undergraduate and graduate choral conducting and choral literature. Before arriving at CMU, Dr. Eady taught at both middle school and high school level over the course of nine years in the White Station community of Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Eady’s choirs have performed at state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors’ Association, including performances by the Central Michigan University Chamber Singers at the 2020 Michigan state ACDA Conference, and the White Station High School Men’s Choir at the 2014 Southern Division ACDA Convention in Jacksonville, FL.
Recognized by the Tennessee Music Educators Association as Music Educator of the Year in the Spring of 2014, Dr. Eady presently serves as President-elect of the Michigan state chapter of the American Choral Directors’ Association. He has presented at state, regional, and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and the National Association for Music Education on developing the male chorus, the building of a comprehensive choral program, and new and diverse methods of teacher training.
Dr. Eady holds the bachelor of music education degree and master of music degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, as well as the doctor of philosophy degree in choral conducting and music education from Florida State University.
