Band
Dr. Richard Mark Heidel
Richard Mark Heidel is Director of Bands in the School of Music at The University of Iowa where he conducts the Iowa Symphony Band, teaches graduate courses in conducting and band literature, guides the graduate band conducting program, and oversees all aspects of the University of Iowa band program. Ensembles under Dr. Heidel’s direction have performed at national, regional, and state conferences including those of the College Band Directors National Association, Music Educators National Conference, Iowa Bandmasters Association, Wisconsin Music Educators Association, Illinois Music Educators Association, and National Band Association-Wisconsin Chapter. He has also led multiple concert tours to the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom as well as throughout the Midwest.
A native of Texas, Heidel holds the Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music in Conducting from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas as well as the Doctor of Education in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His principal teachers include James F. Keene, James Sudduth, Gary Smith, Keith Bearden, Donald Schleicher, John Grashel, and Eunice Boardman. Prior to his appointment to the University of Iowa faculty in 2008, Dr. Heidel served as Director of Bands at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, and as a teaching assistant in the School of Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition to his university teaching experiences, Heidel was a high school band director in Texas for nine years.
Dr. Heidel has been distinguished with memberships in numerous national and international honor societies and fraternities including Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Pi Kappa Lambda, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Eta Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, Kappa Delta Pi, Pi Nu Epsilon, and Golden Key. He was the recipient of the Outstanding Musician award at Texas Tech University in both 1985 and 1986, and in 1997, he received the A. A. Harding award at the University of Illinois for the “highest possible achievement, service, and devotion to the University Bands.” In 2002, Dr. Heidel was named to the “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers,” and in 2003 and 2010 he received the Citation of Excellence from the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Band Association. In 2005, he was initiated into Sigma Alpha Iota as a National Arts Associate, and in 2008, he was elected to membership into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. Dr. Heidel was honored with the Citation of Excellence by the National Band Association in 2016 and 2022.
Dr. Heidel has three commercial recordings to his credit including TRADITION, featuring live performances of the Iowa Symphony Band, Martyrs for the Faith, a collaboration with Kenneth Tse, and The Voxman Project, a collection of significant chamber works. Heidel maintains a busy schedule as guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician. Dr. Heidel has presented clinics and workshops at state music conferences in Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin as well as guest lectures at Texas Tech University, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Ohio University, Bowling Green State University, Oakland University, and the University of Illinois. Heidel has served as a guest conductor, adjudicator and clinician in more than 30 states, Washington D.C., Vietnam, Austria, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. In 2003, Heidel served as an adjudicator for the Limerick International Marching Band Competition and the 100th St. Patrick’s Day Festival in Dublin, Ireland. His summer teaching experiences include having served as a faculty member of the Shell Lake Arts Center, Texas Tech University Band and Orchestra Camp, Illinois Summer Youth Music Program, International Music Camp, and serving as Director of the Iowa Summer Music Camps. His list of publications includes more than 35 articles in the National Band Association Journal, Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series, Teaching Music, Journal of Research in Music Education, Iowa Music Educator, and the Iowa Bandmasters Association Magazine. Dr. Heidel holds memberships in the National Band Association, Iowa Bandmasters Association, Big Ten Band Directors Association, and College Band Directors National Association. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Band Association and the American Bandmasters Association, and is Past President of the Big Ten Band Directors Association.
Choir
Dr. Brett Robison
Dr. Brett Robison has conducted choirs and orchestras for the past twenty-five years and is the new artistic director of the Topeka Festival Singers. Recently, Robison served as the assistant professor of music and director of choirs at Viterbo University in La Crosse, WI. At Viterbo University, Robison conducted the Concert Choir, 9th Street Singers, and Rose Chorale. He also taught conducting, choral methods, voice lessons, and served as the artistic director for the annual “A Viterbo Christmas” concerts. Robison also served on the faculties of Waldorf University and Upper Iowa University. As a public-school music educator, he taught vocal and general music to grades K-12 in Iowa, Minnesota, and Arizona. He continues to be in demand as a clinician and festival conductor throughout the country.
Robison is the executive director of the Topeka Symphony Orchestra and has a passion for nonprofit leadership in the arts. Through his years of leading, teaching, mentoring, and inspiring students, and music lovers of all ages, he has found clarity in understanding that his passion for music performance, music education, community building, and empowering others best serves the greater good through formal leadership and administrative roles. This realization is why he completed a Master of Business Administration as he sought to learn new best practices while strengthening and updating his skills and knowledge in leadership, marketing, fundraising, and nonprofit administration. Robison founded the music nonprofit organization, Scottsdale Musical Arts and served as the artistic and executive director. He also directed the youth symphony and adult orchestra programs while also serving as the assistant director of the children’s choirs and professional adult choir, Scottsdale Choral Artists. As a church musician, Robison has served congregations throughout the Midwest and Southwest as choir director and music director. He is currently the choir director at Trinity Lutheran in Mission, KS.
Robison’s education includes a Bachelor of Arts in music from Luther College, Master of Music in conducting from the University of New Mexico, Master of Business Administration from Viterbo University, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the University of Arizona. His teachers and mentors include Bruce Chamberlain, Elizabeth Schauer, Bradley Ellingboe, Weston Noble, Donald Hamann, and Richard Nace. Robison is grateful for the opportunity to return to the great state of Wisconsin and to once again be inspired by the incredible students and teachers that make this music festival one of the best in the country.
Orchestra
Dr. Demondrae Thurman
Over the last 25 years, Demondrae Thurman has established a worldwide reputation through his varied experiences as a euphonium soloist, educator, chamber musician, and conductor. He has given performances in Canada, Hungary, Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Spain, Taiwan, Macau, Norway, China, Italy, Austria, England, Wales, and throughout the United States. Demondrae is a frequently invited guest at many of the world’s most noted festivals and conferences for Low Brass including the International Euphonium Tuba Conference, Jeju International Brass and Percussion Competition, the United States Army Band Tuba Euphonium Workshop, and the Leonard Falcone International Solo Competition.
Demondrae is known for his signature sound and overt musicality. Maestro Gerard Schwarz, Music Director of the Eastern Music Festival and the All Star Orchestra says, “When he plays, he’s speaking his own euphonium language, part singer, tenor and baritone, and part remarkable brass player. He sings on his instrument and reaches everyone in his audience. His technique seems flawless and his phrasing is remarkable.” As an advocate of new music, Demondrae has commissioned or premiered several works for Euphonium including In Memorium for Euphonium and Band by Maestro Schwarz, the Heritage Concerto for Euphonium and Band by Anthony Barfield, Fantasy for Euphonium Orchestra, and Soliloquies for Unaccompanied Euphonium by John Stevens. In 2020, Demondrae was featured two separate times on American Public Media’s Performance Today hosted by Fred Child. During his 22-23 performance season, he gave the world premiere of the orchestra version of the Barfield concerto with the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Norman Huynh and the orchestra version of In Memorium at the Eastern Music Festival with Maestro Grant Cooper.
Demondrae is often given the opportunity to perform orchestral repertoire that calls for euphonium and bass trumpet. He has performed with many of the finest orchestras in the United States including the Atlanta Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra as well as the 2016 Summer Season with the New Philharmonic under the leadership of Maestro Alan Gilbert. Anu Tali, former Music Director of the Sarasota Orchestra and the Nordic Symphony Orchestra says, “Demondrae’s warm sound combined with artistic flexibility is every orchestra’s and conductor’s dream.” Demondrae has also performed under the baton of Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Donald Runnicles, Robert Spano, Gerard Schwarz, Andrew Litton, Edo de Waart, and Carlos Kalmar.
Chamber Music is an integral component of Demondrae’s career. Has performed on euphonium and trombone with the National Brass Ensemble, Summit Brass, Philadelphia Big Brass, Dallas Brass, and the Youngblood Brass Band- but his most celebrated collaboration is as first euphonium with the Sotto Voce Quartet. Sotto Voce is responsible for changing the direction and perception of the tuba-euphonium quartet through its performance quality, self-generated repertoire, and studio recordings. Especially noted for its performance of “in-house” compositions and arrangements, mostly by tubist and composer Mike Forbes, Sotto Voce has overcome the “omm-pah” implications that come with low brass instruments. Edward Forstman of Arts Bham writes, “… the players summoned tones that would have sounded right for string instruments or vocal ensembles.” In addition to playing concerts as a part of major concert series and university settings, live performances are frequently heard on Performance Today. Demondrae also plays Baritone horn in the Brass Band of Battle Creek, an all-star brass and percussion ensemble.
Demondrae has released three solo recordings, all of which have received stellar reviews. His latest album, Snapshots, received the Silver Medal for Best Album by Global Music Awards. In March of 2021, Demondrae will release his fourth solo effort with Prima Classic entitled Sound and Light. The Sotto Voce quartet has four studio recordings in addition to a live performance recording from the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the most prominent music educator’s conference in the United States. Demondrae can also be heard on recordings with the Temptations, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Brass Band of Battle Creek, Saint Louis Low Brass Collective, and the Isthmus Brass.
Conducting has become an important aspect of Demondrae’s career since making his debut in 1999. Since that time, he has appeared as a guest conductor with numerous wind bands, brass bands, and symphony orchestras. His symphony orchestra debut came in 2008 conducting Scheherazade by Rimsky Korsakov with the Huxford Symphony Orchestra of the University of Alabama where he also served as its conductor from 2011-2013. He is the former Resident Assistant Conductor of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra (Alabama) where he conducted children’s concerts and Pops programs.
Currently, Demondrae is Professor of Music and Chair of the Brass Department at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. The position was created for him to utilize his specific skills and expertise in euphonium and brass chamber music. He is also serves on the faculty of Samford University and has given masterclasses and clinics at many of the world’s leading colleges and universities for low brass.
Demondrae Thurman is a Miraphone Performing Artist and plays exclusively the Miraphone 5050 Ambassador Edition euphonium which was designed specifically for him. He also plays the custom Demondrae model mouthpiece manufactured by Warburton Music Products and is a Shires Trombone Performing Artist.
