CSU Fullerton Wind Symphony
Dustin Barr, conductor
Gregory X. Whitmore, guest conductor
California All-State Music Education Conference
Friday, February 17, 2023, 3:00pm
Valdez Hall – Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center
Dr. Randall Goldberg | Director
Kimo Furumoto | Assistant Director
Bongshin Ko | Assistant Director
WOODWINDS, BRASS, AND PERCUSSION FACULTY
Dr. Dustin Barr – Director of Wind Band Studies; University Wind Symphony conductor
Dr. Gregory X. Whitmore – CSUF Symphonic Winds conductor
Jean Ferrandis,* flute; Rong-Huey Liu, oboe; William May, bassoon; Boris Allakhverdyan, Burt Hara, Andrew Lowy, Michael Yoshimi, clarinet; John Hallberg, Damon Zick, saxophone; Sycil Mathai,* Kye Palmer, trumpet; Steven Mahpar, Warren Gref, horn; Michael Hoffman, Bob Sanders, Francisco Torres, trombone; Phil Keen, euphonium; David Holben, tuba; Kenneth McGrath, Robert Slack, Ray Llewellyn, percussion
FULL TIME FACULTY
Conducting
Kimo Furumoto – instrumental
Dr. Robert Istad – choral
Dr. Dustin Barr – instrumental
Jazz and Commercial Music
Bill Cunliffe* – jazz piano, arranging, Fullerton Jazz Orchestra, Fullerton Big Band and jazz combo director
Rodolfo Zuniga – jazz studies, jazz percussion, and music techology
Piano, Organ, Piano Pedagogy
Ning An – piano
Bill Cunliffe – jazz piano
Alison Edwards* – piano, piano pedagogy, class piano
Dr. Robert Watson – piano
Music Education, Teacher Training, and Teaching Credential
Dr. Christopher Peterson – choral
Dr. Dennis Siebenaler* – general
Dr. Gregory X. Whitmore – instrumental
*denotes full-time faculty and Area Coordinator
Music in General Education
Dr. John Koegel*
Dr. Katherine Reed
Music History and LIterature
Dr. John Koegel – musicology
Dr. Katherine Reed – musicology
Strings
Kimo Furumoto – Director of Orchestra Studies; University Symphony Orchestra, conductor
Bongshin Ko – cello
Dr. Ernest Salem* – violin
Theory and Composition
Dr. Pamela Madsen
Dr. Ken Walicki*
Vocal, Choral, and Opera
Dr. Mark Goodrich* – voice, academic voice courses
Dr. Robert Istad – Director of Choral Studies
University Singers, conductor
Dr. Kerry Jennings – Director of Opera
Dr. Christopher Peterson – CSUF Concert Choir, Singing Titans, conductor
Patricia Prunty – voice, academic voice courses
SCHOOL OF MUSIC STAFF
Michael August - Production Manager
Eric Dries - Music Librarian
William Lemley - Audio Technician
Jeff Lewis - Audio Engineer
*denotes Area Coordinator
Chris Searight - Music Instrumental Service
Paul Shirts - Administrative Assistant
Elizabeth Williams - Business Manager
Sue Winston - Office Coordinator
facebook.com/CSUFMusic twitter.com/CSUFMusic instagram.com/CSUFMusic soundcloud.com/csufmusic
music.fullerton.edu
A WELCOME FROM |
Arnold Holland Dean, College of the Arts
Greetings and welcome to the 2023 California All-State Music Education Conference (CASMEC), hosted by the California Association of Music Education (CMEA). As a CMEA initiative, CASMEC strengthens and increases accessibility to music education by providing an exceptional opportunity for educators to present an array of talent across the musical spectrum. We proudly join with you in support of music education for all California students
As one of the most diverse universities in Southern California, Cal State Fullerton (CSUF) shares CMEA’s commitment to access and inclusion. Within this regional microcosm, the College of the Arts embraces the inherent possibility of each student, empowering them to realize their individual artistic expression while celebrating their successes alongside them as they strive to become future artists, educators, performers, and arts professionals. We believe that, with diversity at its core, the arts reflect our collective humanity and profoundly connect us to ourselves, our community, and our history.
First-generation college student and CSUF alumnus Dustin Barr underscores these values in his commitment to performing global and contemporary wind band repertoire. I recently had the pleasure of experiencing one of his refreshing choices when the ensemble performed Mariachitlán in our own Meng Concert Hall. Sitting in the audience, I expected to be impressed by the ensemble’s cohesive sound. What surprised me was how I found myself transported by the chaotic and rhythmic pulse of city life performed on-stage. Being a native of Detroit, I immediately connected with the music, as I’m sure many of you will.
Today, we are honored to contribute to this thriving community of musicians as we perform alongside some of the finest ensembles from around the state. I’d like to extend a heartfelt congratulations to Dustin Barr and the University Wind Symphony. I couldn’t be prouder of this latest accomplishment and look forward to sharing the many accolades that will undoubtedly come their way.
Sincerely,
Arnold Holland, Ed.D Dean, College of the Arts
Dr. Randall Goldberg Director, School of Music
Greetings to all our colleagues at the California All-State Music Education Conference! Music education holds an essential place in every community, and I wish to thank the CMEA for all the excellent work you do to promote the arts throughout California and expressed my gratitude for giving our students the opportunity to perform at this year’s CASMEC.
the School of Music at CSU Fullerton, we daily and collectively engage our creative humanity through our work as performers, composers, researchers, and teachers. Together we collaborate, inspire, discover, reflect, mentor, innovate, and create. Our faculty (21 full-time and 50 part-time) include Grammy winners, recipients of NEA grants, internationally acclaimed performers, composers, pedagogues, recording artists, and researchers. The School of Music offers all of its (nearly 350) music majors a range of musical experiences— wind symphony and symphonic band; opera, concert choirs, and jazz choruses; orchestra and chamber music, jazz big bands and combos, Latin jazz, new music ensemble, and all sorts of innovative diverse mixed ensembles. Among our ensembles’ recent accomplishments are tours to Europe, Asia, and Australia, world premieres, and first prizes in national festivals. This summer, the Symphony Orchestra will perform in Carnegie Hall. And, today, our Wind Symphony performs at the California AllState Music Education Conference.
The School of Music strives to serve each individual student through their educational path. Degree programs include Bachelor of Arts degrees in music education, theory and music history, and Bachelor of Music degrees in performance, piano pedagogy, and composition, as well as Master of Music degrees in performance and composition, and Master of Arts degrees in music education, piano pedagogy, and music history and literature. Our Artist Diploma, a postbaccalaureate music performance study, is unique among the California State Universities.
The wind band tradition flourishes at CSUF: the Wind Symphony, under the direction of Dr. Dustin Barr, performed at the 2019 College Band Directors National Association National Conference, and our Symphonic Winds were featured at a recent CBDNA Western/ Northwestern Division Conference. The band program complements our thriving music education curriculum, which has mentored top educators in the state, including a 2023 California Teacher of the Year (CA, Dept. of Education). We are excited to share our music with you today, and I look forward to seeing music education continue to thrive in the Golden State.
Sincerely,
Dr. Randall Goldberg Director, School of Music
A WELCOME FROM |
CSU Fullerton Wind Symphony
Dustin Barr, conductor
Gregory X. Whitmore, guest conductor
California All-State Music Education Conference
Friday, February 17, 2023, 3:00pm
Valdez Hall – Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center
Prelude no. 14 in E-flat Minor, op. 34 (1933)
Overture to Colas Breugnon (1937)
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975)
trans. H. Robert Reynolds
Dmirty Kabalevsky (1904-1987)
trans. Donald Hunsberger
The above pieces will be performed without pause
Tarot (2021/2022)
The King of Cups
Lindsay Bronnenkant (b.1987)
Gregory X. Whitmore, conductor
Gazebo Dances (1972/1973)
Overture
Waltz Adagio
Tarantella
Mariachitlán (2016/2021)
John Corigliano (b.1938)
Juan Pablo Contreras (b.1987)
PROGRAM
PROGRAM NOTES
DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH | Prelude In E-Flat Minor
Dmitry Shostakovich is widely regarded as one of the great composers of the twentieth century. Much of his music is intimately connected to the political environment in which he lived. Despite enduring intense scrutiny from the Soviet government, Shostakovich’s music succeeds in conveying great expressivity and independence of thought, often with underlying political messages.
Historian Anatole Leikin asserts that the composer’s Twenty-Four Preludes, Opus 34, are “among his most underrated and misconstrued works.” Composed in 1933, shortly after the disbanding of the Russian Association of the Proletarian Musicians, these preludes reflect an acute sense of musically veiled parody. The prelude in E-flat minor, however, stands apart from the underlying political program of the collection as a whole and evokes comparisons to the late works of Chopin and Liszt. H. Robert Reynolds, University of Michigan Director of Bands Emeritus, transcribed this work for band in 1988.
Soviet composer Dmitry Kabalevsky was born in St. Petersburg in December of 1904 and began piano studies at an early age. He moved to Moscow in 1918 where, after a brief attempt at becoming a painter, he spent three years as a silent-movie pianist before entering the Moscow Conservatory in 1925. After several years of studying piano and composition, Kabalevsky graduated in 1929 and that same year won significant acclaim for his First Piano Concerto. In 1932, he helped found the Union of Soviet Composers and would go on to hold a series of high offices in the organization throughout his life. Kabalevsky’s compositional style was rooted firmly in the nineteenth-century Russian tradition of Borodin, Tchaikovsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov, and is marked by folk-like melodic simplicity, traditional form, tonal harmony, and skillful orchestration.
The opera Colas Breugnon: Master of Clemency was completed in 1937 and premiered the following year at the Leningrad State Opera. Based on the novel by the French author Romain Rolland, the plot is set in sixteenth-century France and centers around the efforts of Colas to overthrow the cruel duke and free his people from tyranny. The story presents the main character as a French version of Robin Hood.
The Overture to Colas Breugnon sets the mood for the ensuing drama through a characteristically Russian rhythmic style that is pulsating and driving yet balanced by the flowing lyricism of the second theme. The contrast is dramatic, and a return to the opening material propels the overture to its exhilarating conclusion.
DMITRY KABALEVSKY | Overture to Colas Breugnon
Dr. Lindsay Bronnenkant directs the Symphony Band, teaches conducting classes, and leads a graduate conducting seminar at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Prior to her appointment at UMass, Bronnenkant taught basic conducting at Nazareth College and led the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Community Wind Ensemble as she completed a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting degree at the Eastman School of Music.
As a composer, Bronnenkant wrote her first work for wind ensemble, Symphony for Singer, self-taught at 18 years old. Her first published work, Tarot (2021), was designated the runner-up to the 2021 National Band Association/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. The piece is based on original research on Gustav Holst and was presented as part of Bronnenkant’s doctoral conducting recital and lecture presentation.
Bronnenkant holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (D.M.A. Wind Conducting, ’22), the University of Michigan (M.M. Wind Conducting, ‘19), Nazareth College (B.M. Music Education, ’14), and the University of Rochester (B.S. Brain and Cognitive Sciences, ’10). Her conducting mentors include Mark Scatterday, Michael Haithcock, Jared Chase, and Nancy Strelau, and she has taken composition lessons with Keane Southard, Nancy Strelau, Christopher Winders, David Liptak, and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez.
Regarding Tarot, Bronnenkant writes:
Gustav Holst was incredibly interested in Indian culture, going so far as to teach himself Sanskrit. Some evidence suggests that he tried to incorporate Indian rāgas into his works, and after investigating Holst’s resources and analyzing his Planets, I believe that Holst tried to reference rāgas that evoked similar characters to those of the planets in his suite. Holst’s access to authentic performance of Indian music was limited, however, and like many composers–especially as a British composer entrenched in modal composition during the English folk song revival of the early twentieth century–he took what he understood of rāgas and filled in the gaps with Western theoretical knowledge, resulting in the treatment of what were once rāgas as scales or modes.
I decided to compose a suite that traces Holst’s footsteps but applies his musical experimentation to a new topic: Tarot. Like astrology, Tarot cards have been used for divination, and as each planet in modern astrology represents specific characteristics and personality traits, so too does each Tarot card. Some elements of the Hindustani thāts, Karnātak mēlakarta rāgas, and pitch sets Holst references in his Planets are referenced in Tarot using a similarly Western approach to portray Tarot card analogs.
In Tarot, the Fool represents someone who dives head-first through open doors with enthusiasm (and sometimes with a blissful ignorance of any looming danger). The card represents new beginnings, playfulness, naïveté, and optimism. The first movement, The Fool contains several intentionally comedic moments as the Fool, unaware of the
DR. LINDSAY BRONNENKANT | “The King of Cups” from Tarot
luck manifesting from his will, manages to skip through a minefield unharmed. The movement references the pitches of the Kalyān that are found in Jupiter, a benefic planet of good fortune, to represent the Fool’s beginner’s luck. The movement also uses the whole-tone scale hinted at in some of Holst’s themes for Uranus, a chaotic and unpredictable planet, to depict the unintentional mayhem that inevitable follows each of the Fool’s steps.
In Tarot, the suit of cups corresponds with emotional energy and the element of water. A deeply empathetic soul, the King of Cups tempers his emotions by balancing his heart with his head. The King leads diplomatically through compassion. The second movement, The King of Cups, references the pitches of mēlakarta rāga Dhavalāmbari from Neptune as a nod to a fellow intuitive and ruler of the sea, and additionally employs the pitches of the Bhairavī that are found in Venus to allude to the King’s kind and gentle countenance.
The Tower represents surprise, upheaval, and destruction. It represents the collapse of the structure, the crumbling of façades based on faulty foundations. The final movement references Mars, the Bringer of War with two similar pitch sets: the one Holst uses in Mars, as well as a theme that Holst may have meant to draw from, Bhairav.
John Corigliano is internationally celebrated as one of the leading composers of his generation. Corigliano currently serves on the composition faculty at the Julliard School of Music and holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Music at Lehman College, City University of New York, which has established a scholarship in his name. Born in 1938 to John Corigliano, Sr., a former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, and Rose Buzen, an accomplished pianist and educator, Corigliano has lived in New York City all his life. His principal composition teacher while at Columbia University was Otto Luening, but he also studied privately with Vittorio Giannini and Paul Creston.
Perhaps one of the most important symphonists of his era, Corigliano has to date written three symphonies, each a landscape unto itself. Scored simultaneously for wind orchestra and a multitude of wind ensembles, Corigliano’s ambitious, extravagant, and grandly barbarous Symphony No. 3: Circus Maximus (2004) was commissioned by the University of Texas at Austin Wind Ensemble, who presented it on their 2008 tour in Europe and gave its New York première in 2005 at Carnegie Hall. His Symphony No. 2 (2001), a rethinking and expansion of the surreal and virtuosic String Quartet (1995), was introduced by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2000 and earned him the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in Music. His Symphony No. 1 (1991), commissioned by Meet the Composer for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra when he was composer-in- residence, channeled Corigliano’s personal grief over the loss of friends to the AIDS crisis into music of immense power, color, drama, and scope: performed worldwide by over 150 orchestras and twice recorded, this symphony earned him the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.
JOHN CORIGLIANO | Gazebo Dances
Gazebo Dances for Band comes from Corigliano’s early compositional period, reflecting his trends of the time. While his works in this period are generally tonal, the tonality is often obscured through the use of polychords and chords built on intervals other than thirds. He also makes active use of constantly changing meters, which influence the resulting irregular rhythmic structure. The composer writes:
Gazebo Dances was originally written as a set of four-hand piano pieces, dedicated to a certain number of my pianist friends. I later arranged the suite for orchestra (1974) and concert band (1973), and it is from the latter that the title is drawn. The title Gazebo Dances was suggested by the pavilions often seen on village greens in towns throughout the countryside, where public band concerts are given on summer evenings. The delights of that sort of entertainment are portrayed in this set of dances, which begins with a Rossini-like Overture, followed by a rather peg-legged Waltz, a long-lined Adagio, and a bouncy Tarantella.
JUAN PABLO CONTRERAS | Mariachitlán
Juan Pablo Contreras (b. 1987, Guadalajara, Mexico) is a Latin GRAMMY®-nominated composer who combines Western classical and Mexican folk music in a single soundscape. His works have been performed by 40 major orchestras around the world including the National Symphony Orchestra (USA), the Extremadura Orchestra (Spain), the Jalisco Philharmonic (Mexico), the Córdoba Symphony (Argentina), the Medellín Philharmonic (Colombia), and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. He is the winner of the 2023 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music and is celebrated as the first Mexican-born composer to sign a record deal with Universal Music, serve as Sound Investment Composer with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and win the BMI William Schuman Prize.
In the 2022-23 season, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will premiere his new orchestral work Lucha Libre!, a musical battle between good and evil that will feature 6 soloists wearing luchador masks. Contreras will also premiere MeChicano, a co-commission by Las Vegas Philharmonic, California Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Tucson Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, and Richmond Symphony, created in partnership with New Music USA’s Amplifying Voices Program. His orchestral music will be performed by the State of Mexico, Guanajuato, and Mineria orchestras in Mexico; the Phoenix Symphony and Berkeley Symphony. Contreras’ new arrangement of Mariachitlán, for wind ensemble, will be played by 20 wind bands in the United States.
Contreras has received commissions from Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Jalisco Philharmonic, The Riverside Choir, Carlos Prieto, and the Onix Ensamble. He has won awards including the Presser Music Award, the Jalisco Orchestral Composition Prize, the Brian Israel Prize, the Pi Kappa Lambda Award, the Arturo Márquez Composition Contest, the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, the Dutch Harp Composition Contest, the Nicolas Flagello Award, and the Young Artist Fellowship of Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and the Arts. Contreras has also served as Composer-in-Residence with Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra, the soundON Festival of Modern Music in San Diego, the Cactus Pear Music Festival in San Antonio, and at the Turtle Bay Music School and Concerts on the Slope in New York.
He holds degrees in composition from the University of Southern California (DMA), the Manhattan School of Music (MM), and the California Institute of the Arts (BFA). His most influential teachers include Richard Danielpour, Daniel Catán, Nils Vigeland, Andrew Norman, and Donald Crockett. Contreras’ music has been recorded on Universal Music Mexico, Albany Records, Epsa Music, and Urtext Digital Classics. He lives in Los Angeles, and currently teaches orchestration and music theory at the USC Thornton School of Music.
Contreras offers the following remarks about his work on our program:
Mariachitlán (Mariachiland) is an orchestral homage to my birthplace, the Mexican state of Jalisco, where mariachi music originated. The work recounts my experience visiting the Plaza de los Mariachis in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco, a place where mariachis play their songs in every corner and interrupt each other to win over the crowd.
In Mariachitlán, traditional rhythms such as the canción ranchera (ranchera song) in 2/4 time (choon-tah choon-tah), the vals romántico (romantic waltz) in 3/4 time (choon-tah-tah), and the son jalisciense (Jalisco song) that alternates between 6/8 and 3/4 time, accompany original melodies inspired by the beautiful landscapes of Jalisco. Mariachi instruments such as the trumpet, harp, and violin are featured as soloists in this work. Furthermore, the strings emulate the strumming patterns of vihuleas, while the contrabasses growl like guitarrones.
Near the end of the piece, a policeman blows his whistle in an attempt to stop the party. However, the crowd chants Mariachitlán, gradually increasing in intensity, and is rewarded with more vibrant music that ends the work with great brilliance.
ENSEMBLE ROSTER
PICCOLO
Anthony Alcain
Artist Diploma
Las Vegas, NV
FLUTE
Michelle Chang
Artist Diploma
San Jose, CA
Joseph Loi
BM Performance
Los Angeles, CA
Kaylee Yeon
Artist Diploma
Seoul, South Korea
OBOE
Issac Chyun
MM Performance
La Palma, CA
Victoria Solis Alvarado
BM Performance
Costa Rica
CLARINET
Christy Nguyen
BM Performance
Anaheim, CA
Manami Ogura
BM Performance
Tokyo, Japan
Monserrat Rodriguez
BA Music Education
Los Angeles, CA
Julian Rymar
Artist Diploma
Aliso Viejo, CA
Mia Thompson MM Performance
St. Louis, MO
Duarte Vale
MM Performance
Portugal
BASS CLARINET
Daniel Hernandez
BM Performance
Salinas, CA
BASSOON
Gildardo Alvarado
BA Music Education
Downey, CA
Sloan Quessenberry MM Performance
San Diego, CA
SAXOPHONE
Daniel Castellanos MM Wind Conducting Fontana, CA
Julio Emmanuel Hernandez BM Performance & BS
Computer Engineering Santa Ana, CA
Cole Quizon BA Music Education Orange, CA
Elijah Samuel BM Performance Rch. Cucamonga, CA
Sam Tobilla BM Performance
Eastvale, CA
Colin Ward MM Performance Whittier, CA
TRUMPET
Trevor Cannon BM Performance
Hesperia, CA
Ethan Hong BA Music Education
Downey, CA
Michael Kerr
MM Performance
Oceanside, CA
Christian Perez
BA Music Education
Whittier, CA
Taylor Shirley
BA Music Education
Fullerton, CA
Susanna Sun
BM Performance
Arroyo Grande, CA
HORN
Peter Bement
MM Wind Conducting Rch Cucamonga, CA
Alexander Delperdang
BM Performance
Redondo Beach, CA
Timothy Moy
MM Performance
Torrance, CA
Sam Stevens
BA Music Education
Temecula, CA
TROMBONE
Zak Brewer
BA Music Education
Glendora, CA
Ashley Kocour
BM Performance
Palm Desert, CA
Eduardo Madrigal MM Performance
Bloomington, CA
Phuong Vo
BA Music Education
Garden Grove, CA
BASS TROMBONE
Carlo Bonelli BM Performance
Norwalk, CA
Cody Kleinhans
BM Performance
Long Beach, CA
EUPHONIUM
Dylan Barnum
BM Performance
Perris, CA
Chris Zavala
BA Music Education
Anaheim, CA
TUBA
David Jimenez
BA Music Education
Santa Fe Springs, CA
Miguel Jimenez Maldonado
BA Music Education
Anaheim, CA
Michael Salgado
BM Performance
Tustin, CA
PERCUSSION
Andrew Alvidrez
BM Performance
Pomona, CA
Wilson Le
BM Composition
Garden Grove, CA
Salvador Montaño Jr.
BM Performance
Hesperia, CA
Galadriel Pokracki
BM Composition
North Tustin, CA
Jesus Santamaria
BA Music Education
Santa Ana, CA
John Sunderman
BA Music - Liberal Arts
Los Angeles, CA
Jacob Wetzel
BA Music Education
Burbank, CA
DOUBLE BASS
Josia Sulaiman
BM Performance
Riverside, CA
PIANO
Pingwen Lin
BM Performance
Taiwan
ABOUT THE CONDUCTORS
Dustin Barr is Director of Wind Studies and Associate Professor Music at California State University, Fullerton where he actively manages all aspects of the university’s comprehensive band program, conducts the Wind Symphony and University Band, oversees the graduate wind conducting program, and teaches courses in conducting and music education. Prior experiences include appointments as Assistant Director of Bands at Michigan State University, Director of Bands at Mt. San Antonio College, and Assistant Director of Bands at Esperanza High School in Anaheim, California.
Barr’s research includes working extensively with theatre director Jerald Schwiebert on the melding of performance theory with various movement theories and disciplines to establish innovative pedagogical approaches to teaching conducting. Their co-authored text, Expressive Conducting: Movement and Performance Theory for Conductors, was published by Routledge in 2018. This work has made Barr a highly regarded pedagogue in the field of conducting. He has given numerous masterclasses throughout the USA and in Spain. Furthermore, his research on Scandinavian music for chamber wind ensembles has produced published performance editions of Asger Lund Christiansen’s Octet, op. 43 and Svend Schultz’s Divertimento for Wind Octet.
Barr is a recipient of numerous accolades for his conducting and scholarly work. A signal honor was the CSUF Wind Symphony’s invitation to perform at the 2019 National Conference of the College Band Directors National Association. The Wind Symphony’s 2022 album, Effigy, is another noteworthy achievement. This album features the music of composer Brian Baumbusch and was the result of innovative musical practices and remote recording projects undertaken during the Covid-19 pandemic. Barr has been a guest conductor of prominent ensembles like the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” is a winner of the American Prize’s Ernst Bacon Award for the Performance of American Music, a finalist for the American Prize in conducting, a Rackham Merit Fellow at the University of Michigan, and he was recognized as one of the nation’s preeminent young conductors as part of the 2010 National Band Association’s Young Conductor Mentor Project.
Barr holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in conducting from the University of Michigan. He received his Master of Music degree and Bachelor of Music degree from California State University, Fullerton. His principal conducting mentors include Michael Haithcock and Mitchell Fennell.
DR. DUSTIN BARR | Conductor, University Wind Symphony
Dr. Gregory X. Whitmore is an Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music Education, at The California State University Fullerton School of Music. In this capacity, Dr. Whitmore teaches in the Instrumental Music Education Program, supervises student teachers and conducts the CSUF Symphonic Winds. In addition to his work in higher education, Dr. Whitmore is in his ninth season as Music Director of the Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble (Irvine, CA). This follows appointments as Director of Bands at Irvine Valley College (Irvine, CA), Mt. San Antonio College (Walnut, CA), and College of the Desert (Palm Desert, CA). Prior to his work in higher education, Dr. Whitmore spent 13 years as Director of Bands at Cathedral City High School (Cathedral City, CA). A native of Ypsilanti, Michigan; Dr. Whitmore received his bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education from The University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance in Ann Arbor, Michigan. While a student at The University of Michigan, Dr. Whitmore performed in the University of Michigan Bands; and led the University of Michigan Marching Band as “Michigan’s Man Up Front” - Drum Major - from 1999 to 2001. Dr. Whitmore received his master’s degree in music with an emphasis in wind conducting from California State University Fullerton studying under Dr. Mitchell Fennell. Dr. Whitmore holds a master’s degree, and a doctorate in music and music education from Columbia University (Teachers College) in the city of New York.
Dr. Whitmore has conducted ensembles in such notable concert venues as The Golden Hall of The Musikverein (Vienna), The Wiener Konzerthaus (Vienna), The MuTh (Vienna), Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (Costa Mesa), Symphony Hall (Chicago), The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Carnegie Hall (New York City), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Meng Hall (Fullerton, California), Holy Trinity Church (Stratford, England), St. John’s Smith Square (London), Chateau Vaux le Vicomte (Paris), and Heidelberg Castle (Germany). Under Dr. Whitmore’s direction, the Cathedral City High School Symphony Band was selected to perform as the showcase ensemble during the 2008 California Band Directors Association Annual Convention. Dr. Whitmore is the Second Place Winner of the 2017 American Prize in Conducting.
Dr. Whitmore belongs to professional organizations that include College Band Directors National Association, Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Band Fraternity, Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society, The National Association for Music Education, Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association, and the California Music Educators Association.
DR. GREGORY X. WHITMORE | Conductor, CSUF Symphonic WInds
With a research interest in music educator values as operationalized into pedagogy, in addition to investigating the concert band as an artistic medium; Dr. Whitmore has presented research at music education symposia in the United States and abroad. Dr. Whitmore’s research has been published in Visions of Research in Music Education. Dr. Whitmore is a recognized member of Academic Key’s Who’s Who in Community College Education, as well as four editions of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. Dr. Whitmore has been included in the 2005/2006 Edition of the National Honor Roll’s Outstanding American Teachers. Dr. Whitmore was selected to represent the State of California by “School Band and Orchestra Magazine” in the 2008 edition of “50 Band Directors Who Make A Difference.”Learn more about Dr. Whitmore at gwhitmore.com.
Framroze Virjee, President, California State University, Fullerton
Carolyn Thomas Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Alexander Porter, Vice President, Administration and Finance/CFO
David Forgues, Vice President, Human Resources, Diversity & Inclusion
Amir H. Dabirian, Vice President, Information Technology
Tonantzin Oseguera, Vice President, Student Affairs
Gregory J. Saks, Vice President, University Advancement
Arnold Holland, Ed.D, Dean
Dave Mickey, Associate Dean
Christopher Johnson, Budget Coordinator
Heather Guzman, Assistant to the Deans
Visual Arts Special Projects, Jade Jewett
Dr. Randall Goldberg, Director, School of Music
Dr. James Hussar, Chair, Department of Visual Arts
Jamie Tucker, Chair, Department of Theatre & Dance
Jennifer Frias, Director, Nicholas & Lee Begovich Gallery
John Spiak, Director, Grand Central Art Center - Santa Ana
Lara Farhadi, Senior Director of Development
Ann Steichen, Director of Development
Erika Ochoa, Support Group Coordinator
Julie Bussell, Director, Marketing & Patron Services
Stephanie Tancredi, Box Office Manager
Heather Richards-Siddons
Marketing & Communications Specialist
Alvin Chiu, Graphic Designer
Jason Pano, Social Media Strategist
music.fullerton.edu
