Meet the Composers Dr Timothy Mahr
T
imothy Mahr is a professor of music at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he is the Conductor of the St. Olaf Band and teaches courses in composition, conducting and music education. Previous to his 1994 appointment at St. Olaf College, Mahr was Director of Bands at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, for ten years and taught instrumental music at Milaca High School, Minnesota, for three years. Mahr is the principal conductor of the Twin Cities-based Minnesota Symphonic Winds and, while in Duluth, was the founder and conductor of the Twin Ports Wind Ensemble. He is presently the President of the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association (1999-2001), has served on the Board of Directors of the National Band Association, and was a founding board member of the Minnesota Band Directors Association. Active in over thirty states as a guest conductor and clinician, Mahr has also appeared professionally in Norway and Canada, has been in residence as a guest composer/conductor on over twenty-five college and university campuses, and has twice conducted performances with the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra. His interpretations have earned the praise of notable composers such as Gian Carlo Menotti, Warren Benson, Vincent Persichetti, Ned Rorem, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Stephen Paulus, and Dan Welcher. Mahr is well known as a composer and has over fifty works to his credit, many of which are published works for band. His works have been presented at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York as well as numerous national and international music conventions. His compositions are regularly programmed by professional armed service bands, major college and university bands, all-state bands, and ensembles in eighteen countries on four continents. He has received over twenty-five commissions including works for the U.S. Air Force Band, the Music Educators National Conference, Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma, and the Nebraska and Indiana Bandmasters Associations. He is a recipient of the National Band Association’s “Citation of Excellence” and was elected in 1993 to membership in the American Bandmasters Association. Mahr (b. 1956) graduated with two degrees summa cum laude from St. Olaf College in 1977 and 1978 (B.M.-Theory/ Composition and B.A.-Music Education). In 1983 he received the Master of Arts degree in Trombone Performance from The University of Iowa, where in 1995 he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Instrumental Conducting.
Julie Giroux
J
ulie Ann Giroux was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and Monroe, Louisiana. She received her formal education from Louisiana State University and Boston University. She has studied composition with John Williams, Bill Conti, and Jerry Goldsmith, to name a few. Julie is an accomplished performer on piano and horn, but her greatest love has always been composition. She began playing the piano at the age of three and published her first piece at age nine. She began composing, orchestrating, and conductiong music for television and film in 1985. Within three hours after arriving in Los Angeles, she was at work on the Emmy award-winning miniseries “North and South,” orchestrating and composing nearly six hours of music. “North and South’ was quickly followed by TV series “Dynasty” and “The Colbys,” and the feature films “Karate Kid II” and “Broadcast News.” She received her first Emmy nomination in 1988 for “North and South, Part II: Love and War” and over the next three years was nominted each year for her arranging and original compositions for the Academy Awards show. She has been nominated for an Emmy a total of seven times.When she won her first Emmy Award, she was the first woman and the youngest person ever to win the award in that category. A member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), she has credits for more than 100 film and television programs. She has also arranged for Celene Dion, Paula Abdul, Dudley Moore, Liza Minelli, Madonna, Reba McIntyre, Little Richard, Billy Crystal, Michael Jackson and many others. Julie is an extremely well-rounded composer writing works for Symphony Orchestra (including chorus), Chamber music, Wind Ensembles, Soloists, Brass and Woodwind Quintets and many other serious and commercial formats. Julie currently composes for concert bands full time, devoting a growing amount of time to conducting college and high school honor/clinic bands.
The PODIUM, Spring 2001—25
