Dr. Timothy Mahr


Professor of Music

Conductor, St. Olaf Band

St. Olaf College,
Department of Music

Office Phone: (507) 646-3285
E-mail: mahr@stolaf.edu

Timothy Mahr is an associate professor of music at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he is the Conductor of the St. Olaf College Band. In addition, he teaches courses in composition, conducting and music education, and supervises instrumental student teaching. Previous to his appointment in 1994 at St. Olaf, Mahr was Director of Bands at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, for ten years and taught instrumental music at Milaca High School in Milaca, Minnesota, for three years. He was the founder and conductor of the community-based Twin Ports Wind Ensemble and has served on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Band Directors Association. He was an At-Large Representative on the Board of Directors of the National Band Association (1996-98) and serves as the President-Elect of the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association (1997-99).

Active as a guest conductor and clinician, Mahr is in demand across the nation and in Norway and Canada as a conductor of all-state bands, intercollegiate bands and honor band festivals. He 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 in his second performance with that ensemble. This year he will conduct ensembles or serve as a clinician in Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Wyoming, as well as Alberta, Canada. His interpretations have earned the praise of notable composers such as Gian Carlo Menotti, Warren Benson, Vincent Persichetti, Ned Rorem, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Timothy Broege Dan Welcher and Fisher Tull. Under Mahr's baton, the St. Olaf College Band toured Norway in the summer of 1996 and performed at the 1997 American Bandmasters Association Convention in San Diego during its California tour. Recently the band presented an invited performance at the 1998 Minnesota Music Educators Association Mid-Winter Clinic. Since 1994, the St. Olaf Band has produced four compact disc recordings, two of which have recieved international acclaim.

Mahr is well known as a composer and has over 40 works to his credit, 24 of which are compositions for band. Over a dozen of his works have been contracted for publication. He received the 1991 ABA/Ostwald Award for his piece The Soaring Hawk. His works have been presented at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, as well as numerous international and national music conventions. His compositions have been and continue to be programmed by the U.S. Marine Band, U.S. Air Force Band, other armed service bands, major college and university bands, all-state bands, and ensembles in seventeen countries on four continents. His works have been broadcast on public radio, and recordings of his works can be found on the Sony, Crest, Mark and St. Olaf labels. He has been the subject of interview articles in Clarino: Internationale Zeitschrift fur Blasermusik (July/August, 1997), The Instrumentalist (March, 1995) and BDGuide (March/April, 1993) and has authored articles for major music journals.

Mahr was the first recipient of a commission from the American Bandmasters Association Commissioning Project, and the resultant work, Endurance, was premiered by the United States Interservice Band in Washington, DC. He has also received commissions from the United States Air Force Band, the Music Educators National Conference, the Nebraska and Indiana Bandmasters Associations, and many colleges, universities, high schools and community bands. 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, the most prestigious organization in the band field.

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 also earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Instrumental Conducting.

Mahr is married to Jill Mahr, musician and educator, and they have two daughters, Jenna and Hannah.

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