Steven Amundson
Professor of Music — Theory and Conducting
Conductor of the St. Olaf Orchestra
amundson@stolaf.edu

Amundson holds a B.A. from Luther College and an M.M. in orchestral conducting and music theory from Northwestern University. He pursued further study in orchestral conducting and musicology at University of Virginia and the Aspen Music School. In 1980, Amundson was winner of the Hans Haring Prize in conducting in Salzburg, Austria. He is the Minnesota Music Educators' Association 1992 recipient of the "Orchestra Educator of Year" award. Formerly the music director of the Tacoma Youth Symphony, Amundson is the founding conductor of the Metropolitan Symphony in Minneapolis and served as the music director of the Bloomington Symphony for 13 years. A published composer, Amundson is also active as a guest conductor and clinician.

Charles Forsberg
Professor of Music — Theory and Composition
forsberg@stolaf.edu

Forsberg received bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in theory-composition from the University of Minnesota, where he was a student of Paul Fetler and Dominick Argento. His works are published by G. Schirmer, Belwin-Mills, Augsburg, Schmitt-Hall and McCreary, and Curtis Music Press, and his commissioned works have been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra. Forsberg is a member of the Minnesota Composers Forum and ASCAP.

Michele Gillman
Instructor in Music — Theory and Aural Skills
gillman@stolaf.edu

Instructor in Music, Michele Gillman, is a composer of acoustic and computer music. She earned her doctorate in music composition from Northwestern University where she studied with Amnon Wolman and Michael Pisaro. She was awarded a fellowship to study composition and orchestration at the St. Magnus Festival in Kirkwall, Orkney where she studied with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sally Beamish, and Alasdair Nicholson. The fellowship resulted in the premiere of St. Magnus’ Fire, performed by the Kreisler Ensemble, at St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. She has currently been commissioned by the Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth, MN to compose music for documentary and recruitment videos. She has also worked in collaboration with Pauline Oliveros, Gerhard Stäbler, Mauricio Kagel, and Jeffrey Kowalkowski. She is currently creating the Gary and Vivian Gillson Gee Whiz Show: a series of new music concerts that focus on cabaret style programming with a twist. Her music has been performed throughout the US and Western Europe: St. Magnus Festival, Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland, SEAMUS Electronic Music Festival (Ames, IA), FEMF-Florida Electro-Acoustic Music Festival (Gainesville, FL), Catatonic Head/Queen Slacker (Chicago, Ames, New York), Gustavus Adolphus Orchestra (Minneapolis, St. Peter, and Chicago), Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra (Duluth, MN), Jack the Dog (Chicago), Live Bait Theatre (Chicago), the Vienna Saxophone Quartet (Vienna & Chicago), Athanasios Zervas, et al. (Athens, Greece), WNUR (Chicago) and others.

David Hagedorn
Artist in Residence — Percussion, Theory, and World Music
Director of Jazz Ensembles
hagedord@stolaf.edu

Hagedorn earned a B.S. in music education from the University of Minnesota, where he studied with Marv Dahlgren and Paula Culp of the Minnesota Orchestra; an M.M. in percussion performance from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Vic Firth of the Boston Symphony; and a D.M.A. in percussion performance from the Eastman School of Music, where his principal teacher was John Beck. Hagedorn has recorded with the George Russell Living Time Orchestra on Blue Note Recordings and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra on Teldec Recordings. He regularly performs in a jazz oriented percussion duo, Schag, with Dave Schmalenberger and does freelance work in the Twin Cities with groups such as the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Contemporary Ensemble, and Plymouth Music Series.

Alice Hanson
Professor of Music — History and Literature
hansona@stolaf.edu

Hanson received a B.A. in music from Wells College, Aurora, NY and master’s and Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Illinois, Champaign, IL. She studied at Universität der Stadt Wien at Vienna, Austria, under a Fulbright-Hayes grant. Her specialty is the music of Vienna during the 18-20th centuries, but she also has interests in opera and American music. Her publications include a monograph on Music in Biedermeier Vienna (Cambridge University Press) and articles for Music and Letters, Anterem, and in the Oxford Biographical Dictionary of Music.

Martin Hodel
Associate Professor of Music — Trumpet and Theory
hodel@stolaf.edu

Martin Hodel teaches trumpet and music theory at St. Olaf and is active as a soloist and freelance performer in the Twin Cities. He holds a doctorate in trumpet performance and literature from the Eastman School of Music as well as a B.A. in Music Education from Goshen College and a M.M. in trumpet performance and conducting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His teachers have included Donald Hunsberger, Charles Geyer, Barbara Butler, James Ketch, Raymond Mase, David Hickman and Anthony Plog. In 1997 Hodel performed a 23-concert solo tour of Europe with organist Bradley Lehman. As Principal and Solo Trumpet with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Hodel toured the U.S. and Japan, performing Haydn's Trumpet Concerto. He has also shared the stage with jazz artists Joe Henderson, Maria Schneider, Slide Hampton, Claudio Roditi, and Jimmy Heath and has toured and soloed with the Dallas Brass. He has performed and recorded with numerous symphony orchestras including the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Rochester Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony, Minnesota Chorale, Rochester Philharmonic, South Bend Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Southwest Michigan Symphony, and the Asheville Symphony. For two years Hodel worked as a North Carolina Visiting Artist, giving solo and chamber performances around North Carolina. He also has served on the faculty of Goshen College, conducting the symphony orchestra and teaching trumpet and music history.

Gerald Hoekstra
Professor of Music — History and Literature
Conductor of Collegium Musicum and Early Music Singers
hoekstra@stolaf.edu
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/hoekstra

Hoekstra teaches music history and directs the St. Olaf early music ensembles, the Collegium Musicum and Early Music Singers. His area of specialization is music of the Renaissance, particularly the French and Flemish chanson. He has published articles in Early Music, Musica Disciplina, Speculum, and The Choral Journal, and he has published critical editions of music of Hubert Waelrant and André Pevernage, and most recently an edition of Le Rossignol musical des chansons (Antwerp, 1597). He is a member of the American Musicological Society, the Viola da Gamba Society of America, and Early Music America, and in 2002 EMA presented him with Thomas Binkley Award, a national collegium directors award. He currently serves on the board of Early Music America and is chair the EMA Committee for Early Music in Higher Education. Hoekstra earned his B.A. from Calvin College and master's and doctoral degrees in music history from The Ohio State University under a University Fellowship.

Timothy Mahr
Professor of Music — Composition and Conducting
Conductor of the St. Olaf Band
mahr@stolaf.edu

Mahr holds a B.M. degree in composition and a B.A. degree in music education from St. Olaf College and a master's degree in trombone performance and a D.M.A. in instrumental conducting from the University of Iowa. An internationally acclaimed composer, Mahr received the 1991 Ostwald Award in the ABA Band Composition Contest for his composition The Soaring Hawk. He was elected to the American Bandmasters Association in 1993. Formerly director of bands at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and founding conductor of the Twin Ports Wind Ensemble, Mahr is the principal conductor of the Minnesota Symphonic Winds and is active as a clinician and guest conductor nationally and internationally. Recent commissions have come from the United States Air Force Band, the Music Educators National Conference, and the American Bandmasters Association. Over a dozen of his works for band have been published, with many released on compact disc recordings and included on state contest lists. Mahr is the president of the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association.

Justin Merritt
Assistant Professor of Music — Theory and Composition
merritt@stolaf.edu

B.M. Trinity University, M.M. and D.M.A. Indiana University. A student of
Samuel Adler, Sven-David Sandström, Don Freund, Claude Baker, Timothy
Kramer and electronic and computer music with Jeffrey Hass, he was the
youngest-ever winner of the ASCAP Foundation/Rudolph Nissim award in 2001 for "Janus Mask for Orchestra". He is also the winner of the 2000 Left Coast Chamber Ensemble Composition Competition Award for "The Day Florestan Murdered Magister Raro". In addition, his "Ravening for string quartet" was the winner of the 2001 Kuttner String Quartet Competition and runner-up for the 2001 Left Coast Competition, as was his "5 Preludes for Piano" in the 2000 ASCAP Foundation Awards. Other works include music for orchestra, ballet, and opera. He has worked as composer and musical director in dozens of theater productions, ranging from Shakespeare to Dada.

Catherine Rodland
Artist in Residence — Theory and Organ
rodland@stolaf.edu

Catherine Rodland graduated cum laude with departmental distinction in organ performance from St. Olaf College in 1987. She received her MM and DMA from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where she was a student of Russell Saunders. While at Eastman she received the prestigious Performer's Certificate and the Ann Anway Award for excellence in organ performance. Catherine is a prizewinner in several competitions, including the 1994 and 1998 American Guild of Organists Young Artists Competition, and 1994 Calgary International Organ Competition, and first prize in the 1989 International Organ Competition at the University of Michigan. As a result of these competitions she has concertized extensively throughout the United States and Canada. Prior to St. Olaf, Catherine worked as Minister of Music at First Church of Christ in Glastonbury, Connecticut where she was responsible for seven choirs. She co-authored the book "Choristers' Training Program" for the Royal School of Church Music in America, a manual for childrens' choir education. A specialist in working with childrens choirs, Catherine has presented workshops at several church music conventions. Her advanced childrens' choir toured England in the summer of 2001, singing services at Ely Cathedral, Ripon Cathedral, and York Minster.