Theory and Composition
History and Literature Faculty
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. |
 Kirsten BrobergVisiting Assistant Professor of Music — Music Theory and Aural Skills broberg @stolaf.edu The music of Kirsten Broberg has been programmed or commissioned by internationally recognized ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, Chicago Symphony Orchestra MusicNOW Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, New York New Music Ensemble, Jack Quartet, New Millennium Orchestra, Sonic Inertia Dance and Performance Group, Third Coast Percussion, and Ensemble Dal Niente of Chicago which she founded and for which she currently serves as the Composer and Artistic Advisor. Her music has been heard at the Sonic Fusion Festival in Edinburgh, International Contemporary Ensemble New York and Chicago ICE Fests, June in Buffalo Festival in New York, Sonic Impact at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Electronic Music Midwest Conference in Chicago, Sound Field New and Experimental Music Festival in Chicago and Opera Cabal Multimedia Festival in Chicago. She has won a Fromm Foundation Commissioning Grant from Harvard University, two Encore Grants from the American Composers Forum, first place in the Accent '04 International Call for String Quartets at Cincinnati Conservatory, and first place in the University of Minnesota Call for Orchestral Scores. |
 David Castro Assistant Professor of Music — Theory dcastro@stolaf.edu Assistant Professor, David Castro, received a B.Mus. in Music Education from Pacific Union College in 1998, a M.M. in Music Theory from The University of Arizona in 2000, and earned his Ph.D. in Music Theory at the University of Oregon in 2005. His doctoral dissertation, advised by Jack Boss, was titled, “Sonata Form in the Music of Dmitri Shostakovich.” In it, Castro examines Shostakovich’s adroit handling of a tonal form while maintaining his own unique post-tonal voice. Castro’s analyses also support hermeneutic interpretations when such readings are appropriate. Castro continues to examine Shostakovich’s music, having presented numerous papers at Music Theory conferences nationwide. He is also conducting research into the employment of Schenkerian notions of prolongation to examine Twentieth-century compositions, particularly for the works of those composers who employ neo-tonal compositional techniques, including non-functional triadic harmony and free counterpoint. |
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. |
 Gerald HoekstraProfessor of Music — History and Literature Conductor of Collegium Musicum and Early Music Singers hoekstra@stolaf.edu 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, André Pevernage, and others, most recently an edition of the Cantiones sacrae of Pevernage in three volumes of the series Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance. He is a member of the American Musicological Society, the Viola da Gamba Society of America, Sixteenth Century Studies Society, and Early Music America. In 2002 EMA presented him with Thomas Binkley Award, a national collegium directors award. He has served on the board of Early Music America and chaired the EMA Committee for Early Music in Higher Education from 2001-2009. 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 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, Dr. 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, Dr. 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. Twenty-five of his works have been published, with many released on compact disc recordings and included on state contest lists. Dr. Mahr is a past-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 (1996-98) and was a founding board member of the Minnesota Band Directors Association. |
Composer Justin Merritt (bn. 1975) was the youngest-ever winner of the ASCAP Foundation/Rudolph Nissim award in 2001 for Janus Mask for Orchestra. He is the winner of many other awards including the 2011 McKnight Fellowship, the 2008 Copland Award, the 2008 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute Award for River of Blood, the 2006 Polyphonos Prize for Hay Días, the 2006 VocalEssence Essentially Chorale Competition for Adoro Te Devote, the 2000 Left Coast Chamber Ensemble Composition Competition Award for The Day Florestan Murdered Magister Raro, and the 2001 Kuttner String Quartet Competition for Ravening. His music has been heard across North America, Europe, and Asia. Hear more music by Justin Merritt at www.mooneast.com. |
 Reinaldo MoyaInstructor in Music — Music Theory moya@stolaf.edu Reinaldo Moya is a Venezuelan American composer whose music is often inspired by literature. Through his explorations of the relationship between music and literary texts, Moya finds an outlet for his own personal sense of drama and lyricism. He received a Masters degree from The Juilliard School, where he is currently a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow. His teachers at Juilliard included Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. In 2006, he graduated summa cum laude from West Virginia University, where he studied with John Beall. Mr. Moya is the recipient of Meet the Composer's 2011 Van Lier Fellowship, as well as multiple Morton Gould Young Composer Awards from ASCAP. In 2011, he was awarded the Aaron Copland Award which led to a residency in Aaron Copland's historic New York home. In 2007, Mr. Moya's String Quartet was premiered by the Attacca Quartet at the Museum of Modern Art. His orchestral work Aurora Australis was awarded the Walter Friedman Memorial Prize for Orchestral Composition in 2008, and was premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra under Jeffrey Milarsky. He has received commissions from Trio 180 (Resident ensemble at the University of the Pacific) and the New York Choreographic Institute. His opera Generalissimo, based on the life of a fictional Latin American dictator, is currently under development in conjunction with playwright Jessica Foster. Mr. Moya's music is published by the American Composers Alliance. |
Winner of the Sallie Shepherd Perkins Prize for Best Achievement from the Rice University Shepherd School of Music, flutist Catherine Ramirez has gained recognition for her vivid and compelling interpretations of both classical and contemporary music, as well as for her engaging teaching. Reviewed as “wonderful, an astonishing artist” whose conviction and communication are “incredibly powerful,” Ms. Ramirez has performed as a solo, chamber and orchestral musician in Italy, France, Austria, Canada, Mexico, and throughout the United States. A strong advocate for music education, she recently served as a panelist for the 2010 Hispanic Career and Education Day held at the George Brown Convention Center in Houston, and presented a concert series of accessible Latin and South American chamber music for ‘at-risk’ youth. She has been a guest artist at Brigham Young University, New Mexico State University, University of Utah and the University of Texas at El Paso. Beginning in September 2010, Ms. Ramirez joins the music faculty at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. She earned degrees from Occidental College, the Boccherini Music Institute (Italy), Queens College and the Yale University School of Music, and, earlier this year, completed her residency for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Rice University. Her major teachers include Melissa Colgin-Abeln, Gary Woodward, Marzio Conti, Tara Helen O'Connor, Ransom Wilson and Leone Buyse. Visit www.catherineramirez.com for more information. |
Catherine Rodland, whose playing has been described as "transcendent" (The American Organist), is Artist in Residence at St. Olaf College. She graduated cum laude with departmental distinction in organ performance from St. Olaf in 1987. She received both the MM and DMA from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where she was a student of Russell Saunders. At Eastman, Catherine received the prestigious Performer's Certificate and the Ann Anway Award for excellence in organ performance. She is a prizewinner in several competitions including the 1994 and 1998 American Guild of Organists Young Artists Competition, the 1994 Calgary International Organ Competition, and the 1989 International Organ Competition at the University of Michigan for which she recieved first prize. She concertizes extensively throughout the United States and Canada including such venues as the Crystal Cathedral, Woolsey Hall at Yale University, St. Thomas Church in New York City, and the chapel at Duke University. During the summer of 2002 Catherine toured in Germany performing in Berlin and Brandenburg. |
