Winds and Percussion Faculty
Kurt Claussen has taught saxophone and band for more than twenty years, working with students at all levels from beginner through adult. Since 1995, he has been a band and woodwind specialist at Falcon Ridge Middle School in Apple Valley, Minnesota. In addition to his school duties, he is adjunct instructor of saxophone at St. Olaf College, and also maintains a select private saxophone studio. Mr. Claussen freelances throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area, and has appeared as a solo and quartet recitalist and clinician in the US, Canada, Norway and Germany. He holds the performer’s Certificat from the Conservatoire National de Region de Bordeaux, France, where he studied with eminent saxophonist and teacher Jean-Marie Londeix. He earned the Master of Music degree in saxophone performance from the University of Minnesota, studying with Ruben Haugen, and the Bachelor of Arts in music education from St. Olaf College. |
 David HagedornArtist in Residence — Percussion and World Music Director of Jazz Ensembles hagedord@stolaf.edu Percussion at St. Olaf David Hagedorn is an Artist in Residence in the Music Department at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he teaches percussion, jazz studies, and world music. St. Olaf Jazz I received an award for best undergraduate large jazz band in the Downbeat magazine 2011 student music awards. |
Hanson was also the conductor of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra from 1974 to 1990. During his tenure the symphony received four ASCAP awards for “Adventuresome Programming of Contemporary Music.” An accomplished trumpet player, Hanson has an extensive background in performance, which included playing principal trumpet with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. As a composer, he has written works for orchestra, band, and other instrumental and vocal ensembles. Recent compositions include commissioned works for the Minnesota All-state Orchestra, the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies, the Twin Cities Suburban Festival Orchestra, the Grand Forks Central and Red River High School Bands, and six anthems for three churches in Willmar, Minn., as part of the Church/Synagogue Residency program sponsored by the American Composers Forum. |
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Martin Hodel has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player in the US and around the world. During the 2005-06 season he played full time in the trumpet section of the Minnesota Orchestra, with whom he has recorded and plays extra. As Principal and Solo Trumpet with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Hodel toured the U.S. and Japan, and he has toured coast to coast in America with the Dallas Brass. He has also shared the stage with jazz artists Joe Henderson, Maria Schneider, Slide Hampton, Claudio Roditi, David Murray, and Jimmy Heath, and has toured Germany with organist Bradley Lehman as part of the Hodel-Lehman Duo. A CD by the Duo, In Thee is Gladness, recorded in Emden, Germany has been released on Larips Records. Hodel appears as a soloist on seven other compact discs, has performed live on the nationally-broadcast radio program, A Prairie Home Companion, on Minnesota Public Radio, on public television, and on national broadcasts of the radio programs Sing for Joy and PipeDreams. Since 1997 he has been the trumpet professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Hodel holds a doctorate in trumpet performance and a performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music, a master of music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a bachelor’s degree in music education from Goshen College. His teachers have included Charles Geyer, Barbara Butler, Allen Vizzutti, James Ketch, Raymond Mase, Craig Heitger, David Hickman and Anthony Plog. On a recent sabbatical, Hodel studied Baroque (natural, valveless) trumpet and 18th-century trumpet literature in Europe with Dr. Edward H. Tarr, the leading expert on early trumpets and trumpet literature. |
Kelley earned a B.M. in Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kelley has studied with George Berry, George Goslee, Norman Herzberg, and Gary Echols. A 25-year member of the Minnesota Orchestra, Kelley is currently co-principal bassoonist and has appeared as a soloist on several occasions. He has also been a member of the Santa Fe Opera Company orchestra, and has attended numerous summer music festivals worldwide. He keeps a rigorous performing schedule and maintains a private teaching studio. Kelley has been a member of the St. Olaf music faculty since 1991. |
Dana Maeda, graduated from St. Olaf College with a BM degree in Oboe Performance, Vocal Education and Instrumental Education. She then earned a MA in Education from St. Mary's University. Her primary oboe teachers include Julie Madura and Rhadames Angelucci. In addition to 25 years as a private instructor, she has previously served on the faculty of Bethel University and Crown College. Dana spent 14 years in the public and private schools teaching band, choir, and classroom music. Her experiences have included instruction at the high school, middle school and elementary levels. The final 9 years were devoted to elementary classroom music instruction with an emphasis on early childhood development. Dana currently performs with the Rochester Orchestra and is a founding member of WindWorks Woodwind Quintet. She is active as a free-lance performer in the Twin City area. Some of the ensembles she has performed with include the Bach Society of Minnesota, Minnesota Sinfonia, Minneapolis Pops Orchestra, Arius, Minnetonka Choral Society, Dolce Wind Quintet, and Moody Blues. Dana frequently assumes the coaching/clinician role. These opportunities have included St. Olaf Band Day guest lecturer and soloist, high school master classes on the art of chamber music, judging regional solo/ensemble competitions, and coach for the Minnesota All-State Orchestra woodwind section. In addition to working with the St. Olaf oboe studio, she also coaches chamber ensembles and teaches woodwind methods. |
Jill Mahr, holds a B.M. degree in flute performance and music education with a jazz minor from the University of Minnesota, Duluth. She earned a M.M. degree in Flute Performance at Northwestern University, where she studied with Walfrid Kujala of the Chicago Symphony. In addition to flute instruction, Ms. Mahr directs the St. Olaf Handbell Choir, the St. Olaf Chapel Ringers, and oversees the direction of the student-led Manitou Handbell Choir. She is an active member of AGEHR (American Guild of English Handbell Ringers) and is former secretary of Area VII. Ms. Mahr is principal flute in the Mankato Symphony Orchestra and has a private flute studio in her home. |
B.M., M.M., University of Michigan, PhD, University of Minnesota. He is Director of the St. Olaf Norseman Band, Trombone Choir, and Tuba Euphonium Ensemble. He has been a member of the Scandinavia Symphony Orchestra of Detroit, Toledo (Ohio)Symphony, Flint (Michigan) Symphony, Las Palmas Opera Festival Orchestra (Spain), Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (Canada). Has studied bass trombone with Edward Kleinhammer of the Chicago Symphony and tuba with Abe Torchinsky at Michigan . In recent years, Niemisto has been a clinician and soloist at festivals in Canada and Scandinavia, and is founder and director of Ameriikan poijat, a Finnish brass band, and the Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra. In Minnesota he has been bass trombonist with the Rochester Orchestra, and euphoniumist with the Sheldon Theatre Brass Band. His research interests are centered on historical brass bands and military brass bands of Finland. He has been a Fulbright Senior Scholar and an American Scandinavian Foundation scholar, studying about early bands in Finland and St. Petersburg, Russia. |
BS University of Nebraska at Lincoln, M.M., University of Minnesota. His principal teachers have been Allen French, Herb Winslow and Kendall Betts. Before moving to Minneapolis, Mike served for three seasons as fourth horn in the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra. Active as a freelance artist in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, he performs frequently with the Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He currently serves as third horn with the Minnesota Opera and second horn with the Minnesota Sinfonia. Mike has had teaching experience in the elementary and middle school classroom, in the college setting, and in private instruction. |
Dr. Jun Qian, an endorsing artist for the Paris-based Selmer Company, is the Assistant Professor of Music in Clarinet and Chamber Music at St. Olaf College in US. He has also taught music theory at Eastman, chamber music at Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China, and performed as the principal clarinetist of Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra. Qian holds a B.M. from Baylor University , the M.M. and D.M.A. from the Eastman School of Music with full scholarship. In 1997, Qian won the first prize for the Orchestral Excerpts Competition and third prize in the Solo Competition at the International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition. He became the first artist who won both competitions in the same year in the history of the ICA. Qian was the music producer and soloist for Steven Laitz's Book "The Complete Musician" published by the Oxford University Press in US. Qian has given many master classes and appeared as a recital /concerto soloist in many major cities around world. He made his Carnegie Hall debut performing Weber's Clarinet Concerto No. 1 with North American Elite Symphony Orchestra, performed as the soloist at Japan Kyoto International Arts Festival, and appeared on National Public Radio's "Performance Today" with the Grammy-award winning Ying Quartet in US. He has introduced many western clarinet concertos for the first time in full orchestral version to Chinese audiences including Copland Concerto (2003) with Shanghai Symphony. International appearances as principal clarinetist also include the world famous Eastman Wind Ensemble's tours of Asia in 2000 and 2004. His CD, Premiere Rhapsodie, and video, Playing the Clarinet, were released under the Nanjing Shine Horn label in China. They have been two of the most popular clarinet playing and teaching materials on the Asian market since 1998. |
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, Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, and throughout the United States, including a recent performance at the Kennedy Center. Selected from hundreds of applicants, she will also perform at the 2011 National Flute Association Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. A strong advocate for music education, Ms. Ramirez 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 joined 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 is currently a candidate 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 catherineramirez.com for more information. |
When Herbert Winslow joined the Minnesota Orchestra as associate principal horn in 2005, he already had a long relationship with the Orchestra—he had performed as acting associate principal horn in Sommerfest concerts since 1993 and served in that role throughout the 1994-95 season and on the Orchestra’s 2004 European Tour. He performed Mozart’s Second Horn Concerto in January 2011 as part of the Orchestra’s Mid-Winter Mozart festival. In October 2008 he was featured with Orchestra colleagues in another Mozart work, the Sinfonia concertante. He made an appearance on the Chamber Music at MacPhail series in February 2010, performing Schoenberg’s Wind Quintet. Prior to taking his position with the Orchestra, Winslow served as principal horn of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, a post he held from 1981 to 2006. In addition, he spent three summer seasons as principal horn of the Santa Fe Opera and was assistant principal horn of the New Mexico Symphony. While still a student at the Curtis Institute of Music, he played with the Philadelphia Orchestra as a substitute and extra musician, serving as assistant principal horn in 1975. Winslow has performed extensively as a chamber musician; from 2002 to 2004 he played in the Bay Chamber Music Festival’s First Chair All-Stars series in Rockport, Maine, joining principal players from orchestras in Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Chicago and Montreal. In demand as a teacher, Winslow has been an adjunct faculty member of St. Olaf College since 2001 and was an affiliate faculty member of the University of Minnesota from 1989 to 2007. He also was on the faculty of the University of New Mexico from 1977 to 1981. He has presented master classes at colleges and universities across the country, including the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Indiana University. Winslow studied with Ethel Merker at Indiana University and earned a bachelor of music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Mason Jones. Winslow is a volunteer at Courage Center, where he coaches a power wheelchair soccer team. He lives in Woodbury with his wife and their family. |
 Larry ZimmermanInstructor in Music — Low Brass zimmerlj@stolaf.edu Trombonist Larry Zimmerman graduated magna cum laude with a degree in music education from St. Olaf College in 1986, and earned an MM in Trombone Performance from Boston University in 1989. He is a member of the Grammy winning Chestnut Brass Company, and is Principal Trombonist of the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra and the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra. He has performed around Minnesota with many ensembles, including the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Larry is also active in the performance of period brass instruments, including Renaissance sackbuts and 19th Century saxhorns. He enjoys working as a soloist & chamber musician, and has recently presented programs of new music for trombone with piano, organ, tape, film, & other instruments. Larry lives in Minneapolis and is a low brass instructor at St. Olaf College, Bethel University, Gustavus Adolphus College, and the University of St. Thomas. |
