Winds and Percussion Faculty
Kurt Claussenhas 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. |
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. |
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 is Associate Professor of Music at St. Olaf, where he has been teaching since 1997. He has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player in the US and around the world. Currently an extra and substitute player, he played full time in the trumpet section of the Minnesota Orchestra for the 2005-06 season. 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. In June he premiered Eric Ewazen’s Concerto For Trumpet and Orchestra (an orchestration of the Sonata) with the St. Olaf Orchestra in Spain. 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 eight 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. 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, Donald Hunsberger, James Ketch, Raymond Mase, Craig Heitger, David Hickman and Anthony Plog. Recently 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, Instructor in Music: Oboe. BM Oboe Performance, Music |
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. |
Qian has appeared as concerto soloist with Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Xiamen Philharmonic, Baylor Symphony Orchestra and Shangyang Opera Orchestra. He has introduced many western clarinet concertos for the first time to Chinese audiences inclduing Copland Concerto, arnold Concerto and La Traviata Fantasy. In 2001, he made his Carnegie Hall debut performing Weber's Clarinet Concerto No. 1 with the Asian American International Orchestra. International appearances as principal clarinetist also include the Eastman Wind Ensemble's tours of Asia in 2000 and 2004, the North Carolina Festival Orchestra's European tour, the Kent-Blossom Music Festival, National Orchestra Institute, and the American Wind Symphony. In October 2004, he was the featured soloist at the International Performing Arts Festival in Japan, and he has appeared on National Public Radio's "Performance Today" with the Grammy-award winning Ying Quartet. His activities in 2006 as a teacher and performer included a clarinet recital in Paris, France, conducting the Nazareth/Houghton Clarinet Choir as part of the International Clarinet Choir Festival, and giving master classes throughout China and Malaysia. His CD, Premier Rhapsodie, and video, Playing the Clarinet, were released on the Nanjing Shine Horn label in China. In the spring of 2007, Qian was the music producer and soloist for Steven Laitz's Book "The Complete Musician" published by the Oxford University Press. He will also start his teaching position at Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival this summer. Qian holds a B.M. from Baylor University where he was a student of Richard Shanley; and the M.M. and D.M.A. from Eastman School of Music where he studied with Kenneth Grant and Stanley Hasty. |
Kay Sahlin, Instructor in Music: Flute. B.A. in Music from St. Olaf College. Principal teachers include Donald Berglund and Geoffrey Gilbert. Sahlin currently plays principal flute in the Rochester Orchestra and is 2nd flute/piccoloist of the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra. She is a founding member of WindWorks, a professional woodwind quintet. She has served as principal flute of Philomusica (a conductorless chamber orchestra), Minneapolis Chamber Symphony and the St. Louis Philharmonic, and has performed as a substitute/extra player with the Minnesota Orchestra. Sahlin was the faculty coordinator for summer master classes at St. Olaf given by Geoffrey Gilbert, Peter Lloyd and William Bennett. |
Herbert Winslow - Instructor in Music - horn. Winslow attended Indiana University, where he studied with Ethel Merker, and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he was a student of Mason Jones. While still a student, he performed frequently with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Winslow was appointed associate principal horn of the Minnesota Orchestra in 2005. He has had a long relationship with the Minnesota Orchestra, performing as acting associate principal horn for the 1994-95 season and, since 1993, for Sommerfest. Winslow has long been known to Twin Cities audiences as principal horn of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, a position he held from 1981-2005. From 1990 to 1992, Winslow spent his summer seasons as principal horn of the Santa Fe Opera. In demand as a teacher, he has served on the faculty of the University of Minnesota since 1989, and joined the St. Olaf College faculty in 2001. From 2002 to 2004, Winslow performed 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. |
 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, and the University of St. Thomas. |
