2012 TENNESSEE ALL-STATE CONDUCTORS
Dr. Michael Schwartzkopf
Indiana University - Bloomington
Professor of Music
Michael Schwartzkopf, professor of music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, is a
member of the Alliance of Distinguished Rank and Named Professors at Indiana University and holds the Pam
and Jack Burks Professorship Chair in Music. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education and
choral conducting from Indiana University and the D.M.A in choral conducting from the University of Iowa.
His philosophy of music is reflected in his involvement and activity in the areas of performance,
conducting, teaching, and administration. At Indiana University he is the music director and conductor of the
Grammy-nominated Singing Hoosiers and teaches courses in choral music education and conducting at the
graduate and undergraduate levels. He has been the chair of the music education department and the interim
chair of the choral conducting department. He is the past president of the Central Division of the American
Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and begins his seventeenth year as the director of the Chancel Choir of
the First United Methodist Church in Bloomington.
Under his direction, the Singing Hoosiers have performed for audiences throughout the United States and
recently in Wales, England, and Greece. In May 2011 they toured China, giving concerts in some of the
magnificent halls of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. In January 2009 they were invited to perform for the
Inaugural Ball of the Indiana Society of Washington, D.C. They have six recordings on the TELARC label
with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under the direction of the late Eric Kunzel; the most recent was
Christmastime is Here, released in 2006.
He continues to be active as an adjudicator, lecturer, clinician, and festival conductor and has conducted
numerous state, regional, and all-state choirs throughout the United States and Canada. As a singer/performer,
Schwartzkopf has performed in the theaters, on the concert stages, and in the cathedrals of Europe and the
United States with various orchestras and choral ensembles.
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Lisa Fredenburgh
Aurora University (IL)
Director of Choral Activities
Lisa Fredenburgh is Director of Choral Activities and Music Department chair at Aurora University in
Aurora IL. She holds a D.M.A. and two M.M. degrees from the University of Arizona where she studied under
Maurice Skones, Thomas Hilbish, Jerry McCoy and Kenneth Jenning. Her B.A. in music education was earned
at Luther College under Weston Noble. She has held conducting posts at University of Central Missouri, at
Meredith College and with the Opera Company of North Carolina.
Fredenburgh often serves as guest conductor, lecturer and clinician locally, nationally, and abroad. She has
conducted All-State choirs in Georgia, New York, Arkansas, and North Carolina. She has conducted and
taught master classes in the Dominican Republic and in Bolivia. She is a frequent presenter at national,
regional and state professional organizations in the fields of women’s choral music and the music of Latin
America. She currently serves as Central Division chair and formerly served as national chair for the Women’s
Choir Repertoire & Standards Committee for the American Choral Directors Association and served on the
steering committee for the 50th Anniversary National Convention in 2009. In addition to ACDA, she is a
member of College Music Society and Chorus America.
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Brad Holmes
Milikin University (IL)
Director of Choir Programs
Brad Holmes holds the DMA in choral conducting from Arizona State University. Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Millikin since 1991, Dr. Holmes teaches conducting and choral methods in addition to directing the University Choir and Concert Choir. He has been a guest conductor for festivals throughout the United States including All-State choirs in Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, Indiana and Illinois. He has received numerous invitations to conduct overseas. He served a term in Cambridge, England as a Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College. While there he conducted the Clare College Choir for services of evensong and consulted in recording sessions on the Collegium label. Other guest conducting invitations have taken him to the Far East to work with students from Japan, Korea, China and the Philippines. In June 2006 he traveled to England to conduct a special concert of American music with the Royal Free Singers of Windsor. Under his direction, the Millikin University Choir has been invited to sing at both the regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association as well as state MEA conventions in both Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. The choir has performed on concert series throughout the US during annual tours and has produced four CDs under Dr. Holmes' direction.
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Image courtesy of
Indiana University
Ray Cramer
Indiana University
Professor Emeritus
Ray E. Cramer was a member of the Indiana University School of Music faculty from 1969 to 2005. In 1982, Cramer was appointed Director of Bands. Under his leadership the Indiana University Wind Ensemble earned an international reputation for outstanding musical performances including the 1982 ABA Convention; the 1984 joint American Bandmasters Association/Japan Bandmasters Association Convention; the 1988 MENC National Convention; the 1991 National CBDNA Convention; the 1994 National MENC Convention; the 1995 ABA Convention; the 1997 National CBDNA Convention; a 2000 spring tour to Japan performing in six cities and the All Japan Band Clinic; the 2003 CBDNA National Convention; and numerous regional and state conventions and a December 2003 performance at The Midwest Clinic.
In addition to his administrative responsibilities as department chair, Cramer taught graduate courses in wind conducting, history and literature. He also conducted the University Orchestra for seven years.
He is a member of ABA, CBDNA, NBA, WASBE, MENC, IMEA, IBA, CIDA, and is affiliated with Phi Mu Alpha, Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma, and Phi Beta Mu. Cramer is a recipient of the Student Alumni Council Senior Faculty Award (1983), the Kappa Kappa Psi Distinguished Service to Music Award (1988), the CIDA Director of the Year Award (1988), the Phi Beta Mu, International Assembly, Outstanding Bandmaster Award (1988), the Kappa Kappa Psi Bohumil Makovsky Memorial Award (1991); Edwin Franko Goldman award (2002), MENC’s Lowell Mason Fellowship (2003) ; Midwest Clinic Medal of Honor (2005) ;Bands of America Hall of Fame (2006); Lifetime Achievement Award (2006). He is a past national president of the College Band Directors National Association and of the American Bandmasters Association and has served as president of the Indiana Bandmasters Association, the North Central Division of CBDNA and the Big Ten Band Directors Association. He is the current president of the Midwest Band & Orchestra Clinic.
Cramer is actively involved in clinics and guest conducting engagements nationally and internationally. He has served as regular guest conductor for the Musashino Academia of Music in Tokyo since 1990. A native of Illinois, Cramer has a B.A. and an Honorary Doctorate from Western Illinois University and an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. He taught in public schools in Illinois, Iowa and Ohio before moving to Indiana University. He and his wife Molly reside in Colorado Springs to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
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Steven Amundson
Professor of Music
St. Olaf College
Steven Amundson is in his twenty-eighth year on the faculty of St. Olaf College where he is professor of
music and conductor of the St. Olaf Orchestra. He also teaches courses in music theory, ear training and
conducting, and conducts the Philharmonia. Before his arrival in Minnesota, Amundson held conducting posts
at the University of Virginia, Tacoma Community College, and as Music Director of the Tacoma Youth
Symphony. He is also founding conductor of the Twin Cities-based Metropolitan Symphony that he led for
five years, and served as Music Director and Conductor of the Bloomington (MN) Symphony from 1984 to
1997. He has held posts on the conducting faculty for the Interlochen National Arts Camp, the Lutheran
Summer Music Program and has served as guest conductor for many All-State orchestra festivals throughout
the United States. In Minnesota, Amundson has appeared as guest conductor with the Duluth-Superior
Symphony Orchestra, the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra and the St. Paul
Chamber Orchestra.
A commissioned composer and arranger, Amundson is published by MMB Music and the Neil A. Kjos
Music Co. His self-published compositions are available through Tempo Music Resource. His orchestral works
have received over four hundred performances by university, civic and professional orchestras in the US,
Canada, Europe and Asia including the Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Toronto and
BBC Symphonies.
A 1977 graduate of Luther College, Amundson obtained the Master of Music degree in orchestral
conducting from Northwestern University and did further studies at the University of Virginia, the Aspen
Music School and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. In the 1980 International Conducting Competition
hosted by the Mozarteum and Austrian National Radio, Amundson won the first (Hans Häring) prize. In 1992,
the Minnesota Music Education Association named him Minnesota Orchestra Educator of the Year. In 1995,
Amundson received the Carlo A. Sperati Award from Luther College in recognition of his meritorious
achievement in the field of music.
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Shelton Berg
Dean, Frost School of Music
University of Miami
Shelton "Shelly" Berg is a jazz pianist originally from Cleveland, Ohio. At the age of six he entered the
Cleveland Institute of Music studying classical music. Berg earned Bachelor of Music and Master of Music
degrees in piano performance from the University of Houston School of Music. He has mostly devoted
himself to being a music educator, but has also recorded critically acclaimed albums The Nearness of You (Arbors,
2009), Blackbird (Concord, 2005) and The Will (CARS, 2000). In 2006, he arranged most of the songs on the
album entitled Ray Sings, Basie Swings (Concord). Berg was previously the McCoy/Sample Professor of Jazz
Studies at the USC Thornton School of Music. He is currently Dean of the Frost School of Music at the
University of Miami.
Berg maintains a busy worldwide schedule of jazz festival and club performances. He has performed,
recorded and arranged for renowned jazz vocalists Patti Austin, Nancy Wilson, Bobby McFerrin, Kurt Elling,
Monica Mancini, Dionne Warwick, Tierney Sutton, Lorraine Feather and Carmen Bradford. He has performed
and/or recorded with a Who's Who of jazz legends including Ray Brown, Louie Bellson, Eddie Daniels, Peter
Erskine, Woody Herman, Arturo Sandoval, Tom Scott, Clark Terry and Bill Watrous, to name a few. A finalist
in the 1988 Great American Jazz Piano Competition, Berg has recorded over thirty disks for the Yamaha
Disklavier piano. Berg has also orchestrated for television and film, as well as for performers Chicago, Kiss,
Carole King, Richard Marx, Joe Cocker, Elliott Smith, Lou Rawls, Steve Miller, and most recently for Ray Sings,
Basie Swings (Ray Charles/Count Basie Orchestra) and Arturo Sandoval's A Time for Love (Concord). He has
written for orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic and the American Symphony.
A Steinway piano artist, Berg is past president of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE).
In 2003 he was honored as Educator of the Year by the Los Angeles Jazz Society and in 2002 was the recipient
of the IAJE Lawrence Berk Leadership Award. In 2000 the Los Angeles Times named him one of three
Educators for the Millennium. He has appeared as a performer and lecturer throughout the United States as
well as in Canada, China, Mexico, Europe, Israel, Japan, Romania and Venezuela.
Berg has numerous compositions for jazz ensemble in publication, and his texts include the Chop-Monster
improvisation series, Rhythm Section Workshop for Jazz Directors, Essentials of Jazz Theory (Alfred Publishing), and
Jazz Improvisation: The Goal-Note Method (Kendor Music).
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