FACULTY

Brian Bowman
Director, 4th of July Brass Band Concert
Dr. Brian L. Bowman is professor of euphonium in the instrumental studies division. Currently he is the only full time professor of euphonium in a major music school in the United States.

Dr. Bowman enjoys a distinguished career as a soloist, clinician, recording artist, educator and administrator. Dr. Bowman has held the principal euphonium position, in addition to being a featured soloist, in each of the bands he has been associated with: THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SYMPHONY BAND, THE UNITED STATES NAVY BAND, THE UNITED STATES BICENTENNIAL BAND, THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE BAND and THE RIVER CITY BRASS BAND in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Characterized by a virtuosic technique and a warm, rich, velvet tone, Brian Bowman's playing has thrilled audiences for more than a quarter of a century. His superb musicianship and dedication to fine brass playing have made him one of the foremost euphonium soloists in the world today. His history of euphonium "firsts" is impressive: First euphonium recital in New York's Carnegie Recital Hall, 1976; First euphoniumist to serve as president of the TUBISTS UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD ASSOCIATION (T.U.B.A); First euphonium concert tour of Japan; First Guest Euphonium Artist-Falcone International Euphonium Competition; First euphonium master class at the Paris Conservatory Superior of Music, France Master teacher at the first Deutsche Tubaforum workshop to include the euphonium, tenor horn and bariton, Hammelburg, Germany, 1991.

He is in demand as a guest soloist with high school, university, municipal and professional ensembles. He has performed as a soloist in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, The Virgin Islands, Norway, Finland, Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. He has appeared as tenor tubist with the National Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He has performed concertos with the Lexington Kentucky Symphony, the Sapporo Japan, Symphony Orchestra and the North Carolina Symphony.

MARY KAREN CLARDY, flute

Director, Flute! At Crested Butte

Mary Karen Clardy , Professor of Flute at the University of North Texas , appears throughout the United States , Great Britain , Europe, the Far East, and South America as a soloist, chamber artist and teacher. A frequent performer for the NFA, including Boston , Dallas , Denver , New Orleans , Orlando , Phoenix , San Diego , St. Louis , Seattle , Washington , D. C., and Los Angeles , she has also appeared twice at the British Flute Society's international conventions. Ms. Clardy's newest recording on the EPR Label (Solos and Sonatinas) features the world premier recording of Steven Harlos's Sonata Rubata, and she recorded a solo recital of American music for the BBC's Radio 3, including works of Copland, Liebermann, and Barber. Renowned as a teacher, she regularly gives master classes at home and abroad, including Shanghai's Conservatory of Music, London's Royal and Trinity Colleges; Conservatorio da Venizia and Boccherini Institute in Italy; and Oberlin, Yale, and Manhattan Schools. By invitation of the Ministry of Culture, she has taught in Taiwan 's Summer Music Institute, and her students have been prize-winners in competitions throughout the world, including Rampal., NFA, MTNA, Markneukirchen, and Flute Talk. Ms. Clardy's three books available from European American are in multiple reprint, and her edition of Altès Daily Exercises, published by Leduc, is available for the first time separate from the Complete Method. Recent publications include Classic Duets 2 and Classic Solos for Flute from Universal Edition and Fauré Melodies, Volumes 2 and 3 from Leduc. 2006 scheduled appearances include tours to Brazil , Asia, and Flute!™ Events in California , Colorado , and Texas .  

Linda Di Fiore
Artistic Director, Musical Theater Workshop
Dr. Linda Di Fiore, mezzo soprano and Regents Professor, has performed professionally for over thirty years as a soloist in opera, oratorio, recital, and musical theatre. Her career has included guest performances throughout the United States with such groups as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, Bach Aria Festival in New York City, Orlando Opera, Pensacola Oratorio Society, Wichita Opera, Music Theatre of Wichita, Winter Haven Messiah Society, North Florida Arts Opera Series, Longview Opera, Orchestra of New Spain, Arlington Choral Society, Richardson Symphony, San Angelo Symphony and the Da Ponte String Quartet.. An active song recitalist, she has performed recitals in Innsbruck, Austria; Rome, Venice, Cremona, Mantua, and Castelfranco-Veneto, Italy; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and in the U.S. in Santa Barbara, St. Petersburg, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C. In addition, Dr. Di Fiore has toured England and Scotland as an oratorio soloist and has lectured for the Smithsonian Institution in Vienna and Prague for its music festival tour of those two cities.

Dr. Di Fiore joined the faculty of the University of North Texas in 1996. Prior to that, she was a Professor of Voice at the University of Florida, where she taught for fourteen years. While there, she twice received the Teacher of the Year Award for the College of Fine Arts as well as a Teaching Incentive Program Award from the University of Florida . She is in demand as a clinician and has presented master classes for the Voice Centre in Toronto; Conservatory of Music in San Juan; Steffani Conservatory in Castelfranco-Veneto, Italy; University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Eastman School of Music, Fort Worth Opera; Opera in the Ozarks; Seagle Arts Colony; Kansas City Lyric Opera; Orlando Opera; as well as many other universities and colleges throughout the United States. In 2004, Dr. Di Fiore was chosen as one of four Master Teachers to participate in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Intern Program in Colorado. In the summers she teaches and performs in the Casalmaggiore International Festival in Italy. At UNT she has received the Citation for Distinguished Service to International Education and the President's Council Teaching Award. She holds the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Di Fiore served as a Visiting Professor of Voice at the Eastman School of Music for the 2005 fall semester.

Jay Gardner - Stage Director

Jay Gardner is a multi-faceted performer who is comfortable in a variety of genres.  He has been heard as a soloist in the Carnegie Hall premier of Sing for the Cure with the Turtle Creek Chorale as well as performances of Handel's Messiah, the Mozart Requiem and the Saint-Saens Christmas Oratorio throughout Texas and the Southwest.  Recently, he was heard as the Second Noble in Lohengrin with The Dallas Opera and will be featured in the role of the Second Jew in Salome in their 2007/2008 season.  Jay has also portrayed Romeo in Romeo et Juliette and Sam Polk in Susannah at the Marjorie Lawrence Opera Theater. In addition he has appeared at the Opera a Orvieto Festival in Orvieto, Italy and the Cassalmaggiore Chamber Music Festival.  Also at home in the world of musical theater, Jay has been seen as Charlie Dalrymple in Brigadoon with Lyric Stage, the Second Man in Side by Side by Sondheim with Circle Theater, Reuben in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Plano Repertory Theater and was a featured performer in A Christmas Carol at the Dallas Theater Center.   Jay is currently pursuing the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice at the Unversity of North Texas where he studies with Dr. Stephen Austin.

Fun Fact: Jay is an accomplished ceramic artist.  He has won First Place honors at the State Fair of Texas and exhibited with the Texas Clay arts Association.  His work is held in collections in Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City and Dublin, Ireland.

James McQuillen, Musical Director

James McQuillen’s credits as Music Director include The Girl of 10,000 Smiles at the 2006 Edinburgh (Scotland) Fringe Festival; for Lyric Stage: Evita, Master Class, The Pajama Game, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, 2 Dallas Divas Concerts, and the World Premieres of The Winner, Desperate Measures, and The Spectre Bridegroom, for which he received a Rabin Award nomination for Best Musical Director. At Lyric Stage, he was also the Associate Musical Director of Ragtime, Sweeney Todd, Follies, The Fantasticks, and 110 In the Shade. At Plano Repertory Theater: award-winning productions of Camelot and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. For Dallas Theater Center: Guys and Dolls. At Casa Manana: Desperate Measures. For Circle Theater: Side By Side By Sondheim and Guys On Ice. He has accompanied singers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Nuremberg, Germany. He was a Staff Coach-Accompanist at Mountain View College and Collin County Community College, and he continues to be a much sought-after coachaccompanist in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Currently, he is a music student at University of North Texas.

John Murphy
Instructor, Jazz Repertory Workshop
John Murphy, an ethnomusicologist and saxophonist, joined the UNT Jazz Studies faculty in 2001. He has published articles on jazz improvisation, Brazilian traditional and popular music, Cuban music in New York, and college teaching. He spent the 2000-2001 academic year in Recife, Brazil on a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, doing research for a book in progress on Brazilian popular music and globalization, studying the Northeast Brazilian button accordion style, and producing two video projects. Other current projects include an article on the music of Sam Rivers and a textbook on Brazilian music. He performs often on tenor saxophone.

While a student at the University of North Texas, Murphy earned two degrees (B.M., jazz studies performance; M.M., music theory), played in the One O'Clock Lab Band (1984-85), and free-lanced in Dallas-Ft. Worth. He then earned two degrees at Columbia University (M.A., Ph.D., ethnomusicology), played Latin music around New York, and held a Fulbright Fellowship in 1990-91 for research on Brazilian traditional music.

Murphy teaches jazz history, jazz styles & analysis, jazz aural fundamentals, and directs the UNT Jazz Repertory Orchestra; he collaborates with the ethnomusicology area, and taught at the UNT Small Group Jazz Workshop in 2001 and 2002. He served the Society for Ethnomusicology as web editor from 1997 to 2002, and taught previously at Western Illinois University.

Jazz Repertory Ensemble

The Jazz Repertory Ensemble is a learning and performing group dedicated to the collection, study, preservation, and recreation of classic music from the entire history of jazz. The group is committed to playing compositions and arrangements or recreations of classic recorded performances by such jazz legends as Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Gil Evans, and Charles Mingus.
With over five hundred compositions in its library, ranging from small combo charts to big band works, the jazz repertory ensemble exposes students and audiences to the rich tradition and inspiring work of many legendary performers and writers. Under the direction of Dr. David Joyner, who founded the group in the late 1980s along with Neil Slater, the Jazz Repertory Ensemble established itself nationally as one of the country's few ensembles dedicated to the recreation of classic jazz. The group has recorded two CDs, Dallas Doings and Rockin' in Rhythm.
Since 2001, under the direction of John Murphy, the ensemble has kept its focus on classic jazz and has also begun exploring the work of contemporary jazz composers. The fall 2001 semester was devoted to works by Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton. The spring 2002 semester focused on big band works by Sam Rivers, whose trio joined the ensemble for a concert. In the fall 2002 semester the group played a broad selection of works from the Swing Era, including concerts with vocalists and dancers. Spring 2003 was devoted to the music of the Stan Kenton Orchestra, including works by Pete Rugolo, Bill Holman, Bill Russo, Johnny Richards, and Bob Graettinger. In Fall 2003 the group played The Birth of the Cool and new music for nonet. Spring 2004 was devoted to the music of Charles Mingus. In Fall 2004 the group performed music by Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal. The October 26, 2004 concert featured guest artist Jovino Santos Neto, a longtime member of Hermeto's group. In spring 2005 the group played standards from the teens through the 1940s based on the list compiled by Richard Crawford and Jeffrey Magee in Jazz Standards on Record. A concert at the Sammons Center for the Arts in Dallas on March 2, 2005 featured pianist Steven Harlos of the UNT Faculty in an arrangement of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for 10-piece ragtime ensemble. The director of the Sammons Center called it "one of the most memorable [performances] in the sixteen-year history of Sammons Jazz." During the 2005-06 academic year the ensemble performed a variety of works from the literature for large jazz ensemble, with emphasis on works by Duke Ellington and Count Basie. In November, 2005, the group played two daytime concerts for students at Bass Hall in Fort Worth, and will do so again in November 2006

MARIACHI AGUILAS

Mariachi Aguilas is the first ever mariachi at the University of North Texas . The group is made up of both graduate and undergraduate students from across many departments at UNT. In addition to performing for on-campus events, Mariachi Aguilas represents the University of North Texas by performing for many community organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, The Denton Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Fuego y Alma, and others. The ensemble also performs for private functions. Mariachi Aguilas performed last summer at the Crested Butte Music Festival in Colorado . They also competed in the Mariachi Vargas Mariachi Competition in San Antonio , Texas , in December, 2005. We are proud that we are a culturally diverse group of individuals who promote and celebrate diversity at the University of North Texas . Dr. Donna Emmanuel is the faculty sponsor for the group ( demmanuel@music.unt.edu ).

DANNY CANTU, Director, Mariachi Aguilas

Danny Cantu , the founding director of Mariachi Aguilas, a student mariachi ensemble at the University of North Texas in Denton , Texas , is currently a student in music education at the UNT. He is from San Antonio , Texas , and has been involved with mariachis from an early age. He learned to play trumpet, sing, and read music at a summer mariachi program called “Ariba el Verano.” He then studied with Jose Torres and worked with his Mariachi, Los Diamantes. He has also performed with “Mariachi Aztlan,” “Mariachi Campanas Juvenile”under the direction of Juan Ortiz, and later founded his own group, along with his brother Eduardo, called “Mariachi Sonidos de Mexico.” He regularly performs with other ensembles at UNT, including jazz lab bands and the UNT Latin Jazz Ensemble.