Ensemble Faculty

Billy Barnard – Guitar Ensembles & Jazz Combo
Office: 171B Humanities
Office Phone:726-6570
E-mail: bbarnard@d.umn.edu

Billy Barnard teaches guitar in private lesson, ensemble, and class formats. He is well-known at UMD for his immensely popular course in Jazz Studies, in which over one thousand students enroll each academic year. In addition, he directs one of the UMD Jazz Combos. Mr. Barnard graduated first in his class from the Guitar Institute of Technology, Los Angeles and has performed with such greats as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Rufus Reid. He has been for many years and remains in constant demand at local and regional levels as a clinician and guitarist in all styles.

Daniel Eaton – Concert Band, Athletic Band Director
Office: 152 Humanities
Office Phone: 726-6866
E-mail: deaton@d.umn.edu

Daniel W. Eaton is the Assistant Director of Bands at the University of Minnesota Duluth. His responsibilities include directing the Concert Band, Marching Band, Pep Bands, teaching Applied Tuba and Euphonium, courses in Instrumental Brass Methods and playing Tuba in the UMD Faculty Brass Quintet. Prior to his appointment at UMD, Dan spent eight years as Director of Bands at high schools in New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania. While directing his high school programs, Mr. Eaton's bands consistently performed and achieved superior ratings at state festivals and marching contests.

Mr. Eaton received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and his Master of Music in Tuba Performance and Pedagogy with a minor in Wind Conducting from Eastern Kentucky University. While at Eastern Kentucky University, Mr. Eaton was Graduate Assistant of Bands and Tuba, conducting the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Marching Band, Tuba Ensemble and teaching Applied Tuba and Freshman Music Theory. He also wrote drill and music arrangements for the Colonel Marching Band.

He has played Euphonium with the Lexington Brass Band and has played Tuba with the Johnstown Symphony, Westmoreland Symphonies, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, IUP Faculty Brass Quintet and the EKU Faculty and Honors Brass Quintets. In the spring of 1986 Dan performed in Beethoven's opera, Fidelio,with the Roberts Wesleyan College Chorale at Carnegie Hall in New York City. In July, 1989 he toured and performed multiple times in the city of Paris, France with the IUP Marching Band, for France's Bicentennial. In the spring of 1990 he performed in Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh, PA with the IUP wind ensemble and in 1995 he was a member of the Kentucky All Collegiate Honor Band in Louisville, KY. During the summers of 1995-1997, Dan was employed as a keyboardist by the Cedar Fair Corp. playing in multiple shows at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, OH. Mr. Eaton spent from 1996-2003 as the Principal Bass Trombonist with the Keystone Winds, under the direction of Jack Stamp. He has recorded 7 cd's with the Keystone Winds as well as recording music for the 2002 release of GIA Publications, Teaching Music Through Performance in Band - Vol. 1, Grade 4. Currently, he is principal tubist with the Minnesota Ballet.

Dan is a frequent marching band clinician throughout the east and mid west doing band camps in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Ryan Frane – Jazz Ensembles
Office: 224 Humanities
Office Phone:726-6327
E-mail: rfrane@d.umn.edu

Ryan Frane is the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he teaches Jazz Ensemble I, Jazz Combo I, Jazz Improvisation and Theory, Jazz Pedagogy, Jazz Piano and Jazz Writing, among other courses. He also coordinates the Head of the Lakes Jazz Festival at UMD. Under his direction the UMD Jazz Ensemble I has performed in Italy as well as Switzerland and Holland at the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals. UMD Jazz Ensemble I has also performed at the MMEA and WMEA annual conferences. As a pianist, Ryan has performed throughout the country as well as in Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Holland, and recently has been a guest in Paris, performing and teaching. He has performed locally with the Big Time Jazz Orchestra, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Arrowhead Chorale, Lake Superior Youth Chorus and many others including his own small groups. His recent collaborative recording with Paris musicians is entitled The Ryan Frane Trio, Live At Weber Music Hall. Also, Ryan has backed or performed with many musicians including The Mills Brothers, Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Bobby Vinton, Steve Lippia, Tom Harrell, Wes Anderson, Rex Richardson, Ingrid Jensen and many others. He has been an active clinician and performer at several colleges across the country including the University of Northern Colorado, University of South Dakota, University of Wisconsin Green Bay, Tiffin University, Lawrence Conservatory, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and the University of Southern Colorado. Ryan has conducted numerous honor bands in Minnesota and Wisconsin and has been a section coach for the MMEA All State Jazz Ensemble. Under his direction, graduates of the UMD jazz studies program have gone on to become performers, graduate students at some of the nation's strongest jazz schools and teachers at the collegiate level as well as great contributors to our society. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music with emphasis in jazz studies and piano performance from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay and a Masters of Music degree in theory and composition from the University of Northern Colorado.

Jacob Jonker – Classical Guitar Ensemble
Office: 215 Humanities
Office Phone: 726-7011
E-mail: jjonker@umn.edu

Jacob Jonker holds a Master's Degree in Classical Guitar Performance from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, and a Bachelor's from the University of Wisconsin - River Falls. His principal teachers were Jeffrey Van and Joe Hagedorn. Jacob is also a former Schubert Club and Thursday Musical Prize winner.

As an active member of the Minnesota Guitar Society Jacob has worked to bring world-class guitarists to give recitals in Weber Hall. He is also a registered Suzuki guitar instructor, receiving teacher training from David Madsen and William Kossler. He is the first guitar instructor to teach for the Lake Superior Suzuki Talent Education Program (LS-STEP). When not teaching, Jacob performs in and around the Twin Ports both as a classical musician and with the local rock band "A Team / B Team".

Eugene Koshinski – Percussion Ensemble
Office: 248 Humanities
Office Phone: 726-6304
E-mail: ekoshins@d.umn.edu

Percussionist and composer Dr. Gene Koshinski has delighted audiences worldwide with his dynamic performances and creative programming. He is currently Assistant Professor of Percussion at the University of Minnesota Duluth and in demand as a soloist and chamber musician having performed in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Jordan, Slovenia, Canada, and throughout the United States. In 2002, Koshinski won the National MTNA Percussion Competition in Cincinnati, OH and in 2004, finished 3rd in the prestigious Universal Marimba Duo Competition in Sint-Truiden, Belgium.

Throughout his career, Koshinski has worked with many notable performing organizations and artists including NFL Films, Late Show with David Letterman, Mary Wilson (the Supremes), David Samuels, Wycliffe Gordon, Philadelphia Boys Choir, The Lettermen, Hartford Symphony, Lehigh Valley Choral Arts, Minnesota Ballet, and is currently section percussionist for the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and a member of Nebojsa Zivkovic's Jovan Perkussion Projekt. For his work with NFL Films, he can be heard on the Emmy award-winning soundtrack A Century of NFL. Performances have also been heard on the CBS, PBS, and EPSN television networks as well as NPR. In addition, he has recorded for the Naxos, Innova, and Equilibrium record labels.

Koshinski is a founding member of the Quey Percussion Duo, a touring group established to generate new works for percussion while also bringing standard repertoire to a broad audience. He is also director of percussion at the annual 6-week Performing Arts Institute international summer music festival in Kingston, PA. Recently, Koshinski served as a judge for the 2009 Percussive Arts Society Solo Competition at the PAS International Convention in Indianapolis. He recently published a method book entitled The Additive Method of Two-Mallet Study, which focuses on keyboard percussion technique and performance. As an advocate for new music, Koshinski has commissioned and premiered works by renowned composers including Stuart Saunders Smith, Alejandro Viñao, David Macbride, and Dave Hollinden. He holds degrees from West Chester University (BM) and The Hartt School (MM and DMA). Gene Koshinski is endorsed by Korogi, Sabian Cymbals, Remo, and Innovative Percussion and his works are published by HoneyRock and Bachovich Music Publications. www.genekoshinski.com

Jean R. Perrault – Director of Orchestras
Office: 232 Humanities
Office Phone: 726-8215
E-mail: rperraul@d.umn.edu

Performer, conductor and composer, Jean R Perrault is Director of Orchestras and professor of violin/viola at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, he earned his Master's degree in performance from Temple University. Rudy has conducted numerous ensembles including Sinfonietta de Paris, the Karelia State Conservatory Orchestra (Russia), the Conservatoire de Paris region Boulogne-Billancourt (Paris, France), members of the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory of Palermo (Sicily, Italy) and the Hacettepe Conservatory Symphony Orchestra (Ankara, Turkey). His most recent trip took him to Venezuela where he worked closely with members of "El Sistema" organization conducting master classes and workshops. He is a frequent panelist on national and international, instrumental and conducting competitions, and has participated in many prestigious music festivals.

Rudy maintains an active schedule and has performed with many different organizations. He is a founding member and president of the Kako Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing classical music to underprivileged youth in the US and Haiti.

The past several years he has been editing and orchestrating the piano works of Haitian Classical Composers. His most recent compositions include: "Brother Malcolm" – for cello and piano, "Exodus" for String Quartet. Future projects include setting to music three poems of world-renown author Edwidge Danticat, composing a duo for violin and cello (Dialogues for Violin and Cello), a second String Quartet and a ballet (Ceremonie Vodou). Rudy makes his home in Duluth, Minnesota, with his wife Elizabeth and his two children Ella and Alexandre. Jean R Perrault's website

Thomas Muehlenbeck-Pfotenhauer – Jazz Ensemble II
Office: 231 Humanities (Music Dept. Office)
Office Phone:726-8176
E-mail: tpfotenh@d.umn.edu

Dr. Thomas Muehlenbeck-Pfotenhauer is Assistant Professor of Trumpet and director of the second jazz ensemble. He also teaches Jazz Improvisation and Brass Techniques and coaches Jazz Combo and Brass Quintet. Dr. Muehlenbeck-Pfotenhauer studied trumpet with Armando Ghitalla at the University of Michigan, completing a Masters degree in 1993, and holds a Bachelors degree in music from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in trumpet performance from the University of Kansas. While at the University of Kansas, Dr. Muehlenbeck-Pfotenhauer studied with William Campbell and Christopher Moore and was a member of the Kansas Brass Quintet, one of the country's most active faculty brass quintets. Prior to his appointment at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, he held positions at the University of Wyoming and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Dr. Muehlenbeck-Pfotenhauer's performance experience is extensive and varied. He has performed Baroque trumpet with the New York-based early music group The Spiritus Collective, and with the Musica Raritana Baroque Orchestra at Rutgers University, the New York Collegium, Tempesta di Mare, the American Opera Theater, and at the Colorado Music Festival. From 1994-2002 he performed for numerous professional productions presented at the critically acclaimed Weidner Center for the Performing Arts in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Dr. Muehlenbeck-Pfotenhauer has played lead trumpet and section trumpet in pit orchestras and in back-up bands for such shows as: West Side Story, Some Like it Hot, the Sound of Music, Copacabana, Fiddler on the Roof, Camelot, South Pacific, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Saturday Night Fever, and Parade; and artists such as: Robert Goulet, the Manhattan Transfer, Peabo Bryson, Bernadette Peters, Johnny Mathis, and Shirley Jones. In April 2008, he was a featured soloist at the Beijing International Congress on Women in Music and performed a program of works for trumpet written by French female composers.

Dr. Muehlenbeck-Pfotenhauer has also performed with numerous professional and regional orchestras, including the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, the Cheyenne Symphony, the Fort Collins Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, the Battle Creek Symphony, the Green Bay Symphony, the Pamiro Opera Company, the Green Bay Civic Symphony, and the Fox Valley Symphony. Dr. Muehlenbeck-Pfotenhauer has appeared as a soloist and clinician in Wyoming, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas.

Tina Thielen-Gaffey – Concert Chorale, Vocal Jazz
Office: 242 Humanities
Office Phone: 726-8212
E-mail: tthielen@d.umn.edu

Tina Thielen-Gaffey is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and has recently completed her doctoral coursework in the Choral Conducting program at the University of Iowa. At UMD, she conducts Concert Chorale, two Vocal Jazz Ensembles (Lake Effect and Chill Factor), teaches elementary music, aural skills, and applied voice. A mezzo-soprano, she completed the M.M. degree in Choral Conducting at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI and her B.M. in music education at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Prior to her studies in Michigan, the Wisconsin native taught for eight years in the public schools of her home state, where she was responsible for choral ensembles, band ensembles, vocal jazz and show choirs, musicals, madrigals and madrigal feasts, festivals, and touring. At WMU, Ms.Thielen-Gaffey soloed with the Treble Chorus, University Chorale, Opera Workshop, and the award winning vocal jazz ensemble, Gold Company. Ms. Thielen-Gaffey is a past president of WMU's student chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. At the 2003 and 1999 national conventions of that organization, she was a national finalist in the graduate student conducting competition.

Mark Whitlock – Director of Bands
Office: 226 Humanities
Office Phone:726-6124
E-mail: mwhitloc@d.umn.edu

Mark Whitlock is Director of Bands and Professor of Music at the University of Minnesota Duluth. His responsibilities include directing the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, teaching Instrumental Conducting, teaching Applied Trombone and supervision of Instrumental Student Teachers. Prior to his appointment at UMD, Mark was Assistant Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Trombone at Eastern Kentucky University, a position he held since 1986. He has also held the position of Associate Director of Bands at Mason City High School in Mason City, Iowa from 1980 to 1983.

Dr. Whitlock received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Iowa State University , Master of Music in Trombone Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa and the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting, also from the University of Iowa. He is a frequent clinician throughout the country having conducted honors bands and clinics in Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa , Minnesota, West Virginia and California including the 2007 – 2008 Minnesota All-Sate Concert Band. Dr. Whitlock has also guest conducted and given clinics in Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, Spain and Turkey. Mark has also been the guest conductor at the Indiana Summer Music Clinic and the International Music Camp. Dr. Whitlock is conductor of the Twin Ports Wind Orchestra, a local community wind band dedicated to the performance of the finest wind band literature. He has also conducted the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra on several concerts as well as with the Minnesota Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker Ballet. Both the UMD Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the Twin Ports Wind Orchestra have performed at state and national conventions including the Minnesota Music Educators Association Convention, American School Band Directors National Association National Convention and the College Band National Association National Convention. Dr. Whitlock is also the founder and director of the North Shore Summer Music Experience a summer camp for young musicians which is held on the campus of the University of Minnesota Duluth. Currently he serves as chair of the Minnesota College Band Directors National Association and is on the board of the Minnesota Band Directors Association. Whitlock is married to Mary Whitlock, and they have three daughters, Macaulley, Meredith and Mayson.

Stanley R. Wold – Director of Choral Activities
Office: 246 Humanities
Office Phone:726-7504
E-mail: swold@d.umn.edu

Stanley R. Wold is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, where he has taught choral conducting and vocal music education since 1984. He has earned degrees from Concordia College (Moorhead), the University of Southern California (Los Angeles) and the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. At UMD, he directs the University Singers and the Chamber Singers, teaches conducting and vocal music education, and is chair of the vocal area.

Under Wold's direction, University Singers and Chamber Singers completed the first concert tour by an American University choir of Kenya and Tanzania (December 1997-January 1998). Other international tours have included Austria and Bavaria (December 1994), Costa Rica (January 2003), the Netherlands and Paris (May 2005), Turkey (May 2007, together with members of UMD's Symphony Orchestra), and Germany (Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden), January 2010. Other highlights include performances at state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and Music Educators National Conference (1995-98) and the Collegiate Choral Festival of MN ACDA (2009).

Three collaborations between the UMD choral area, Arrowhead Chorale (the auditioned civic chamber choir of the Twin Ports), and UMD orchestras have been conducted by Wold: Durufle Requiem (2000), Bach Mass in B-Minor (2004), and (April, 2006) Mozart Grand Mass in C-Minor. Sites for performances of these masterworks included Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis; cathedrals in Duluth and Superior; and UMD's Weber Music Hall. In May 2008, Wold conducted the UMD orchestra (Jean R. Perrault, director), Concert Chorale, University Singers, and student soloists in Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem.

Active on an international level, Dr. Wold has studied and/or conducted choral music in Hungary, Russia, Scandinavia, and Venezuela. He has been a delegate to symposia of the International Federation for Choral Music in Vancouver, Sydney, Rotterdam, Minneapolis, Kyoto, and Copenhagen.

Celebrating twenty years as Artistic Director and Conductor of Arrowhead Chorale, Dr. Wold was also Chorus Director for the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra 1991-99. He taught secondary vocal music in Minnesota and Iowa public schools for six years. His experience includes significant community and church music activities. Presently Director of Music at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Duluth, he is also an active adjudicator and clinician for the Minnesota State High School League and the Wisconsin School Music Association.

Regina Zona – Opera Director
Office: 215 Humanities
Office Phone: 726-7135
E-mail: rzona@d.umn.edu

Soprano Regina Zona is making a name for herself as one of the "important" singers of her generation. Described as the "perfect voice for Strauss," she continues to amaze audiences with her versatility. Whether it is the demanding music of Mozart and Strauss or the artistry and lyricism of Bellini and Verdi, Dr. Zona finds her way comfortably in all styles. Dr. Zona has had the pleasure of working with some of the world's best conductors on a variety of repertoire. She has sung Mozart with French conductor, Emmanuel Villaume, Welsh conductor, Grant Llewellyn and American conductors, James Meena and Carol Crawford. Under the baton of Maestra Eve Queler she has performed some of the great bel canto roles including the title role of Norma in concert and Margeurite in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico. She also covered that role and the role of Elena in Donizetti's Marino Faliero with the Opera Orchestra of New York. Dr. Zona performed the music of Richard Strauss in Yokosuka, Japan at a Gala Concert with the Tokyo Symphony under the baton of Austrian conductor, Gustav Kuhn. She sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Hawaii Opera Theatre and triumphed with the Sarasota Opera as the flirtatious Musetta in La Boheme where she "stole the show…with her brilliant soprano and outrageously seductive characterization".

Perhaps her most critically acclaimed role at the beginning of her career was Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflote. She sang the Queen in St. Louis, Toledo, Sarasota, Tulsa, and Philadelphia where she has been praised for her "brilliantly ringing sound" and "commanding presence". Dr. Zona's New York debut was as the soprano soloist in an Evening of Mozart at Lincoln Center with the National Chorale. In June of 1997, she was a winner of the highly distinguished Neue Stimmen International Vocal Competition in Gütersloh, Germany. Originally from Western New York, Dr. Zona has also taken first place honors in the Mario Lanza Competition, Bel Canto Competition, Liederkranz Competition and was a regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Equally comfortable on the concert stage as on the operatic stage, Dr. Zona was embraced by critics and the public on a concert tour with the Sarasota Opera as "nothing short of sensational". Her extensive oratorio and concert performances include: Beethoven's Symphony #9, Mahler's Symphony #8, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, and Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder.

With over 20 years of voice teaching experience, Dr. Zona has held teaching positions at Shorter College in Rome, GA, Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT and The Community Music School in Buffalo, NY and is currently Assistant Professor of Music/Opera Program Director at the University of Minnesota Duluth as the director of Opera and teacher of Voice. As a musical/stage director, Dr. Zona has directed several college and community productions including operas, opera scene programs, musicals and show choir performances. Her most recent directing credits include several University opera scenes programs and Verdi's Falstaff. In 2010, she will direct the double bill of Suor Angelica and Pagliacci. In addition to teaching opera and classical vocal literature, she is well versed in the musical theatre genre teaching both private students in musical theatre vocal techniques and college level musical theatre literature courses. She is currently writing a college-level textbook called The Music, The Voice and The Theatre: A Comparison, History and Appreciation of Opera and Musical Theatre. Dr. Zona received her Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University, Artist Diploma from the Academy of Vocal Arts and Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Dr. Zona's website