2009 Music Camps Staff

Kevin Collins: Middle and High School Music Camps Director, High School Symphonic Winds Director

Kevin Collins, on the UW-Green Bay faculty since 1988, was appointed Director of Bands in 1995. He served as Chair of the Music Program from 1998-2003. During that time led the department’s NASM re-accreditation efforts, as well as the planning for a substantial remodeling of music facilities at UW-Green Bay.

Professor Collins directs the UW-Green Bay Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band, and teaches conducting and studio low brass. In the summer, he directs the UW-Green Bay Band, Choral and Orchestra Camps. In 1998, he founded the “UW-Green Bay State Bound Honor Band” for students who have received outstanding ratings for solo performances at WSMA and MSBOA district festivals. Professor Collins is a frequent guest conductor, speaker, clinician and adjudicator, and has conducted honor bands throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest, as well as middle and high school bands, youth orchestras, community bands, collegiate, and professional ensembles.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree from University of Michigan (Low Brass/Trombone Performance/Music Education), a Master’s degree University of Texas-Austin (Wind Conducting) and has done additional study in instrumental conducting at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Scott Wright

Middle School Green Bay Band

Dr. Scott Wright currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Clarinet at the University of Kentucky. Prior to his appointment at UK in 2002, he served as the Professor of Clarinet and Assistant Director of Bands at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and he taught music for the public schools of Longview, Washington from 1987-97.
Dr. Wright received music education degrees from the University of Michigan and Arizona State University, and he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in clarinet performance from Arizona State University. Former teachers include Robert Spring, James Pyne, John Mohler, Stan Stanford, and the late Evelyn Angerman.

Wright has been a frequent featured performer at the annual conference of the International Clarinet Association with appearances in Columbus, OH in 1998, in Ostend, Belgium in 1999, in Salt Lake City, UT in 2003, and in 2004 in Washington DC. During the summer of 2003 Wright traveled to Greece with the Metropolitan String Quartet (D.C.) for a series of chamber music performances featuring the music of Mozart, Brahms, and contemporary Greek composers. Wright spends his summers teaching at the Young Musicians and Artists Music Festival (Salem, OR) and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Summer Music Camp.

Amy Thiel

Middle and Senior High School Choirs

Amy Thiel is in her 22nd year as choral director at Oconto Falls High School. She received a Bachelor of Music in Education degree from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music and a Masters of Arts in Education degree from Marian College. She has taught a variety of subjects and conducted many ensembles, including Vocal Jazz, Madrigals, Musical Theater, Music History, Music Theory, Elementary General Music, Middle School Choral Music, and High School Choral Music.

Throughout her career, Ms. Thiel has been a strong advocate for music education and music curriculum standards. She has served as Music Department chair for the past sixteen years and is a three-time Teacher of the Year award winner. She has been the recipient of the Herb Kohl Teacher Fellowship for Teaching Excellence, the Lawrence University Alumni Distinguished Service Award, Who’s Who of American High School Teachers award, and the WCDA Five-Star Award. She has served as President of the Oconto Falls Friends of the Arts for the past seven years, coordinating Fine Arts Series performances for patrons in Northeast Wisconsin. She has served as the Newsletter Editor and Northeast Wisconsin District Representative of the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association and has been on the board for the Wisconsin Music Educators Association. She is an active member of WCDA, WMEA, and the Voice Care Network.

Ms. Thiel has been the choral director for Wisconsin’s Ambassadors of Music European Tour since 1994, performing for international audiences in England, France, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. She was the founding director of the 167-member Green Bay Girl Choir and has served on the WSMA State Honors Staff, UW-Green Bay Choir Camp Staff, Lakeland College Choir Camp staff, and the DPI Leadership Academy Team, in conjunction with Harvard University. She is a master Adjudicator for the WSMA and continues to adjudicate festivals throughout the state.

Randy Meder

Senior High Chorale - Director

Dr. Randall A. Meder is Director of Choral Activities at UW-Green Bay, where he conducts the Concert Choir and Phoenix Chorale, and teaches courses in Choral Conducting and Literature. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Music Education and Master's degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting and Literature from the University of Illinois. Dr. Meder has studied with Beverly Taylor, Fred Stoltzfus, Don Moses, Timothy Stalter, Scott MacPherson, Robert Fountain, and Robert Shaw. Before coming to Green Bay he was Director of Choral Activities at NC State University, where he conducted the choral ensembles and taught sight-singing, choral literature and music history. Prior to his graduate studies he taught high school choral music for four years in Wisconsin, and has continued to work as a clinician with high school groups in Wisconsin, Illinois and North Carolina. Dr. Meder is a member of the Music Educators National Conference, the American Choral Directors Association, the Conductors Guild, Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society and Pi Kappa Lambda National Honor Society in Music.

To be determined at a later date.

High School Orchestra Director

Christine Salerno

Jazz on the Bay - Vocal Jazz

Christine Salerno is the director of the University of Wisconsin Green Bay Vocal Jazz Ensemble. This group and several of Christine’s private students have received awards including “Outstanding Vocal Jazz Ensemble” at the Elmhurst Jazz Festival and Downbeat awards in the Jazz Voice category.

Christine has been a vocal jazz educator since 1982, teaching at The University of Northern Colorado, Florida Atlantic University, Western Michigan University, Palm Beach Community College and Lawrence University. She was the director of the 2001 Wisconsin State Music Association Honors Vocal Jazz Ensemble and the 2005 Pennsylvania All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Christine has also served on the judging panel for the Wisconsin State Composition Award competition.

Christine is a frequent guest clinician at high school and university jazz festivals
including Millikin University, Boise State, Lawrence University, the University of Northern Colorado, and others. She has several published vocal jazz arrangements with the UNC Jazz Press, many of which have been performed and recorded by professional and college ensembles including Millikin University, Washington State University, Western Michigan University, the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Miami, and Roosevelt University which premiered her arrangement of “The Closer I Get To You” at the 2000 International Association of Jazz Educators Convention.

Christine is also a pianist/vocalist and composes for her Contemporary Jazz and World Music Group, “ZIJI”, which has performed in such exclusive venues as the Elkhart Jazz Festival in Indiana, and the Neenah and Fox Cities Jazz Festivals in Wisconsin, among others. She has recorded and/or performed with Howard Levy, Chuck Loeb, Nelson Rangell, Eliane Elias, Kurt Elling, Billy Drews, Kip Kuepper, and many more.

Nick Utrie

The Total Guitarist - Camp Director

Nick Utrie has a degree in Guitar Performance with an emphasis in Jazz Studies from UW-Stevens Point. Nick has been performing and promoting music in Green Bay since ’93 in mostly jazz and improvised projects. He is President of local non-profit organization - The Center for Artistic Collaboration and Performance which promotes creative music through public performance and in area schools. You can check out his website at www.greenbaymusic.com. Nick has performed at Valley Fair Live Shows, in local groups: Art of Duo (jazz), with James Kocian (pop) and his current group, Jet Set Radio - a fusion group that explores world music in an improvisational context. He has also recorded with Jeff Eckles on bass.

Dan Weaver

The Total Guitarist

Dan Weaver teaches classical guitar at the University of Wisconsin and at Heid Music in Green Bay. Dan performs locally in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, usually as a classical guitarist. He also plays regularly with a Christian worship band along with his teaching and composition. Subjects of his teaching include guitar pedagogy, music theory and history, advanced ear training, composition, transcription and arranging for guitar. Recently, he has taken up freelance teaching of CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) with the hope of turning a few campfire guitar players into colorful church musicians. He has studied guitar with Douglas Niedt, John Kolar, and John Holmquist. He enjoys all styles of music but channels his energy into music that is uplifting and introspective. His forthcoming recording will be all classical music.

Rich Tengowski

Middle School Honor Band Director

Rich Tengowski, Middle School Honor Band Director, is back by popular demand! He is the Director of Bands for the School District of Kohler and received his B.M. in Music Education from St. Norbert College and his M.M. from Northwestern University. He teaches elementary, middle and high school concert bands, jazz ensemble, pep band, and secondary general music. Tengowski is the current President-Elect of the Wisconsin Music Educators Association. He has also taken leadership roles with the Wisconsin CMP Project, Wisconsin Challenging Content Standards Task Force in developing standards for the state of Wisconsin, the WSMA Honors Project, and has served as the WMEA State Band Chair.

John Salerno

Jazz on the Bay - Camp Director

Professor Salerno teaches saxophone, composition, jazz ensemble and other jazz related classes. Under his direction, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Jazz Ensemble has performed at both the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals in Europe. As a saxophonist he has worked with a variety of notable groups and artists including The Spinners, The Jacksons, Engelbert Humperdinck, Roberta Flack, Joe Williams and many others. Dr. Salerno is a published composer and arranger, and has written works for a variety of styles and media. He is in demand as a clinician and adjudicator, judging at many jazz festivals throughout the country, including the prestigious University of Northern Colorado Jazz Festival. He directs the annual University of Wisconsin-Green Bay January Jazz Fest, and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Summer Jazz Camp, two of the oldest and most popular jazz events of their kind in Wisconsin.

Laura Robinson

X-Band Director Middle School

Laura Robinson is Director of Bands for the Escanaba Middle School. Besides her groups earning top ratings in the MSBOA festival process, she has been a finalist for MSBOA Teacher of the Year and District Teacher of the Year. Laura received a Japan Fulbright Award which allowed her to travel and teach in Japan. Some of her school projects have been awarded top honors by the Michigan Education Association. Besides teaching, guest conducting, and judging, Laura plays Oboe and English Horn professionally. She is principal Oboe with the Marquette Symphony and a featured soloist. She also performs with the Sault St.Marie Symphony , Superior Festival Orchestra, and several local chamber ensembles.

Laura earned her BM from Western Michigan University and MM from Northwestern University. She loves going to UWGB Band Camp!

Valerie Palmieri

Middle School Orchestra Conductor

Valerie M. Palmieri is in her 34th year of music education and is currently Past-President of MASTA. She is currently an Associate Professor at Madonna University and teaches graduate courses in the summer for Central Michigan University. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Mrs. Palmieri holds a bachelor and master degrees in violin performance and music education as well as Suzuki certification for violin and cello From 1976-1989, Mrs. Palmieri served as Music Coordinator for the Bloomfield Hills Schools and was director of Orchestras at Lahser High School for 24 years. She has been Director of Orchestras at Walled Lake Western High School for the past nine years.

Mrs. Palmieri has a long history of superior ratings at District and State Festivals. Her orchestras have taken nine Gold medals and nine Silver medals in international music festivals including Ottawa, Toronto, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington D.C., London, England and Hawaii. Her orchestras have performed throughout Europe and she has guest-conducted throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, and Mexico.

Anna (Scoville) Hemming

Vocal Jazz & Gospel Choir Instructor

Anna Hemming, native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, is currently the Director of Vocal Music at Grafton High School, in Grafton, Wisconsin, where she directs the Concert Choir, Chorale, Chamber Singers, Ladies Madrigal, three vocal jazz ensembles (Jazz Dolls, Treblemakers, Zero Hour), and musical productions. Ms. Hemming earned her Bachelor of Music in General and Vocal Music Education from the University of Minnesota Duluth and taught for four years in Minnesota and Wisconsin schools. She is a member of the Bel Canto Chorus, teaches private lessons, and also adjudicates for Wisconsin Music School Association Solo and Ensemble Contest.

Hal Miller

Jazz Ensemble Camp, Instructor

Hal earned his Bachelors degree in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin and his MM In Jazz Performance from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music.
He is a freelance bassist and has performed with Bud Freeman, Teddy Wilson, Slide Hampton, Lou Soloff, Louie Bellson, Bunky Green, Stanley Clarke, Art Farmer, James Williams, Cal Collins, Bobby Shew, Tommy Newsom, Johny Frigo, Brian, Lynch, and Barry Harris, as well as backing Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Steve Allen, Debbie Reynolds, Pete Barbutti, The Drifters, The Crystals, The Moody Blues, and a variety of other shows.

Committed to music education, Hal taught at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music for 8 years, and was a tenured Associate Professor of Music at Southern Illinois University before joining the faculty at MATC in 1991. In addition he has authored “Rock and POP: The Musical Essence” (Kendall/Hunt) and “Bebop Bass” (Columbia/Belwin)

Terry Iattoni

Jazz Ensemble Camp, Instructor

Terry Iattoni, an active performer and educator, has been playing percussion for over 30 years and teaching music for 25 years. Terry’s performance credits include working with Richie Cole, George Graham, John Harmon, David Hazeltine, Geoff Keezer, Ellis Marsalis, WAMI Award Winner “The Mr. Lucky Syndicate”, Jeff Pietrangelo, Chris Salerno and ZIJI, Toni Tennille, Allen Vizzuti, Ernie Watts, Sunny Wilkinson, top of the charts doo-wop group – “The Diamonds”, and Green Bay jazz group, Open Interest. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and studied percussion with Cheryl Grosso and Roger Braun respectively. Terry has also received instruction from drummers Carl Allen and Matt Wilson. He provides clinics, master classes, and camp instruction throughout central and northeast Wisconsin. In his free time Terry also enjoys composing music and spending time with his wife and four children.

Steve Johnson

Jazz Ensemble Camp Instructor

Steve Johnson is a professional woodwind player and music instructor living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He is currently the saxophone instructor at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, instrumental music teacher at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Howard, Wisconsin, and jazz ensemble director at UW Sheboygan. In 2003, he graduated with a degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay and presently maintains a busy playing and teaching schedule that takes him all over the upper Midwest.

Recently, he has played with Aretha Franklin, Bobby Vinton, Wayne Newton, the Tommy Dorsey Band, the Temptations Revue featuring Dennis Edwards, Bob Newhart, Joan Rivers, the Green Bay Civic Symphony, the Fox Valley Symphony, as well as playing in the pit orchestras for "Hairspray", "Dr. Dolittle", "Annie", “Sweet Charity”, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”, and “All Shook Up” at the Fox Valley, Weidner, and Marcus Performing Art Centers.

In the jazz realm, he has appeared with Jeff Coffin, Joe McPhee and Steve Swell's Fire and Ice, as well as recently opening for the Cuong Vu Trio in Green Bay. He has appeared at numerous festivals all over the state including the Neenah, Isthmus, Ripon, and Kettle Moraine Jazz Festivals, Green Bay's Art Street and Bay Fest, and Milwaukee's Summerfest, Bastille Days, and Lakefront Festival of the Arts.

Adam Gaines

Jazz, Middle and Senior High Trumpet Instructor

Adam Gaines is the new Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Jazz at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay. In addition to teaching the trumpet studio, Dr. Gaines directs the Jazz Ensemble II and the New Music Ensemble, and teaches Jazz History and Brass Techniques. A native of Kentucky, Dr. Gaines has performed as a soloist throughout Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and at the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals in Europe. His work goes beyond playing the trumpet into the realm of arranging and composition. An example is his trumpet ensemble work “Fanfare and Images,” which can be heard on the CD Passages on the Centaur label by his former teacher, Dr. Michael Tunnell. Dr. Gaines holds degrees from the University of Louisville (Bachelor of Music, 1999) and Ball State University (Master of Music, 2001 and Doctor of Arts, 2005). In addition to being a past member of the faculties of the Community College of Philadelphia, Montgomery County Community College, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania and Indiana Wesleyan University, Dr. Gaines has taught for the UW - Green Bay Summer Music Camps and the Milestones Jazz Camp in Pennsylvania.

Kenneth Daniel

Vocal Jazz/Gospel Choir Director

Kenneth L. Daniel, Sr. graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance and Music Education. His music ministry started during childhood in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. From national teaching and performing opportunities, to commercials and CD endeavors, Ken is a popular and sought after guest artist/instructor. Highlights include:

National Credential Highlights
* Opening Soloist for Bill Cosby, Philip Bailey, Grover Washington, Jr., Dave Koz, Tower of Power
* Guest Soloist for Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
* Guest Soloist & Conductor White Heron Chorale:
Gospel, Spirituals, Ragtime
* Vocalist for Milwaukee Bucks Organization
* Vocalist for Greenbay Packers
* Guest Conductor & Clinician Buffalo Children's Choir
* Performance in multiple operas, recitals, concerts,
and professional recordings
* Founder/Director of Lawrence University Gospel Choir
* Music Teacher - Elementary, Junior High, High School

International Credential Highlights
* Department of Defense Tour - Germany, Iceland, The
Azore Islands. Belgium
* Choir Tour - Rome-St. Peters Basilica, Venice,
Florence
* Musical Celebration Tour - Austria, Hungary
Honors
* Numerous Outstanding Performance Awards
* Multiple Outstanding Conducting & Teaching Awards

Commercials
* American Family Insurance
* Carlson Wagonlit Travel
* Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL)
* MACC Fund (Childhood Cancer Association)
* Giltech Hair Design
* Oneida Corporation
* Island Resort

Other UW-Green Bay Music Faculty teaching at the camp bring years of experience and rave reviews from past participants. Information about these and other camp staff can be found at www.uwgbsummercamps.com and at www.uwgb.edu/music