Tonight’s John Stevens Composition Recital will be live streamed at www.ustream.tv/discovery/live/all?q=uofa-som
UA School of Music presents Master Class and Composition Recital featuring John Stevens, tuba
Tuscaloosa, AL – The University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences School of Music presents Master’s Series events featuring John Stevens, tuba. The University of Alabama School of Music’s Master’s Series is a group of renowned musicians who are known to be masters in their respective fields. The musicians will work with our students to share their knowledge. The performers will be presenting master classes and concerts throughout the year.
The first event is a Master Class by Stevens, which will take place Monday, September 17, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall of the Moody Music Building on the campus of the University of Alabama. This class is free and open to the public.
The feature event is the John Stevens Composition Recital. On Tuesday, September 18, 2012, this recital will feature the works of John Stevens played by tuba and euphonium musicians of the University of Alabama with commentary from Stevens at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building. Tickets for the Composition Recital are $10 for general admission, $5 for seniors, and $3 for students. Tickets can be purchased online at http://uamusic.tix.com or call (205) 348-7111.
BIOGRAPHY
John Stevens is Director of the School of Music and Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a member of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet, a UW-Madison faculty ensemble-in residence. Professor Stevens has enjoyed a varied career as a teacher, orchestral, chamber music, solo and jazz performer and recording artist, composer/arranger, conductor and administrator. Following the completion of degrees in Tuba Performance at the Eastman School of Music (B.M., 1973) and Yale University (M.M., 1975), he was a free lance performer based in New York City for many years. He performed with every major orchestra in New York, was a member of the New York Tuba Quartet and many other chamber groups, principal tubist in the Aspen Festival Orchestra, toured and recorded with a wide variety of groups including Chuck Mangione, the American Brass Quintet and the San Francisco Ballet, and was the tuba soloist in the original Broadway production of “Barnum.” He has released two solo recordings; an LP of his own compositions titled “Power” (Mark Records, 1985) and a CD titled “Reverie” (Summit Records, 2006). Stevens was on the faculty of the University of Miami (FL) School of Music for four years, while also performing as principal tubist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Florida and the Miami Opera. He joined the UW-Madison faculty in 1985 and, in addition to his other duties, was the Director of the School of Music from 1991 to 1996.
As a composer and arranger with over 50 original compositions and almost as many arrangements to his credit, Stevens is internationally renowned for his works for brass, particularly for solo tuba, euphonium and trombone, tuba/euphonium ensemble, brass quintet and other brass chamber combinations. He is the winner of numerous ASCAP awards and has received many composition grants and commissions. In 1997 he was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to compose a tuba concerto. This work, entitled “Journey,” was premiered by the CSO, with tubist Gene Pokorny as soloist in June, 2000, and performed by them again in December, 2003. In addition to being performed regularly by ensembles and soloists worldwide, Stevens’ works have been commissioned and/or recorded by (among others) the Wisconsin Brass Quintet, Symphonia, the International Trumpet Guild, the International Tuba Euphonium Association, the Madison Symphony Orchestra, The Ohio State University Wind Symphony, the Denver Brass, soloists Roger Bobo, Brian Bowman, Toby Hanks, Demondrae Thurman, James Jenkins and Mark Fisher, and many of the world’s finest tuba quartets (Sotto Voce, New York, Summit Brass, Melton, Dutch, Swiss, etc.). The Sotto Voce Quartet has released a CD recording of all of Stevens’ tuba quartets. Recent compositions include the “Concerto for Euphonium and Orchestra” composed for Brian Bowman, “Symphony in Three Movements,” a composition for wind band commissioned by a consortium of 14 American universities, and “Monument” for Solo Tuba and Strings. commissioned by tuba icon Roger Bobo in memory of the great LA studio tubist, the late Tommy Johnson.
Stevens has been a member of the International Tuba Euphonium Association (ITEA) Executive Committee and is currently on the Board of Directors. He has recently been awarded the ITEA’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor in his field. He has been featured as a composer/arranger, conductor, performer and competition judge at many of the international tuba euphonium conferences that have taken place in the past two decades, including thirteen years at the U.S. Army Band Tuba Euphonium Conference in Washington, DC. In recent years he has been a performer, teacher, composer and competition judge at festivals in Italy, Spain, Finland and France.
Professor Stevens is an ASCAP composer and has been sponsored as a performer by Willson Instruments.