Knightwind Ensemble Announces a New Music Director

At their March 21st concert, the Knightwind Ensemble announced the appointment of a new Music Director: Dr. Erik Janners, Director of Music at Marquette University. Dr. Janners begins his duties with the Knightwind Ensemble in the fall of 2010.

Dr. Janners comes to Milwaukee from St. Xavier University in Chicago, and the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. At both of those Universities, he created conducting workshops to provide further conducting training opportunities to high school teachers and music students. In Canada and at Marquette, he expanded the band programs to two bands and founded University Wind Ensembles. And if that isn't enough, while in Saskatchewan, he created a television show entitled For The Love Of Music, which featured the music of concert bands and wind ensembles.

At Marquette, Dr. Janners conducts the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, and Pep Band, all the while supervising the overall Music Program. He also teaches courses in the University's Music Minor program, including music theory, conducting, and music history. He is a published author and has served as a featured clinician, not only at state music conferences, but also the Midwest Clinic.

In a future post, I'll do a Q and A session with Dr. Janners. If you have questions you'd like to ask, send them to the blog email address: milwaukeecommunitymusic@yahoo.com. I'll add them to my questions, and we can inundate Dr. Janners together!