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chef d'orchestre / conductor (U.S.A.)
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| Rodney Winther is the newly appointed director of Wind Studies and Professor of Music at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His duties at CCM include conducting both the Wind Symphony and the Chamber Winds, while also teaching Masters and Doctoral students in Wind Conducting. Prior to this, Mr. Winther was Director of Bands and Professor of Music at the Ithaca College School of Music for fifteen years. While at Ithaca, he brought the Ithaca College Wind Ensemble to a position of international prominence, which culminated in their invitation and performance at the 1997 BASBWE Convention in Canterbury, England. Known for his championing of contemporary music, Mr. Winther has conducted the premiere performances of works by such distinguished composers as Warren Benson, David Amram, Roger Nixon, Raymond Premru, Gordon Stout, Dana Wilson, and most recently Martin Ellerby, among numerous others.
Mr. Winther's frequent appearances as guest conductor and clinician have taken him across the United States and abroad, including the Republic of Malaysia as a cultural specialist sponsored by the United States Information Agency. Since 1993 he has been invited to England on ten separate occasions including the past five years for his Conducting Workshops which have been held in both London and at the University of the Kent at Canterbury. This July also marked Mr. Winther's fifth summer as guest conductor of the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra at their summer course in Benenden, Kent. Additional concerts with the KYWO have been given at Fairfield Hall in Croydon, the 1995 BASBWE Convention at the University of Huddersfield, the Summer Music Festival at Deal, and this year's BASBWE Convention in Canterbury. The past two years in the United States have seen him conduct various festival bands in Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York and Ohio, in addition to All-State groups in Alabama, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey. January of 1996 brought his first engagement with the United States Navy Band as he was invited to guest conduct this auspicious ensemble at the 19th International Saxophone Symposium. Most recently, Mr. Winther was invited to Taiwan, where he conducted the Taiwan National Orchestra's Wind Ensemble in a series of three concerts. His recordings with the Ithaca College Wind Ensemble (Mark Records) and now his concerts with the CCM Wind Symphony have brought national and international recognition, having been played on National Public Radio stations in the United States, as well as the BBC in England and other national stations throughout Europe. Mr. Winther holds degrees from the University of Idaho (M.M. and B. Mus. Ed.) and was in residence at the Eastman School o Music for two years while working toward the D.M.A in conducting. In addition to extensive public school teaching, he has als taught at Walla Walla College, Purdue University and Oregon State University. While at the Eastman School he served as assistant conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra, studied privately with Donald Hunsberger and David Effron, and taught undergraduate conducting. |
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