Dr. Matt Roberson
| Music History and Literature |
mroberson@faulkner.edu386-7914
Dr. Matt Roberson, chair of the Fine Arts Department, teaches music literature, music history, and music theory, as well as general humanities. After graduating from Harding University with a Bachelor of Arts in music, Roberson studied historical musicology at Florida State University, receiving his master’s in 2000 and his Ph.D. in 2006. His doctoral research centered on the career of John Bowman, an English actor and singer who performed on the London stage during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Roberson remained active as a performer during his graduate studies, singing in FSU’s early music group, Cantores Musicae Antiquae, and in the Baroque Ensemble. While at FSU, he performed the title role in Carissimi’s Jephte, as well as Jupiter in John Eccles’s Semele under the direction of Anthony Rooley in 2003. The following year Regis Records issued the “World Premiere Recording” of Semele with Roberson as Jupiter. In the spring of 2005, Roberson played a significant role in the organization of the first international conference centering on John Eccles and his contemporaries. His article, “The ‘Prize Musick’ of 1701: A Reinvestigation of the Staging Issue” will appear in Ashgate’s forthcoming Stages “Adorn’d with ev’ry Grace”: Music, Dance, & Drama in London at the beginning of the long eighteenth century.
Dr. Allen Clements
Music Theory and Director of Choral Activities
aclements@faulkner.edu 386-7118
Dr. Allen Clements joined the music department faculty in 2010 and serves as the Director of Choral Activities at Faulkner University. Clements earned his Bachelor of Music degree at Harding University. He went on to complete two Master of Music degrees at the University of Alabama: one in choral conducting and the other in music theory and composition. His thesis was entitled "Phrase Expansion and Form in the Early Symphonies of Haydn". At the Conservatory of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Dr. Clements earned his Ph.D. in Music Education. His dissertation was called "The Effect of Phrase Expansion Recognition on Melodic Dictation Accuracy".
From 2003-2010, Clements was Director of Choral Activities at Southern Arkansas University. In addition to performing regular fall and spring concerts and organizing an annual spring tour, Clements and the SAU choirs hosted the annual Masterworks Festival, inviting area high school choirs to join them in the performance of such works as the Handel Coronation Anthem No. 4, Haydn's Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, the Faure Requiem, Schubert's Mass in G Major, and the Bach motet Jesu, meine Freude. Clements and the SAU choirs frequently collaborated with the South Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and other area choirs to perform such major works as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Holst's Hodie, and Orff's Carmina Burana. While at SAU, Clements founded and served as the faculty advisor for the student chapter of ACDA (American Choral Directors Association). These students attended national and regional conventions, affording them the opportunity to participate in the ACDA Collegiate Honor choir and to lead a music reading session. Other excursions included trips to attend performances by the Choir of King's College (Cambridge) and the St. Olaf College Choir.
Dr. Clements has served as a guest conductor and clinician throughout Arkansas. In 2004 he conducted the El Dorado Choral in a performance of Handel's Messiah and, in 2005, he led the All-Region Senior High Mixed Choir at the Arkansas Choral Directors Association Southwest All-Region Choir Clinic/Concert. In 2009, Clements' article "Minority Students and Faculty in Higher Music Education" was published in the Music Educators Journal. His reviews of choral compact disc recordings are regularly published in the Choral Journal.
Andrew Cook
Bands
acook@faulkner.edu 386-7656
Andrew Cook, is the director of bands and Assistant Professor of Music at Faulkner University. He received the Bachelor of Music degree from the College of Wooster and the Master of Music degree in saxophone performance from The Boston Conservatory. He is currently completing his DMA in music education at Boston University. He has served as director of bands at the Fenn School in Concord, MA and as an instructor of saxophone and director of woodwind ensembles at Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA. After leaving Boston, Cook directed the instrumental program, including the band, orchestra, and jazz ensemble at Ohio Valley University in Vienna, WV. He has served as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjucdicator throughout the Northeastern United States.
As a saxophonist, Mr. Cook has been a member of the Odyssey Saxophone Quartet, the Boston Saxophone Quartet, the Doug Hess Big Band, Undertango, and has performed with the Boston Civic Orchestra. He has performed as a soloist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Argentina/Brazil Jazz Festival of New York and with the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, where he premiered Kenji Jikuchi's Concerto for Alto Saxophone. As a student at The Boston Conservatory, Cook won the 1998 Conservatory Concerto Competition, the first saxophone, having premiered over 15 compositions by composers such as Matthew Herman and Seung-Ah Oh. He has studied saxophone and clarinet with Kennth Radnofsky, Curtis Johnson, Richard Dee, and Jose Rua.
Adjunct Faculty
Douglas Back
Sharla Bender received her Bachelor's degree of the Arts from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, AL in 2004. Her coursework has included instruction in pedagogy (the technique of teaching) and performance. She has also received a Masters degree in Piano Performance in May 2007 from the University of Alabama and she is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts. She has served as camp counselor and faculty member of Summer Piano Camps for pre-college students at the University of Alabama and Huntingdon College since 2005. Her students are encouraged to perform publicly and enter music festivals, where they have received high ratings. At the University of Alabama she served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Music Department. She is currently serving as faculty member in the music department of Faulker University teaching both Class Piano and private lessons.
Scott Borders Scott Borders is a native of Montgomery, Alabama. He has worked professionally as a musician for 25 years. In 1985 Scott received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and Art from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1988 he received his Master of Church Music degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He served as adjunct professor of music at Faulkner University from 1992-2000. Scott taught music history, music theory, sight singing and ear training, keyboard harmony, form and analysis, class piano, private voice as well as private piano. He also accompanied the Faulkner Chorus and Faulkner Singers. He is very excited to be back on staff at Faulkner University. He has served on church staff as Minister of Music leading choirs, ensembles, musicians and praise teams. Scott has led worship teams in numerous conferences and workshops here in Montgomery and the Southeast. In 2008 Scott also led a Worship Team in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil at a Worship event of over 16,000 Christians. Scott is currently at Woodland United Methodist Church. |
Dr. Robert L. Gibson Robert Gibson, born in 1977, began his musical studies at age 11. In 2000 he earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in Guitar Performance from the University of Texas at San Antonio under the direction of Dr. Matthew Dunne. He completed a Master’s of Music degree in 2002 and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2007 with Adam Holzman at the University of Texas at Austin where he was an assistant from 2005-2007. |
Liana Gourdjia Liana Gourdjia began her studies at the Central Music School at the Moscow State Conservatory with renowned professors Iryna Bochkova and Maya Glezarova. She moved to the United States to continue her studies with David and Lina Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Liana received an Artist Diploma from the Jacob's School of Music at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she studied with Jaime Laredo. At the Indiana University she was the first recipient of the prestigious Jacob's scholarship, and was subsequently awarded the Performance Certificate for outstanding performances as part of her degree recitals. Winner of the Sion-Valley (Tibor Varga) international competition, Liana has also won prizes at the Michael Hill, Corpus Christi, Hudson Valley and Kingsville International Competitions. She has soloed with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the hudson Valley Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ashville Symphony Orchestra, City Music Cleveland, the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, and the orchestras of Indiana University and the Cleveland Institute of Music under James Gaffigan, Shlomo Mintz, Carl Topilow, David Effron, Steven Smith, and Sergei Stadler. She served as concertmistress of the New Music Ensemble at Indiana University under direction of David Dzubay, with whom she soloed in the Violin Concertino by acclaimes composer Eugene O'Brien. As an active chamber musician, Liana Gourdjia has collaborated with such artists as Peter Salaff, Jaime Laredo, Ida Kavafian, Sharon Robinson, David Jolley, Frank Morelli, Tara O'Connor, Sergei Babayan, Marc Coppey and the Talich String Quartet. Liana Gourdjia has performed at festivals including the 92/Y in New York, Les Musicales de Compesieres in Geneva, Les Musicales de Colmar, and is a laureate of Jeventus festival in France. A proponent of contemporary music, she has frequently premiered new works for voilin from prominent and upcoming composers. Liana Gourdjia was on faculty as assistant to professor Mimi Zweig at The Summer Music Academy at Indiana University and to David Cerone at the Encore School for Strings, USA. |
Vickie Jewell |
Tiffany M. Nishibun |
Justin J. Rojek |
Abigail J. Walker Abigail Walker Graduated with her Master of Music Degree in bassoon performance in 2007 from The Shepherd's School of Music where she was a student of Benjamin Kamins. She also holds a Bachelors of Music from Florida State University and an Associate of Arts from Pensacola Junior College. She has performed with orchestras in Texas, Florida, Maryland, Indiana, Alabama, Nevada and California. Abigail's most influential teachers include Ben Kamins, Jeff Keesecker, Larry Slezak, Ray Pizzi, Whitney Crocket and Richard Jernigan.
Dr. Katrina Phillips earned her Doctoral Degree in Clarinet Performance, with a Minor in Musicology, as well as her Master's Degree in Clarinet Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder. While in Illinois, she performed with Sinfonia da Camera and the Champaign-Urbana Symphony. As winner of the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, she performed Carl Nielsen's clarinet concerto. Currently, she performs with the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and teaches applied clarinet and other music courses at colleges in southern Alabama. She has also taught at the Illinois Summer Youth Music Camp and Allerton Chamber Music Camp. She currently resides in Troy, Alabama with her husband, who is also a talented clarinetist. |
Sharla A. Bender
