Dr. Lisa Grevlos
Director of Vocal Studies/Choral Director/Voice Instructor/Vocal Music Education
605.274.5457
lisa.grevlos@augie.edu

Dr. Lisa Grevlos is associate professor of music and Director of Vocal Studies at Augustana College. She directs the Augustana Opera Workshop Theatre program, conducts the Augustana Women’s Choir –Angelus, and teaches in the areas of applied voice, vocal pedagogy, singer’s diction, and choral music education. Dr. Grevlos performs frequently as a soloist in the region for recitals, operas, oratorios, and musical theatre. She has been a guest soloist with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra in “A Night at the Opera” and the Brahms Requiem and was the featured soprano vocalist with the Sioux Falls Municipal Band for fifteen years. Recent engagements have included a faculty recital featuring original compositions of Augustana College composers, various roles in Sounds of South Dakota, Inc. productions - most recently as Gretal in Englebert Humperdinck's opera "Hansel and Gretel", soprano soloist in the Augustana Orchestra's production of Faure’s Pelléas and Mélisande, and soprano soloist in the Swiss Chorale Society’s performance of Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. She has been a regional finalist and scholarship recipient in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and was a semi-finalist in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Auditions.

Along with her duties at Augustana College, she is president of Sounds of South Dakota, Inc. a non-profit organization whose mission is to connect South Dakota professional vocal artists in opera, recital, and musical theatre performance with regional audiences. In September 2012, she will serve as stage director for the Sounds of South Dakota, Inc. production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" starring internationally acclaimed bass-baritone, Samuel Ramey, accompanied by the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Delta David Gier in the Mary Sommervold Hall of the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science. Dr. Grevlos also serves as a frequent adjudicator and clinician throughout the Midwest. She is a member of MTNA and ACDA and is the High School and Collegiate Vocal Competition Chair for SDMTA and the soprano adjudicator for SD-ACDA Honor Choir. She received the doctor of arts degree in voice performance and opera stage directing from the University of Northern Colorado. She holds master of music degrees from Northwestern University, Evanston, in voice performance and choral conducting, and she completed her undergraduate degree in music education at Augustana College.

Dr. Scott Johnson, Chair of the Department
Music Education/Music for the Theatre/Music Appreciation
605.274.5452
scott.johnson@augie.edu

Dr. Scott R. Johnson is associate professor of music, music education instructor and musical theatre director. He was instrumental in building the Augustana College and Community Orchestra. He previously served as coordinator of instrumental music at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and director of orchestral studies at the University of Central Arkansas, Conway. During the summer of 1998 he directed the Lutheran Summer Music orchestra. He is recognized as a conductor, clinician and adjudicator of music festivals throughout the Midwest. He has served as either principal or section bassist with fourteen different orchestras in South Dakota, Arkansas, Illinois and Minnesota. He has also served as a member of the South Dakota Symphony Board of Directors. After earning a bachelor of arts degree with emphasis in orchestral conducting from Macalester College, he received the master of music in orchestral conducting from Illinois State University and the doctor of philosophy in music education from Northwestern University.

Robert Joyce
History of Jazz/Notational Software
605.274.5411
robert.joyce@augie.edu

Robert Joyce teaches courses in notational software, jazz history and 20th century music history. He is an accomplished composer, producer and educator and is executive director of the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society, which produces the acclaimed JazzFest in Sioux Falls each summer. His expertise in electronic music composition and knowledge of jazz music have made him a highly sought-after speaker, adjudicator and clinician. He has been host of “Sunday Night Jazz,” a highly rated weekly radio program on KELO FM Radio and South Dakota Public Radio. He graduated from Augustana College with a bachelor of arts and also earned a master of arts degree from Augustana.

Dr. John Pennington
Percussion Instructor/Global Music
605.274.4607
john.pennington@augie.edu

Dr. John Pennington is an educator, composer, performer, author, producer and conductor. Dr. Pennington is currently a Professor of Music at Augustana College and is the Artistic Director of the Animas Music Festival in Durango, Colorado. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Arizona, and Arizona State. Dr. Pennington is an orchestral percussionist, who currently performs with the South Dakota Symphony and the Music in the Mountains Music Festival Orchestra. Dr. Pennington is currently a Cultural Envoy for the State Department in the Middle East (most recently Lebanon), where he presents concerts, clinics and masterclasses.

With more than thirty recordings to date, he has recorded for the Ensemble 21, Summit, Cristo, OCP, and Equilibrium labels. Recent recording releases include: Brasileirinho, South American Music for Guitar and Percussion (co-produced composed and arranged — 2010), Steps (co-produced composed and arranged — 2008), Music for Trumpet and Percussion with Stephen Dunn, Lou Harrison, American Gamelan (produced, conducted and performed — 2007), Compassionate and Wise (co-produced, composed and performed — 2006 — Equilibrium Press). With performances on four continents and over twenty-five states, he has performed on Prairie Home Companion and has been a featured performer at three Percussive Arts Society International Conventions.

Active as a composer and arranger, Pennington has over twenty-five compositions for soloist, duo, chamber and films and dozens of arrangements for numerous instrumental and vocal combinations. Extensive studies in world music have included experience in African, Middle Eastern, Indonesian, Cuban and the South Indian Karnatak tradition. Recently, Dr. Pennington studied the Northern Hindustani tradition of music in Haridwar and Delhi, India and the Javanese and Balinese traditions of Indonesia. Please visit JohnPennington.com for more information.

Dr. Paul Schilf
Instrumental Music Education/Northlanders Jazz/History of Jazz
605.274.5458
paul.schilf@augie.edu

Dr. Paul R. Schilf is assistant professor of music, music education instructor, jazz history instructor, director of the Northlanders Jazz Band, director of the Brass Choir and conductor of the Augustana College/Community Band. He has taught all levels of instrumental music and is a published author of several articles on intergenerational learning and student mentoring. He is the co-director and a founding board member of the New Horizons Band of Sioux Falls.

Dr. Schilf is an active guest conductor, adjudicator and clinician throughout the country. He is presently a South Dakota All-State Band and Jazz Band adjudicator. His professional memberships include the Music Educators National Conference, South Dakota Bandmasters Association, Wisconsin School Music Association and Minnesota Music Educators Association. He is the President-Elect of the South Dakota Music Educators Association. He holds a bachelor of music education degree from Concordia University Chicago (River Forest, IL), and master of arts and doctor of philosophy degrees in music education from the University of Iowa.

Dr. Christopher Stanichar
Director of Orchestral Activities/Music History/Conducting
605.274.5233
christopher.stanichar@augie.edu

Christopher Stanichar is Associate Professor and Director of Orchestras at Augustana College (Sioux Falls, SD), where he conducts the Augustana Orchestra, working closely with the highly acclaimed Augustana Faculty String Quartet, a professional in-residence ensemble. He has been recognized with several awards by the Augustana College community, and is the current recipient of the Jane and Charles Zaloudek Faculty Research Fellowship.  His other musical positions include Music Director of South Dakota Symphony Youth Orchestra (SDSYO), Principal Conductor of the Northwest Iowa Symphony Orchestra (NISO) in Sioux Center, Iowa, and Music Director of Worthington Area Orchestra (Minnesota).

Christopher is a popular guest conductor, having conducted some of the finest professional orchestras in Europe, Russia, Mexico, and the United States. Some of the orchestras he has conducted include:  Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra (Russia), Sochi Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónico Juvenil del Estado de Veracruz, Everett Symphony Orchestra, among many others. In 2003 he led the Sochi Philharmonic in a concert that was broadcast on national television, and featured him in an interview. The Pravda Cevera praised his work with Arkhangelsk Chamber Orchestra, writing “It was as though he were telling a story with his hands.” A frequent guest conductor in Mexico, the Diario Xalapa called him as “one of the best musical conductors in Latin America” (“Stanichar (es) uno de los mejores conductores musicales de América Latina.”)

An important part of Christopher’s mission in life is to foster a love of orchestral music among people of all ages. He is frequently invited to conduct orchestras for all-states and honors programs throughout the country, and he serves as Music Director of the Youth Orchestras for South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (SDSYO).

Christopher earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts in conducting at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he was a student of Gerhard Samuel. He has been selectively chosen as a participant in conducting master classes with some of the finest teaching pedagogues, including Ilya Musin, Daniel Lewis, Ken Keisler, Gerard Schwartz, John Farrer, and Donald Thulean. 

One of the most significant events in Christopher’s conducting career occurred in 1996 when he was awarded a prestigious Fulbright scholarship to study conducting with Bystrík Reÿucha in Slovakia, appearing as a guest conductor with many of the greatest orchestras in that country. In 1997 Christopher was appointed Conducting Assistant for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, enabling him to work closely with Maestros Jesús López-Cobos and Erich Kunzel.  He has served as the Music Director for many fine regional orchestras, including Seven Hills Sinfonietta (Cincinnati), Orchestra Omaha, and Heartland Philharmonic Orchestra (Omaha). 

Christopher is an active composer and his works have been commissioned and performed by St Petersburg State Symphony, Sochi Symphony Orchestra, Chrysostomos Choir, Binghamton Philharmonic, Orchestra Omaha, the Wister Quartet, and many others.  In 2006, Christopher’s original work, Trisagion, was used in the Ric Burns’ PBS documentary, Andy Warhol. TrevCo Music is the proud publisher of many of his works.  In 2010, his work Bremen Town Musicians was performed four times by the Baylor Symphony Orchestra (including popular performances in Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, Texas). Most recently he was awarded a Granskou Grant to write a full-length cantata, St. Mark Passion, for the 150th anniversary of Augustana College. The work premiered in March 2011, performed by Augustana Chamber Choir for several hundred people, and the performance was released on DVD and is scheduled for an encore performance in April 2012.

Christopher values his time with his family above all else. He enjoys making music with his wife, Kristi, a talented oboist. They are blessed with four wonderful children, all of whom are active in music.