EDGE 系综 is Shenandoah’s in-house new music ensemble. EDGE 系综 presents a full season of concerts each year, and provides an opportunity for faculty to perform and coach alongside their students on cutting edge repertoire and world premieres. Directed by Jonathan Newman and conducted by Timothy J. Robblee, the ensemble is featured in the biennial Pulitzer Prize Composer Festival concert series.
Meet the Director
Jonathan Newman composes music rich with rhythmic drive and intricate sophistication, creating broadly colored musical works that incorporate styles of pop, 蓝调, 爵士乐, 民间, and funk into otherwise classical models. Trained as a pianist, trombonist, and singer, his work is informed by an upbringing performing in orchestras, singing in 爵士乐 choirs, playing in marching bands, and accompanying himself in talent shows. From opera to bubblegum pop, Newman delivers a new perspective on American concert music. Recent work includes 质量, a large-scale project with texts by poet Victoria Chang which premiered in 2018 with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street as part of their 质量 Reimaginings commissioning program. In 2016 he was appointed Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO) Composer-in-Residence; CYSO’s 2011 commission Blow It Up, Start Again has been performed by orchestras worldwide, including the Minnesota Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, the 2015 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary 音乐, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2015 BBC Proms. Other recent commissions include Prayers of Steel for Chicago’s Gaudete Brass and These Inflected Tentacles for chamber quartet. Newman’s ensemble transcriptions include arrangements of Beck, George Harrison, 普契尼, Sufjan Stevens, Eric Whitacre, Led Zeppelin, and electronica recorded on Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin. As a MacDowell Fellow, he began work on an opera based on the 1962 cult horror film Carnival of Souls, in collaboration with playwright Gary Winter. He is currently working with Winter on an imaginary ballet suite project for the Florida State University Wind Orchestra. Newman holds degrees from Boston University’s School for the Arts and The Juilliard School, where he studied with composers John Corigliano and David Del Tredici. He resides in Virginia, where he serves as director of composition and coordinator of new music at Shenandoah Conservatory.
Audition Information
Shenandoah Conservatory is committed to fostering a safe environment for our students and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are equally committed to providing exceptional opportunities for our students aligned with preparation for 21st century careers in the arts. This commitment begins with your audition! As the arts industry has responded to our current reality by modifying rehearsal and audition practices, Shenandoah Conservatory has also adopted the most recent industry standards, while maintaining a commitment to innovation and collaboration. 参观 系综 & Production Auditions webpage for the most up-to-date information about auditioning for our music, theatre and dance ensembles and productions.
Meet The Conductor
蒂莫西·J. Robblee is the director of bands and associate professor of conducting at Shenandoah Conservatory where he where he guides all aspects of the wind band program, teaches conducting and conducts the Wind 系综 and EDGE 系综. Prior to his current appointment, he served as the associate director of Bands at Northwestern University where he was also music director and conductor of the Contemporary 音乐 系综. Previously, Robblee has also served as director of bands at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, and Willamette University in Salem, 俄勒冈州.
Dr. Robblee holds a Ph.D. in Wind Band Conducting and 音乐 Education from the University of Minnesota, a Master of 音乐 in Conducting from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Arts in 音乐 Education from Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. He also spent a year at the Munich Hochschule für Musik pursuing graduate clarinet studies. Prior to graduate study, he taught for eight years as an instrumental music educator in the Palo Alto, 加州, public schools where his students and ensembles were recognized for excellence on a state and national level.
Dr. Robblee maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor in the United States, 加拿大, Asia and Europe. Among his most recent engagements were the AMIS International Band hosted in Luxembourg, the Asia-Pacific Activities Conference Honor Band in Hong Kong, and regional honor bands in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. He is published as part of GIA’s Teaching 音乐 Through Performance in Band series. As an advocate of music in the public schools, he has presented at music education conferences throughout North America and adjudicated at numerous music festivals. Robblee maintains active memberships in the College Band Directors National Association, 音乐 Educators National Conference, Virginia 音乐 Educators Association, and World Association for Symphonic Bands and 系综.
Experience Shenandoah Conservatory
SHENANDOAH CONSERVATORY INVITES provides instrumental high school students multiple opportunities each year to make music with Shenandoah faculty, students and ensembles. 音乐ians playing string, 黄铜, woodwind and percussion instruments will find events enabling intensive study with Shenandoah’s world-class faculty and the opportunity to make music alongside current conservatory students. Each of these events take place on Shenandoah’s beautiful Winchester campus.