Alan Klaus
Founding Artist
Alan Klaus has been assistant professor of trumpet and horn at Memorial University since 2012. Born in London, Ontario, he previously served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Low Brass at Montana State University and as Brass Specialist at Mount Allison University, where he was voted "Professor of the Year" in music for 2010-2011. He is honoured to have been selected as a Bach Trumpet Artist and is quickly building a reputation as a performer, brass pedagogue, adjudicator and clinician.
Klaus is a member of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and is currently working on a trio CD with American trombonist Timothy Dueppen including three new commissioned works. A featured soloist with the PEI Symphony Orchestra and at the Atlantic Band Festival, he has also appeared at numerous universities across North America for recitals and masterclasses. Klaus toured China as Principal Trumpet of the American Festival Orchestra and has performed with the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra London (Canada), the World of Winds, the International Youth Wind Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and the National Youth Band of Canada. He was invited to attend the All-Star Brass Residency in Banff, Alberta, and was an extra on the All-Star Brass quintet’s 2011 CD.
Klaus completed his doctorate at Florida State University under Dr. Christopher Moore. His treatise is titled "A performer’s guide to Canadian works for unaccompanied trumpet and solo trumpet with piano."
Tim Dueppen
Founding Artist
International performing and recording trombonist Timothy Dueppen is in demand across North and South America for his work both on stage and as a music educator. As a performer, Tim is known for his smooth sound, vibrant musicality, and ability to perform everything from Jazz to Baroque music. He has toured with John Marcellus in New York and Pennsylvania, including performances at Carnegie Hall in New York City and the National Presbyterian Cathedral in Washington D.C. Additionally, he was a member of the international brass quintet Metales M5 and toured extensively throughout North and South America. He is a proud founding member of the Alias Brass Company, a professional touring brass quintet that recently returned from international performance tours in Brazil and Canada, and national level performances in nearly every state in the U.S. Former Canadian and Empire Brass Hornist Martin Hackelman has written that Alias’ performances contain “not only virtuosic playing, but humor, passion and action as well. Alias Brass is one of the freshest chamber groups out there.”
Tim has made appearances on international television for his performances in Colombia, Canada, and the United States. In 2017, his brass trio, the Tephra Collective, released their first international album “Distorted Mirrors” to rave reviews. Tim is also an active freelance trombonist in the U.S. and has performed with jazz greats Horace Silver, John Clayton, Bill Watrous, Kenny Burrell, Bill Evans, and others. He has also performed with numerous pop icons in stage performances including a 2015 performance with superstar Frankie Valli. Additionally, Tim has made recordings for the Disney Corporation and recorded music for the 2011 Miss USA Pageant. Serving as Assistant Professor of Music in trombone at Lamar University’s Mary Morgan Moore Department of Music since 2014, Tim has built a strong reputation as a pedagogue across North and South America. Tim has also given master classes at numerous colleges, universities, and secondary schools, including at the International Festival of Music in Cartagena, Colombia.
Tim has played with the Houston Symphony (as a member of Virtuosi of Houston), Disney Jazz Band, Opera Pasadena Festival Orchestra, Golden States Pops Orchestra, Lone Star Lyric Opera, Intermountain Opera Orchestra, Montana Ballet Orchestra, Bozeman Symphony, Rapides Symphony, and others. He is currently Principal Trombonist with the Symphony of Southeast Texas and has performed as a jazz soloist with the symphony and with members of the symphony in its “SOST on the Town” series. He is a performing artist sponsored by the Denis Wick Company based out of London, and presents for the corporation at numerous events, including the Midwest Clinics in Chicago and the Texas Music Educators Convention in San Antonio. Tim is also a performing artist for BAC Custom Trombones based out of Kansas City, and is currently helping in the design of a new trombone model that fuses innovative design and the ability to perform in styles such as jazz, chamber music, and orchestral repertoire. He is proud to currently perform as a member of the Lamar Faculty Brass Quintet, the Tephra Collective, the Symphony of Southeast Texas, the Alias Brass Company, and serve as Director of Music at historic St. Anthony’s Cathedral Basilica. Visit Tim at www.trombonetim.com.
Jacob Clark
Affiliate Artist
Pianist Jacob Clark received his musical education primarily in Texas, completing his BM, MM, and DMA in piano performance at the University of Texas at Austin where his primary solo instructors were David Renner and Nancy Garrett. Dr. Clark has been awarded prizes in several competitions, mostly notably being named a prizewinner in the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, Sidney Wright Accompanying Competition, the Janice K. Hodges Contemporary Piano Performance Award, and the Mid-Texas Symphony Concerto Competition. Dr. Clark joined the faculty of Lamar University in the fall of 2014 as Assistant Professor of Piano, specializing in applied and group instruction. Previous faculty appointments include assistant professor at South Carolina State University, adjunct instructor at Northern Virginia Community College and piano instructor at the prestigious Levine School of Music in Washington D.C. where he taught both group and individual piano. An active performer, he has presented recitals in venues such as the Kosciuszko Foundation Auditorium in New York, the historic Church of the Epiphany in Washington D.C., the Mansion at Strathmore, the Glema Mahr Center for the Arts, the University of Texas at Austin, Murray State University, Delta State University, and Southeast Missouri State. In addition, he performed his Washington concerto debut with the Washington Sinfonietta orchestra and has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Lamar Civic Orchestra, Lamar Wind Ensemble, SC State Wind Ensemble, and Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra.
As a collaborative pianist, Dr. Clark has performed with the Lamar University brass faculty as part of the 2016 Brass Festival and has appeared with renowned cellist Christopher Adkins, principal cellist for the Dallas Symphony. Dr. Clark and his wife, Dr. Sujung Cho, perform frequently as Duo Korusa and have performed rare or newly composed piano duet works throughout the United States in venues located in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Michigan, South Carolina, Georgia, New York, Montana, Nebraska, and Missouri. Equally academics and performers, both members of Duo Korusa have a keen interest in research and have presented lecture recitals at national and regional conferences of the College Music Society at universities across the United States. Their recording of Diabelli’s Sonata in C major for Piano Four Hands has been published by Symposium, the peer-reviewed journal of the College Music Society and is available in the recording archives of Symposium’s online journal. Duo Korusa works closely with the composer Thomas Dempster, premiering his work “Congaree Voices” for piano duet and electronic track at the South Carolina Music Teachers State Conference at Anderson University and then performing it at the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival at the Abrons Arts Center. Along with the Lamar University Wind Ensemble, they have also commissioned Dr. Dempster to compose a new piano concerto for piano four hands and wind ensemble that will be premiered in 2017. Other notable appearances include a performance of the Mozart Double Piano Concerto with the Lamar Civic Orchestra and performances on Lamar University’s Industrial Carillon new music concert series.
Abigail Dueppen
Affiliate Artist
American coloratura soprano, Abigail Dueppen, made her professional debut to critical acclaim as Léïla in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles. Since then, she has appeared as Blonde with the Houston Symphony in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Tytania in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème, Gretel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Cunegonde in Bernstein’s Candide, Königin der Nacht in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Clorinda in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Yum-Yum in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, and Die Erste Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. She also performed with Houston’s Ars Lyrica as La Musique in Charpentier’s Les plaisirs de Versailles, and other recent roles include Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Sister Constance of St. Denis in Poulenc's Dialogues des carmélites, The Vixen in Janácek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Contessa di Folleville in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, Celia in Mozart’s Lucio Silla, Cupidon in Orpheé aux enfers, and Anne Egerman in A Little Night Music. As a concert artist, she recently sang Vaughan Williams's Dona nobis pacem, Vaughan Williams's A Sea Symphony, as well as Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Rutter’s Magnificat, Fauré's Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat and St. Matthew’s Passion, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’sExultate jubilate, and his Requiem.
Ms. Dueppen holds her Bachelor of Music degree with academic distinction in vocal performance and music education from the Eastman School of Music and completed her graduate studies at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music obtaining her Master of Music degree in vocal performance. Ms. Dueppen is also a certified speech-language pathologist. She obtained her Master of Science degree in speech-language pathology from Lamar University following completion of an externship at the world-renowned Texas Voice Center in Houston, under the tutelage of Jeremy Hathway, Dr. Apurva Thekdi, and Dr. C. Richard Stasney, who founded TVC. During her graduate studies at Lamar, she concurrently served as Adjunct Instructor of Voice in the Music Department. Ms. Dueppen’s research interests include vocal pedagogy, opera performance, and vocology. Her present projects include developing and implementing a Vocology Certificate program at Lamar that is at the forefront of current research, as well as recording and releasing a CD with the chamber music ensemble: The Tephra Collective. Abigail currently lives in Beaumont, TX with her husband Timothy and his many trombones.
Philip Roberts
Affiliate Artist
Philip Roberts holds a Doctorate in piano performance from the University of Montreal where he studied with Marc Durand, as well as Master's, Bachelor's and Associate degrees, also in piano performance. He has won numerous awards including the Royal Bank-Debut Atlantic Award for Musical Excellence and the International Gold Medal at the Llangollen International Musical Eistenfodd in Wales, and has been recorded regularly by CBC. Other solo performances include Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 with the Banff Centre String Orchestra, individual concerts across Canada and in the U.S. and Europe, performances with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, and several concert tours across Eastern Canada. In addition to his teaching at MUN's School of Music, Roberts has a private studio of advanced piano students and adjudicates in music festivals across the province. He is also an active accompanist in the community, his collaborative work including private studios, schools and professional soloists.
