Fritz Kaenzig to receive 2019 ITEA Teaching Award

The Board of Directors of the International Tuba Euphonium Association is pleased to announce that Fritz Kaenzig, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Tuba and Euphonium the University of Michigan, is the recipient of the 4th annual ITEA Teaching Award.

Fritz Kaenzig has served as principal tubist of the Florida Symphony Orchestra and as additional or substitute tubist with Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the symphony orchestras of Detroit, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles and St. Louis, under such conductors as Bernstein, Haitink, Leinsdorf, Ozawa, Salonen, and Slatkin. He has recorded and performed as soloist with several of these orchestras, as well as appearing as soloist with the U.S. Air Force and Navy Bands. Since 1984, Mr. Kaenzig has been principal tubist in the Grant Park (Chicago) Orchestra during summers, which has played to capacity audiences since moving to the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park in 2005. Kaenzig has performed in ensembles backing up artists as widely varied as Alan Ginsberg, Luciano Pavarotti, and the Moody Blues.

As a guest instructor, recitalist, soloist with ensembles, and adjudicator, Mr. Kaenzig has made appearances at many high schools, colleges, universities, conferences, and music camps throughout the United States, Korea, and Japan.  He received degrees from the Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with extensive studies also with Arnold Jacobs, former tubist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. Prior to joining the U-M faculty, he taught at the University of Illinois and the University of Northern Iowa. Mr. Kaenzig is a past president of the Tubists Universal Brotherhood Association, now known as the International Tuba and Euphonium Association.

The ITEA Teaching Award is presented annually to an ITEA member who has been teaching for at least 10 years.  Letters of nomination are submitted accompanied by letters of support from current and former students and professional colleagues.  Members of the ITEA Board of Directors review the submitted materials and vote to determine the recipient.

Previous recipients of the ITEA Teaching Award are:
2016 - David Zerkel, Professor of Tuba and Euphonium – University of Georgia
2017 - Phil Sinder, Professor of Tuba and Euphonium – Michigan State University
2018 - Don Little, Regents Professor of Tuba – University of North Texas