Wednesday, April 26, 2017

ITEA welcomes newly elected Vice-President/President-Elect Gail Robertson

The ITEA Board of Directors welcomes Dr. Gail Robertson as the newly-elected Vice-President/President-Elect.

Gail serves as Assistant Professor of Tuba and Euphonium/Jazz at the University of Central Arkansas where she is tubist in the Pinnacle BraTubas Under the Boardwalk.” She has recently completed her D.M.A. as a University Distinguished Fellow at Michigan State University studying with Phil Sinder, Ava Ordman, and Ricardo Lorenz. She has taught on the faculties of Eastern Michigan University, the University of Central Florida, Bethune-Cookman University, the University of Florida, Valencia, and Seminole Community Colleges, and remains active as a teacher, adjudicator, composer, arranger and free-lance artist, both nationally and internationally.

Robertson is the Chair/Chief Editor of the International Tuba and Euphonium Press, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Leonard Falcone Tuba and Euphonium Festival, the International Tuba and Euphonium Association (ITEA), and the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC). She has served as President of the IWBC and as a conference host in 2010 and 2006. She has also served as Euphonium and Membership Coordinator of the International Tuba and Euphonium Association (ITEA) and was the featured artist on the cover of the ITEA Journal (Vol. 38:1, Fall 2010). Two of Gail’s original works have also been featured Gems in the ITEA Journal (Jazz Encounter No. 1 – Gem Series No. 22, Vol. 38:1, Fall 2010, and Allegro et Andantango – Gem Series No. 33, Vol. 41:3, Spring 2014).

In 2015, Gail served as the Euphonium Clinician for the prestigious American Band College in Ashland, Oregon. She was recently awarded the 2014 Clifford Bevan Award for Excellence in Research for her research manuscript, “Restoring the Euphonium’s Legacy as Cello of the Wind Band.” Her original work for brass quintet, Tower Guard Tribute, was awarded honorable mention by the 2014 International Alliance for Women in Music’s Patsy Lu competition. In May 2009, Gail recorded a new CD with Dr. Stacy Baker, Alex Thio, and Dr. Deb Eastwood, called “SymbiosisDuo.” SYMBIOSISDUO released their second CD, “Playground,” in February 2015. Several of the works recorded by the duo were newly commissioned works written especially for the duo, including Composers: Franz Cibulka, Jim Self, James Grant, Christopher Marshall, Brian Balmages, Chris Sharp, Kimberly Archer, T.O. Sterrett, and Phillip Bimstein. In 2007, Gail received Tau Beta Sigma’s highest honor, the “Outstanding Service to Music Award.” Gail has also been a clinician for the MIDWEST Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, the Florida Music Educators Association, the Michigan Music Conference, and numerous ITEA, IWBC, and United States Army Tuba and Euphonium Conferences. Recently, In December 2016, Gail was District VI Jazz Clinician/Artist for Harrison School District in Harrison, Arkansas. Dr. Robertson has acted as euphonium clinician for the American Band College (Ashland, OR) and DIxie Band Camp (Conway, AR).

Dr. Gail Robertson served together with Dr. Stacy Baker as Co-Instrumental Advisor and Co-Curriculum Designer for the Pro-Series Elite Practice Systems for Tuba and Euphonium providing all exercises, instruction, and quartet arrangements as well as performing as on-screen talent alongside some of their students for the revolutionary pedagogical series of 10 DVDs for tuba and 10 DVDs for euphonium. The project was fully funded and released by American Product Group, LLC (2013), along with similar series for each of the wind instruments. Gail has published articles, reviews, and compositions for the online magazine, Bandworld, and the International Tuba Euphonium Association Journal.

Gail Robertson has toured the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan with Keith Brion’s “New Sousa Band,” the Brass Band of Battle Creek, the Monarch Brass, the Athena Brass Band, and the Brass Band of Central Florida. She has also performed as a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall with Jay Gephart, Director, and Purdue University’s Wind Ensemble, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Symphony, the River City Brass Band, Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band, Euphoniums Unlimited, Symphonia, the Orlando based “Horns and Pipes” Brass and Percussion Ensemble, and SYMBIOSISDUO. In April 2016, Dr. Robertson was tenor tubist for the Sarasota Orchestra/Sarasota Ballet performance of Balanchine’s “Stars and Stripes.” Her published works and arrangements are available through GAR MUSIC, Euphonium.com, and Tuba-Euphonium Press. As a Willson Euphonium Artist, Robertson’s euphonium of choice is a Willson 2950TA with a bronze Warburton/Gail Robertson mouthpiece.