Dr. Ken Hoppmann, director of music at Southeast Community College, will be the guest pianist during the Omaha Symphonic Winds concert on Nov. 5.
The free concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, 40th and C St., Lincoln. Hoppmann will be performing Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
Hoppmann holds many titles, including husband, father, concert pianist, music educator, arts presenter, author, studio owner, music entrepreneur, Fulbright Scholar, clinician, adjudicator, and wine enthusiast. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; a Doctor of Music from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago; bachelor’s and master of music degrees from the University of Wyoming; and has advanced studies in Vienna, Austria; and Heidelberg, Germany.
Hoppmann has been guest soloist with the Ft. Collins (Colo.) Symphony Orchestra, Casper (Wyo.) Symphony Orchestra, the University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra and the Northern Nevada Chamber Orchestra. In addition, he has presented numerous recitals and concerts with the Wyoming Council on the Arts “Artists in Education” program and the University of Wyoming cultural outreach program. He currently appears on the artist rosters of the Nebraska Arts Council and the Mid-America Arts Alliance, both as soloist and as founding member of the popular piano quartet “PianoFOURte.”
Solo live performances of works by Bach, Schumann and Liszt are featured on his CD, “Ken Hoppmann-LIVE!” A champion of world music, Hoppmann has performed and studied Persian music with Iranian tar virtuoso Dr. Mahour Mellat Parast since 2002. Their “Worlds Together” performances, which merge western European and Persian music, have been featured on NET Television and enthusiastically received on college campuses across the country.
Hoppmann owned and operated Hoppmann Piano Studio (a multi-teacher music/theory studio in Lincoln) from 1989-2009. During that time he also served on the music faculties of Doane College, Concordia University and Union College. During his many years of college teaching, Hoppmann has taught courses in piano, piano pedagogy, music history, music theory and world music.
The Omaha Symphonic Winds is conducted by Dr. William Hall. From 1997-2006, Hall served as associate professor of music and director of bands at the former Dana College in Blair. In 2009, he founded Omaha Symphonic Winds, a select adult concert band that performs symphonic band and orchestral transcription repertoire.
Hall’s memberships include Music Educators National Conference, Nebraska Music Educators Association, the national music honorary Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Kappa Kappa Psi, Nebraska State Bandmasters Association, American School Band Directors Association, and the College Band Directors National Association. He has served the profession as president of the Nebraska chapter of the international bandmasters fraternity Phi Beta Mu, and as chair of College/University Affairs for the NMEA.
The Omaha Symphonic Winds is comprised of 60 members who are drawn from area band directors, music teachers, retired military musicians, and university music majors. The group performed at the 2010 NMEA Professional In-service Conference and has been invited to perform at the International Clarinet Association’s International Conference in August 2012. In October 2012 OSW will perform the American Premiere of Australian composer Houston Dunleavy’s “A Kiss Before the World’s End” for viola and wind orchestra. The piece is dedicated to the memory of journalist Daniel Pearl, who was a former student of Dunleavy.