GREGOR VIDOVIC

(Performer& Paper: Pre-University Music Education In Germany And East Europe.

   Born 1971, is a German pianist of Bosnian origin. He started performing during his piano

studies on the music academies in Novi Sad (former Yugoslavia) and Cologne (Germany). In the last years

Gregor Vidovic performed in Germany, Austria, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Egypt, Croatia, France, Serbia

and Brazil. Numerous concerts were recorded for television and radio. The concerts were accompanied by

more than twenty-five master classes and workshops on conservatories and academies. Similar projects are

to be performed in Mexico, Japan, Argentina, Singapore, USA and Canada.

Beside his activities as a performing artist and a piano pedagogue, he founded the Music Sommer Academy

Southeast Europe and the concert series A Tribute to Sarajevo, both commited to the support and further

development of young musicians from the countries of former Yugoslavia.

    For his artistic work and his social commitment, Gregor Vidovic has been frequently awarded: Paul Harris

Fellow of the Rotary International Club, Cultural prize of the German Oberberg Region, representative of

Germany at the international conferences Education for Culture of Peace, Ambassador of Good Will of the

Aid Net Foundation und artistic director of the Youth Symphony Orchestra South Eastern Europe.

CONCERT REVIEWS

“... a high-precision-engineer at the piano, a virtuoso faultless and infallible.”

Neue Rhein Zeitung, Essen, Germany

                            “The freedom of his thoughts combined with almost infinite pianistic capabilities strive to a  

                               single purified goal: clear harmonic structures, intelligent organisation of music and

                               absolutely original characterisation of the musical essence free of conventions and

                               egocentricity.”

Slobodna Dalmacija, Split, Croatia

                             “Bosnia and Herzegovina is on it’s way to obtain a world-class pianist.”

Dnevni Avaz, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

MARIA LEILANI CARTER (New Zealand –UAE)

(Nurturing Creativity: The global significance of Music Education)

Carter is originally from New Zealand and is a music education specialist. She has taught at middle, secondary school and tertiary levels in New Zealand at award winning level for national secondary school choral and rock band competitions.  In 2002 she was the recipient of the Ministry of Education International Visitors Fund and had the opportunity to travel to New York City – namely Lincoln Center Institute and Jazz at Lincoln Center.  She has been teaching internationally in Dubai for three years and is involved with fundraising for educational and health programs in developing countries. Her research interests include: international education, music mentoring – partnerships between schools and the local community, cross-cultural collaborations. Currently, she is teaching music at the West Campus of Raffles International School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

MIRANDA CRISPIN (USA France)

(Master class: Musical Theatre Performance Master Class

Workshop: Musical Theatre and the Classroom)

 is currently Assistant Professor of Music (Voice and Musical Theatre) at Vincennes University, where she teaches Applied Voice and Italian & English Diction, directs and choreographs the Music Theatre and Opera Workshops and the VU Connection Music Theatre Ensemble, and serves as Musical Director/Conductor for collaborative Musical Theatre Productions.

Prior to her appointment at Vincennes University, Miranda worked in interdisciplinary arts research and performance at the Arizona State University Institute for Studies in the Arts and as Artistic Consultant to the Stage Logic theatrical software development program.

   She served one year as an Ambassadorial Scholar to France, giving performance/lecture tours on the American musical theatre and on cross-cultural relations, and has also volunteered extensively as a human rights activist and French-English interpreter. Miranda will be moving to Wisconsin this summer to begin a position as Assistant Professor of Music Theatre at Viterbo University in La Crosse

She studied in France at the Universite de Paris IV (Sorbonne, the cole Normale de Musique de Paris and the Conservatoire National de Musique et de Danse Darisu Mihaud.

PHILIPPE KOCHER (Switzerland)

(Presentation: Interactive Web-based Ear Training)

From 1992-1997, Philippe Kocher studied the piano under Martin Christ and computer music under Gerald Bennett at the HMT Zurich. He then completed his studies in theory and composition under Detlev Müller-Siemens and Dorothe Schubarth at the Musikakademie Basel. For the academic year 2004-05 he was granted a scholarship for the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he was also a lecturer in electro acoustic composition and Max/MSP.

        His interest lies both in electronic and instrumental music. As means for sound and score synthesis, the computer has become his most important instrument in both fields. His music has been performed both in Switzerland and world-wide (Berlin, Munich, Rome, London, New York, Boston) as well as being broadcasted by Swiss and German radio stations.

     Besides being a freelance composer, at the present time he is working at the Institute for Compute rmusic and Sound Technology (ICST) in Zurich as research associate and software developer as well as at the Zurich University of the Arts as lecturer for music theory and computer aided composition.

JUI-CHING WANG (Tiwan – USA)

(paper: An Electronic Journey: E-Portfolio Model for College Music Education Methods Courses

Wang  is Assistant Professor of Music Education at Northern Illinois University where she teaches music education and world music courses and direct Indonesian gamelan ensemble. Dr. Wang received her bachelor’s degree in music from Soochow University in Taipei, master’s degrees in piano performance and music education from Northern Illinois University, and her doctorate in music education from Arizona State University.  The title of her dissertation is A Comparative Study of College Students’ Musical Preferences and Musical Aptitudes in the U.S. and Taiwan.

    Prior to her studies in the United States, Jui-Ching taught general music and piano, and directed choirs and recorder ensembles at middle school levels in Taiwan. 

She was a Preparing Future Faculty Fellow (2001-2003) and Arts Bridge Scholar (2002-2003) at ASU and Editorial Assistant of the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education (2002-2003).  As an active researcher and clinician, Jui-Ching has published articles in The Performing Arts, Taipei Chinese Music, Journal of Aesthetics Education, and Journal of Band Research.  She has presented papers at Arizona State Music Educators Association Conference (AMEA), and international conferences, such as the International Society for Music Education (ISME).

DAVID  (USA)

(presentation workshop: Emerging Music Technology in the Classroom:

Updating Music Education for 21st-Century Schools)

  grew up in Washington, D. C., where he sang as a boy treble at Washington National Cathedral in the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys under Richard Dirksen and later, Douglas Major. He remained with the choir for eighteen years and in that time sang with every voice part. He has worked at the Music Division of the Library of Congress, co-founded an independent record label, conducted small ensembles, and performed extensively as a bass and percussion player. He holds degrees from the University of Maryland, Arizona State University, and Haverford College and has studied composition with Curt Cacioppo, John Davidson, James De Mars, Robert Gibson, Glenn Hackbarth, and Randall Shinn in addition to "master class" private lessons with George Crumb and Bernard Rands. From 2001-2003 he was Composer-in-Residence for the Cathedral Center for the Arts at Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix, Arizona. He founded University of Maryland's New Music Initiative. He has received commissions and grants from numerous ensembles and organizations including the American Composers Forum, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and the Phoenix Arts Commission. His compositions for concert hall, church, dance, and theater have been performed throughout the United State. He Holds DMA from the University of Maryland.

BESA LUZHA (Kosvo- UK)

(papers: "Challenges for Professionals in  the Music Department at University of Prishtina Arising from the Implementation of Bologna Process in Kosovo" &

"Comparing Music Influences on the National and Political Identity of Albanians in Two Different Contexts – Kosovo and Albania")

Luzha is a professional musician, music educator and music researcher from Kosovo. She has completed her undergraduate studies in Prishtina University a the Piano performance program in 1994 .However in 1998 she decided to move in the field of Music Teaching Methodology because there was a need for a professional musician to continue the work of the only Music teacher trainer in Kosovo that was responsible for the Music teacher training program then. The war in Kosovo delayed her completion of her postgraduate studies until 2000. However, even in that difficult period, she managed to make a study visit  in the Graz University of Music, at the General Music Pedagogy department (IGP)(March 1998) where she was inspired even more for following this path of the  music education career.

        Her mentor at the postgraduate studies in the Music teaching Methods department retired at 2002, so she continued to “train” the future music teachers, the undergraduates of the University of Prishtina, Music Department. She does that even nowadays, besides undergoing a part time Doctoral Degree Course at the Institute of Education, University of London. She is privileged to have Dr. Lucy Green as her supervisor and to learn with her the beauty of research in music education.  

          Beside this academic music career, Besa has performed as a soloist and in chamber music events before the war, and then after the war she has organized herself many  music events in Kosovo. Among them, the first music concert after the war in 1999, the “ Bach week” in 2000; the first edition of the” International Chamber Music Festival” of Prishtina (2000) which has now become a traditional one in Kosovo; Concert for the NATO soldiers in January 2000 which offered the possibility to 500 High KFOR officials to see the  European spirit of Kosovo musicians and many other events with children groups for the NATO soldiers in different occasions.

        Since 2000, she has been coordinating and leading all initiatives for reforming the music curriculum in various levels (elementary and secondary general schooling; special music education ;and university music degrees according to the Bologna reform).

        From 2006-2006 she was the ECTS coordinator at the University of Prishtina, for Music department and member of the University Steering committee for Quality Assurance.  

Beside continuing the teaching duties at the Music Education department in University of Prishtina she is also a contact person for EAS and AEC for Kosovo;  Member of the Artistic Board of the “Remusica” festival, another international-continuous festival of new music-set up in Prishtina since 2000;Member of the Artistic board of the Kosovo Philharmonics; and member of the Kosovo  National Curriculum Committee ,coordinator for the music curriculum at the Ministry of Education .

SEZEN OZEKE (Turkey)

(paper: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS OF MUSIC TEACHER EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

 Ozeke is an assistant professor at music education department at Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey. She received her Master of Music degree (1997) and Doctoral of Musical Arts degree (2003) in music education at Arizona State University, USA. She worked as an Editorial Assistant (2000-2002) for the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, a scholarly refereed journal published twice a year. She also worked as an academic reviewer for Making Music series published by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Scott Foresman. Her research interests include learning theories in music education especially in early childhood period, Orff and Kodaly pedagogy, music teacher training, and multicultural music education. She has presented papers and workshops at the conferences in Turkey, Norway, Greece, Bulgaria, and in the USA. She currently involves in EU project (Comenius 2.1), Face-It (Focus on Awareness of Culture and Education for International Teachers), and serves as an academic adviser for the national curriculum development project working towards the development of high school music curriculum (grades 9-12) in Turkey.

GARETH DYLAN SMITH (UK)

(paper: Encouraging creativity in the music curriculum: A cross-cultural perspective on the identities of pre-service music teachers in the UK and the USA)

Gareth Dylan Smith is a doctoral student at the Institute of Education in London, England. His research is into identity and learning of kit drummers. His only publication date (Smith & Durrant, 2006) was a case study of two student drummers and their respective learning styles. Gareth sits on the organizing committee of the ISME World Conference Forum on Instrumental and Vocal Teaching, who will be hosting a two-day seminar prior to the ISME conference in Beijing in August 2010. Gareth also chairs the UK Musician’s Union Teachers’ Committee. His research interests include identity, curriculum, learning, and sociology of music education.

     Gareth is Programme Leader for Further Education at the London’s Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP), and also lectures and teaches drums there on the BMus Popular Music Performance degree course. Gareth is an active performer, playing drums in musical theatre productions on London’s fringe and college theatre circuits. He plays function gigs around the capital, and plays with original artists Leo’s Garden, Tinker Tailor Solder Rock, Stephen Wheel, Gillian Glover, and the Eruptors. The Eruptors’ third studio album, Seduce and Destroy, is released internationally on October 26th, just ahead of the band undertaking an extremely short lecture tour in the UK entitled ‘Let There Be Rock’.

CLINT RANDLES (USA)

(paper: Encouraging creativity in the music curriculum: A cross-cultural perspective on the identities of pre-service music teachers in the UK and the USA)