Dr. Crawford to Present Recital at Minot State University

06/26/08

Stephen Crawford, DMA, a Minot native and Minot State University alumnus and former faculty member, will perform a marimba recital July 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Ann Nicole Nelson Hall. This recital is an encore performance of Crawford’s “25th Anniversary Recital,” celebrating his 25 years in music education; it was originally performed this past April in Texas.   

The recital will consist of music by Antonio C. Lymon, Alice Gomez, Paul Smadbeck, Ney Rosauro, and many of Crawford’s original compositions. The recital will also feature the world premiere encore performance of his new work, “Butterflies, Mountains, Bamboo” for solo marimba, which is scheduled for publication later this summer. An award-winning composer, Crawford’s marimba compositions have been performed around the world and are quickly becoming standards in the repertoire. Ann Jermiason, flutist with the Minot Symphony Orchestra, will be accompanying Crawford.   

“I wanted to be able to perform many of the same pieces that I did for the Texas performance. Ann Jermiason will be collaborating with me on an original composition entitled ‘Remembering Tomorrow’ for flute and marimba” said Crawford.            

Currently a professor of music history and director of percussion studies at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas, Crawford is also the principal percussionist/timpanist with the Temple Symphony Orchestra, music director for the Ritmo y Mas Percussion Group, conductor of the UMHB Percussion Ensemble, and the coordinator for the music history department at UMHB. He was awarded the 2008 UMHB Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 2005 UMHB Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship. He is a four-time winner of the Barclay Music Composition Contest and was a 2004 nominee for Composer of the Year by the Texas Music Teachers Association. A nationally recognized conductor and scholar of wind and percussion music, Crawford has presented lectures and clinics at the Music Education Associations of Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, Texas, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, South Carolina, California, New Mexico and Minnesota. He is in demand as a percussion performer, clinician, lecturer and guest conductor having appeared throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Taiwan, England, and Indonesia.           

Crawford holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from MSU, a master’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, and a doctoral degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. He plans to live in London next year and teach courses in British music history.