Click on the faculty members name to contact them via email
James Allen has a Bachelors Degree in Music and a Diploma of Education from the University of Tasmania, Australia with a major in classical guitar. He has been teaching guitar and music since 1977. Over the years he has taught and coached students of all ages and abilities individually, in ensembles, small groups and larger classes. He teaches rock, blues, jazz, pop, classical and folk on both electric and acoustic guitar. James is currently on the music faculty at the Perpich Center for Arts Education where he teaches Guitar Fingerboard Theory, Beginning guitar, Soloing Techniques and Music Theory and teaches private guitar and coaches ensembles at the West Bank School of Music. He performs regularly with his duo playing jazz and blues, with Cuerda y Madera playing Latin jazz, with Gypsy Mania playing gypsy jazz and freelances. In the past, he has worked with Johnny Mojo Blues Band, Classic Big Band and with Anthony Cox, Cynthia Johnson, Chris Lomheim, Jay Epstein, Gary Berg and Michael O’Brien.At MacPhail, James will teach rock, pop, jazz and blues guitar and coach ensembles.
Craig Anderson
B.A., Augsburg College
Craig Anderson began teaching guitar at MacPhail in 1990. As a Core Teacher, he is the Coordinator of Ensembles, Certificate Program Coordinator and chair of the Guitar Department. He teaches individual lessons, classes and ensembles and also coordinates Rock Week, one of MacPhail's popular summer camps. Craig has authored five guitar instruction books, including Major Scales and Music Fundamentals for Guitar, Blues & Rock Improvising Using the Pentatonic Scale and Harmony Workbook. He has also arranged 40 rock band charts for multiple guitars, keyboard, bass and drums. Craig has a bachelor of arts from Augsburg College and has performed rock, blues, R & Band jazz electric guitar for 20 years. Like many MacPhail faculty members, Craig has instructed several MacPhail teachers and received instruction from others.
Alan Johnston, Suzuki and traditional guitar instructor at MacPhail, is best known as the founder of the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet with which he performed for 16 years. During his tenure with the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, he has toured throughout the U.S. in recital and with orchestras as well as made appearances on St. Paul Sunday and NPR’s Performance Today. The Minneapolis Guitar Quartet’s two CDs on the Albany Label received critical acclaim in the U.S. and abroad. The Quartet commissioned and premiered dozens of new works from 1987 to 2002. Alan received a bachelor of arts degree at Macalester College, and a masters of music degree from the University of Minnesota. His principal teachers were: José Tomás, Eli Kassner and Jeffrey Van.
Jeff Lambert, DMA, has shared the stage with a variety of world-class performers and ensembles. He has performed with harpist, Liz Cifani and vocalist, Nicole Cabell, both members of the Lyric Opera of Chicago; with violinist, Nina Fan of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; and with the Minnesota Contemporary Ensemble. He has also been a member of the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet (MGQ) since 2001.
Notable MGQ events include several premieres of commissioned works, recitals and master classes around the US, concerto performances with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra and appearances on Minnesota Public Radio. The quartet’s latest CD, Pictures at an Exhibition, is available on GSP records.
As a soloist, Lambert has captured top prizes in guitar competitions in Minneapolis and Chicago, and his debut solo CD, Guitar Recital, was released in 2003. One of his primary interests is working with composers to present new works. In 2006 he was awarded an Artist Initiative grant by the Minnesota State Arts Board which funded his collaboration with composer, David Crittenden. He has also been involved in premiere performances of works by Jared Spears, Fred Sturm, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Anthony Gatto, Paul Failla and Ileana Perez-Velazquez.
As a composer, Jeff's works are regularly performed by the MGQ. He has been commissioned by the Saint Paul Guitar Trio, and his music is published by Doberman-Yppan. A full-length CD of his compositions is currently in production.
Jeff began his study of the classical guitar with Joseph Hagedorn at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He continued his studies in Chicago with Denis Azabagic, and attended Northwestern University as a student of Anne Waller, earning Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees.
Webpages:
www.jeffguitar.com
www.minneapolisguitarquartet.com
Tom Pieper has been an active bassist and educator since moving to the Twin Cities in 1989. Tom has a bachelor of music in jazz bass performance from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and received his instrumental music teaching licensure from the University of Minnesota in 2001. Currently Tom and his wife Karen (piano) perform together in SpiritJazz, a group that takes the music of the world and makes it the music of the church. Tom is music coordinator for Salem English Lutheran's Discover Service in south Minneapolis. Tom has taught strings at Ramsey International Fine Arts Center (IFAC), an elementary school in Minneapolis and is currently middle school orchestra director for the Wayzata Public School District.
Paul Renz is a jazz guitar instructor at MacPhail Center for Music and is director of jazz studies at the West Bank School of Music. He is known to Twin Cities jazz aficionados for his stunning Paul Renz Quartet, which performs regularly at area jazz clubs and tours nationally every other year. Paul has composition and jazz studies degrees from the New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music. He has been a featured guitarist and composer on National Public Radio. His works have been commissioned by Tidewater Performing Arts Society of Virginia, Tidewater Classic Guitar Society of Virginia, the Minnesota Center for Arts Education, MacPhail Center for Music and Roseville Area High School.
His latest CD, Hubbub, which has generated national attention, features original jazz compositions. His music has been described as alternately sensitive, funky and blistering! Tom Surowicz says, “Paul Renz’s music is a kick! It’s a fresh, breathing, surprising, tune-filled, character-to-spare personal amalgam of so much that’s so fine about modern mainstream jazz.”
Jean Seils, born and raised in the Twin Cities area, started studying classical guitar at age 10. She received her bachelor of music degree from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1997, where she studied with long time instructor Joesph Hagedorn. In 1998 she became certified in Suzuki instruction at the Intermountain Suzuki Institute in Park City, Utah. She continued studying the Suzuki method under Alan Johnston and has taught Suzuki and traditional guitar lessons at MacPhail since 1998. Jean has also performed in classical guitar master classes with David Leisner, Eduardo Fernandez, Sergio and Odair Assad, Scott Tenant and Ricardo Iznaola.
Jeff Warren, guitar, received his B.A. from Trinity International University in music performance and advanced theory while studying guitar with Norman Ruiz and earned his masters of music in guitar performance from Roosevelt University while studying with Paul Henry. He has performed throughout the Midwest in various classical and jazz settings both in a solo format and in collaboration with other artists. In 2002 he was awarded first prize in the 77th Society of American Musicians guitar competition and has received numerous other awards. He has taught guitar at Olivet Nazarene University, the Chicago Academy for the Arts, Moody Bible Institute and also currently teaches guitar at North Central University.
Brent Weaver began taking guitar lessons at age 12. After completing a bachelor of arts degree in music from California State University, Sacramento in 1980, he moved to Nevada City, California where he worked as a guitar and elementary school music teacher. In 1996, Brent finished his master of music education degree from Holy Names College in Oakland, California. Soon after, he moved to Minnesota and began teaching at MacPhail Center for Music.Brent has studied guitar with Jose Rey de la Torre, John Majors, Alan Johnston and Chris Kachain. He teaches private guitar lessons and Early Childhood Arts classes through the MacPhail community partnership program.
