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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 also coordinates Rock Week, one of MacPhail's popular summer camps. Craig has authored six guitar instruction books, including Major Scales and Music Fundamentals for Guitar, Blues & Rock Guitar Improvising Using the Pentatonic Scale and Harmony for Rock, Pop, and Jazz Musicians. He has also arranged 40 rock band charts for multiple guitars, keyboard, bass and drums. Craig holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Augsburg College and has performed rock, blues, R & B and jazz electric guitar for 20 years. Like many MacPhail faculty members, Craig has instructed several MacPhail teachers and received instruction from others.
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.
Kristian Anderson, guitar, Minnesota native (DM, Florida State University; MM, Arizona State University; BM, University of North Texas) is an accomplished concert guitarist with over twenty years of playing experience. He has performed throughout Europe and North America, and has appeared live on various NPR affiliates. Critics have hailed his solo performances as “show stopping” (dallasmusic.com) and encompassing “prodigious virtuosity” (Soundboard). As a three-time first prize winner on the U.S. competition circuit, he now adjudicates various guitar competitions.
An experienced educator, Kris has lectured at such institutions as Florida State University, St. Mary’s College at South Bend, and the Loudoun County Guitar Festival. He has held the position of Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas at Denton, Texas, and Thomas University at Thomasville, Georgia. He is in demand as a teacher at various festivals and workshops, including the Guitar Foundation of America Festival, the Iserlohn Guitar Symposium in Germany, and the Darton Guitar Workshop.
His major teachers include Bruce Holzman, Frank Koonce, Thomas Johnson, and MacPhail’s own Alan Johnston. His numerous master class performances have regularly brought him before legendary guitar figures Oscar Ghiglia, Leo Brouwer, Roland Dyens, Eliot Fisk, Odair Assad, Christopher Parkening, among others. He has held assistantships at both Florida State University and Arizona State University.
As a founding member of the internationally renowned Tantalus Quartet, Kris has been invited to perform at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Guitar Foundation of America Festival, the Iserlohn Guitar Symposium, the New York Guitar Seminar, as well as other festivals, guitar societies, and colleges around the globe. The quartet has commissioned and premiered several new works from today’s leading composers, including Grammy nominated composer Apostolos Paraskevas, whose piece “The Feast” will be premiered by Tantalus this season with the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Tantalus is also proud to be an official artist for D’Addario Strings.
Website: www.TantalusQuartet.com
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, Guitarist and composer, performs extensively as a soloist and ensemble musician. He has shared the stage with a variety of world-class artists including the Minnesota Contemporary Ensemble and members of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has also been a member of the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet (MGQ) since 2001. Notable MGQ events include several commissions of new works, recitals and master classes around the U.S., concerto performances with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Austin Symphony and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and appearances on Minnesota Public Radio. The quartet’s latest CD is Dances of Spain and Argentina. As a soloist, Lambert has captured top prizes in guitar competitions in Minneapolis and Chicago, and he has released two solo CDs. 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. 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 Musical Arts degrees.
Webpages:
www.jeffguitar.com
www.minneapolisguitarquartet.com
Adam Linz, Jazz Coordinator, has a Bachelor of Music degree from the William Paterson University Jazz Studies Program and is a former student of Peter Olson at MacPhail. As a bassist he teaches at Augsburg College, Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth, and MacPhail. He co-leads the group Fat Kid Wednesdays with childhood friends Mike Lewis and Jt Bates. They have two releases on the French label Nocturne Records and tour extensively throughout Europe and North America. Adam has also performed with Evan Parker, Stanley Turrentine, Milt Jackson, Mose Allison, George Cartwright, Dave King, Dosh, Francois Tusques, Douglas Ewart, Irv Williams, and Ten Thousand Things Theatre Company.
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, and jazz ensemble instructor at MacPhail Center for Music. He is director of jazz studies at the West Bank School of Music. Paul is known to Twin Cities jazz aficionados for his remarkable and cutting edge 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. Renz is a sought-after jazz clinician.
His latest CD, In My Own Hands, featuring nine original compositions, is garnering national attention, and critical accolades. Renz's CD Beyond Blues won the "Excellence In Music Award," Minnesota Monthly’s Best of Minnesota edition. 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.” Visit his website at www.paulrenz.com.
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.
Randy Sobaski, guitar instructor, is honored to join MacPhail Center for Music! Randy comes to MacPhail with over 20 years of teaching experience having taught at Music Tech (the former McNally Smith College), Scott’s Hot Sound and Music Connection. Randy has taught music theory, music history, Guitar Fingerboard Theory, Rock Guitar Techniques, Classical Guitar Techniques, private lessons and ensembles to Associate Degree Students at Music Tech. Randy has the unique ability to teach all levels and ages of students in a multitude of styles including Rock, Pop, Country, Folk, Blues, Jazz and Classical. Randy has performed extensively in theatre pit orchestras since 1982 and in numerous bands in the Twin Cities including Chase Roberts, Gypsy, Benson Koehler, Powel Station and others. Randy studied music theory, history, world music and privately with Christopher Kachin and Steven Morgan at the University of St. Thomas and is a former student of Jack McNally and Douglas Smith at MacPhail Center for Music.
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.
