Dr. Kenton Bales

Biography | Resume | Selected Works | Sound Archives | Contact

Kenton Bales Abbreviated Resume

2417 S. 105th Avenue

Omaha, Nebraska 68124

Telephone: Home: 402/991-2787

Office: 402/554-3359

FAX: 402/554-2252

email: kbales@cwis.unomaha.edu

Education

Doctor of Musical Arts, December, 1980

University of North Texas, Denton, Texas

Major: Composition Minor: Computer Science

Master of Music, May, 1977

University of North Texas, Denton, Texas

Major: Composition Minor: Theory

Bachelor of Music Education, Cum Laude, May, 1974

Drury College, Springfield, Missouri

Studied composition with William Latham,

electronic composition with Merrill Ellis,

computer composition with Larry Austin,

theory and pedagogy of theory with Robert Ottman.

Professional Experience

1982-present, Coordinator of Theory and Composition

Professor of Music

University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha Nebraska

1980-1982, Assistant Professor

Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois

1974-1975, Director of Music

Greenfield Public Schools, Greenfield, Missouri

Membership in Professional Organizations

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)

American Music Center

American Composers Forum

Society of Composers, Incorporated

Music Teachers National Association

Selected Composition Performances and Activities

Micro Zodiac, a set of 12 fantasy pieces for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano

composed for Decadanse, Lunel, France. Premiered January 1, 2000, Lunel, France, repeated in a performance on March 28, 2000 in Paris, France.

Ballad and Variation, for viola and piano, premiered March 5, 2000, by Clark Potter, viola, and Nicole Narboni, Faculty Recital series, University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

Guest Composer, Southwest Missouri State University Composition Festival,

included premier of “From the Hills,” for trumpet and wind ensemble, March 10,

1999.

Chiricahua Sketches performed February 28, 1998 at Society of Composers,

Incorporated, annual meeting, Arlington, Texas.

"The Rocks," concerto for tuba and orchestra, premiered November 8, 1997, by

Craig Fuller and the Omaha Symphony Orchestra.

"Chiricahua Sketches," premiered October, 1994, Nebraska Music Teachers Association Annual Conference.

"Fantasy on a Lakota Theme," for piano and tuba, commissioned by Craig Fuller, principal tuba, Omaha Symphony Orchestra.

Composition of "Appearances" premiered February, 1991, for choreographer Vera

Lundahl.

"Three Studies" for oboe and piano premiered 24 October, 1989, Walker Art Center,

Minneapolis, MN.

"Black-Eyed Davy" performed at 1990 Meeting of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), Washington, DC.

Also performed by UNO on tour of Krakow and Warsaw, Poland, Prague,

Czechoslovakia, and Vienna, Austria.

"Plain Variations," for amplified piano named Runner Up, 1987-1988 National Music

Teachers Association Composer of the Year Competition.

"The Burglar Boy" for mixed chorus and guitar commissioned by the Clarion Chamber Chorale, premiered 10 April, 1987.

"Trio" for horn, clarinet and piano commissioned by members of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, Fall, 1987.

"Collage 3," for solo tuba, commissioned by Craig Fuller, principal tuba, Omaha Symphony Orchestra. Premiered 2 March, 1986. Further performances include

Edgar Lopez, Sacramento, California, 11 May, 1997

Paul Wiessenborn, Festival of New Music, Columbia, MO, 1994

John Pitts, Omaha, NE, 27 June, 1988

Michael Fisher, Omaha, NE, 29 March, 1987

Jay Rozen, 26 October, 1986, Denton, TX

Ivan Hammond, 18 October, 1986, Toledo, OH

Guest Composer, 7th Annual New Music Festival, Bowling Green State University,

16-18 October, 1986.

Selected Publications

Invited entry on "Powwows" in the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. Lincoln:

University of Nebraska Press,1998.

Whippoorwill, SATB chorus. Alliance Music Publications, Inc., 1997,

Houston, Texas.

Fantasy on a Lakota Theme, for tuba and piano. Southern Music Company, Inc.,

1993. San Antonio, Texas.

Bales, Kenton. Review of Choctaw Music and Dance, by James Howard and

Victoria Levine. Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library

Association, December, 1991, 525-6.

Bales, Kenton. Review of Ojibway Music from Minnesota: Continuity and

Change, by Thomas Vennum. Great Plains Quarterly, II(4), 1991, 271-2.

Bales, Kenton and Dopheide, Deb. A Living Spirit: Lakota Art in the Mitchell-

Gantz Collection. Alliance, NE: Knight Museum of High Plains

Heritage, 1991.

Bales, Kenton. Lakota Art and Music. Lincoln, NE: Nebraska Humanities

Council, 1991.

Bales, W. Kenton, and Blanke, Dan. "Bowstroke analysis of professional

cellists." The Alexander Review, III(3), Winter, 1988, 51-56. (60%)

Selected Grants and Awards

2000 Offutt Sullivan Award for Excellence in Teaching.

1998 UNO Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award.

Director's Fund Grant, $868 from the Nebraska Arts Council for Rainer Bürck

master class and recital, April 2, 1997.

Competitive Materials and Equipment Grant from Peter Kiewit Foundation and AT&T Educational Funds awarded $750 for purchase of software for professional growth of faculty and enhanced teaching, 1997.

1996 Individual Artist Fellowship, funded $2000 by the Nebraska Arts Council.

Chiricahua Sketches performed at the Wichita State University New Music Festival Thursday, March 14, 1996, performed by Michelle Favero and Thomas Kodera, Wichita, Kansas.

1994 Commission for Composer of the Year, Nebraska Music Teachers Association to

write a work for piano, four hands.

"Concerto for Tuba," funded $5000 by the University of Nebraska Committee for Research, Summer Fellowship category, 1994.

"A Comparative Project in Lakota Art and Music," funded $1876 by the Nebraska Humanities Council. Project produced a major program for presentation at

seven sites in the state of Nebraska, 1991.

Fellow, Center for Great Plains Studies, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1992-present.

"A Comparative Study of Lakota Art and Music," funded $5000, Summer Fellowship from the University Committee on Research, May-August, 1990.

"New American Music for Omaha Symphonic Chamber Ensemble," Release Time

and Grant-in-Aid, Fall, 1987, funded $2410, University Committee on Research.

1986 Commission for Composer of the Year, Nebraska Music Teachers

Association to write a work for solo amplified piano.

Recent Service to the Profession

National Composition Coodinator, Music Teachers National Association, National Offices, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1998-present.

Member, Board of Directors, Society of Composers, Inc., National Offices, New York, New York, 1997-present.

Co-Chair, Society of Composers, Inc., Region VI, Regional Offices, Austin, Texas, 1997-2000.

Adjudicator, Omaha Symphony Guild International New Music Competition,

1998, 1999, 2000.

Adjudicator, Society of Composers, Inc./ASCAP student composition contest for

Region VI (NE, KS, AR, OK, TX, MO) Society of Composers, Inc., 1998, 1999.