Karl Boelter (b. 1952)

I grew up in a suburb of mid-century Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a quintessentially midwestern community. My piano-teacher grandmother insisted upon consistent practice and a dedication to the craft of the classics and rudiments of music theory. The only rebellion I remember is wanting to improvise more than memorize. Before I was a teenager, I imagined a career in composition.

I attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, where its strong music education program allowed me to explore a wide variety of instruments and gain a broad experience. A young composition professor, David Foley, was the ideal mentor — committed, skilled and connected. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Music Theory and Composition in 1974, I headed to Ann Arbor to study with Leslie Bassett, George Balch Wilson, William Bolcom, Eugene Kurtz, and William Albright. I received the Master of Music at the University of Michigan in 1976, and completed the Doctor of Music Arts in Music Composition in 1981.

I immediately moved to Montgomery, Alabama to assume an assistant professorship at Auburn University at Montgomery where the music program was just beginning to develop.. The position exercised my abilities as a music generalist; I taught all levels of music theory and history, conducted the chorus and the band, and assembled a jazz big band that mixed the young students with the talents at nearby Maxwell Air Force Base. In my third year in Montgomery, the university promoted me to tenured Associate Professor. I longed, however, to be more active as a composer.

Atlanta at the time aimed to be a “world-class city.” It was working hard on its image and was investing heavily in the arts and business development. Only three hours from Montgomery, it was an easy move, so for the next six years, 1985-1991, I was a freelancer, taking on several jobs to make ends meet. I was a different kind of generalist now — composer, organizer, grants writer, concert presenter, administrator, and apartment manager. I worked with several chamber music groups, dance organizations and theatre companies, and worked to promote and support many of their initiatives. From these efforts came the chamber music ensemble Thamyris, formed with pianist Laura Gordy, percussionist Peggy Benkeser, flutist Paul Brittan, and composer Alvin Singleton. I was grateful for the opportunity to write several pieces for Thamyris, and they recorded a CD fully dedicated to my music.

Oakland University, located a half-hour north of Detroit, was searching for a leader who could coalesce the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance around a new degree program in the performing arts. In 1991, I accepted the position of Chairperson of that department and over the next twelve years we rapidly grew the program in size and distinction. In 2003, I became the Director of the School of Music at the State University of New York at Fredonia. At this established music school, I worked to solidify its areas of excellence and further build its reputation. I retired in 2016 and now split my time between Fredonia and Toronto. In 2017, I helped organize a jazz club in the Village of Fredonia at a local restaurant to feature talent from the School of Music with a lineup of local, regional and national guest artists.