Faculty

Michael Pilhofer
mpilhofer@mcnallysmith.edu
Department Head, Ensembles
Primary Department: Ensemble
Secondary Department: Music Theory
Tertiary Department: Percussion
Formal Education:M.M. (Education) Eastman School of Music, B.M. (Jazz Studies) University of Miami, Florida

Professional Experience: Professional Musician and Recording Artist for over 18 Yrs, worked with national artists such as: Joe Lovano, Marian McPartland, Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland, Bill Holman, Wycliffe Gordon, Peter Erskine and Gene Bertoncini in addition to some of finest musicians in the Twin Cities. Other teaching experience: Private Studio Instructor; Mid-West area Clinician & Educator; Adjunct Director of Jazz Southwest High School, Minneapolis Public Schools; Director of Contemporary Music, Maple Grove High School, Osseo MN;  (’00-‘02). Awards and Honors: Jazz Drumset and Jazz Ensemble Teaching Assistantships Eastman School of Music; Downbeat Magazine Award “Best Instrumental Jazz Small Group” (’99), Memberships:  AFM Local 30-73. Other Training: Certifications: K-12 Instrumental Music.

Aaron Barnell
Primary Department: Ensemble
Secondary Department: Percussion
Formal Education: BS Music Performance, University of Wisconsin, River Falls

Professional Experience: Dan Wilson (Semisonic), Peter Ostrusko, A Prairie Home Companion Radio Show, Bill T. Jones/Arne Zane Dance Company (NYC), Dance in the Dark (Southern Theater Mpls), Liz Lerman Dance Exchange (Washington DC), Composed original score for the feature film Strange As Angels and Theater Production The House That Crack Built, Trans World Aire Media Installation with film maker Craig Baldwin (Walker Art Center, Mpls). Other teaching experience: Concordia College (St Paul, MN), Jazz Camp West (San Francisco), World Cultures Magnet (St Paul, MN), Seward Montessori (Mpls), Cottage Grove Junior High (MN), Crestview Elementary, Guest Artist Teaching: Walker Art Center, Carlton College, Breck High School. Other training: Private study with : Afro-Caribbean Drumming Scholar and Master Drummer John Amira, Cuban Master Drummer John Santos, Frame Drum Master Glen Valez, Brazilian Master Drummer Nana, Ghanaian Master Drummer Sowah Mensah, MacPhail School for the Arts (Mpls), Eastern Music Festival (Greensboro, NC).

Steve Faison
sfaison@mcnallysmith.edu
Assistant Department Head, Ensembles; Director of Outreach
Primary Department: Ensemble
Secondary Department: Voice

Professional Experience: Steve is one of the most versatile performers in the Twin Cities, working as an instrumentalist, guitar, bass, percussion, vocalist, producer, arranger, and recording engineer in sessions and live performances. Steve has performed locally, nationally, and internationally, and is best known for his vocal work with Samoa and Moore by Four. He has studied under such notables as Fran Colby, Ed Shaughnessy, Owen Clark, and Ron Keezer.

Charles Fletcher
cfletcher@mcnallysmith.edu
Primary Department: Bass
Secondary Department: Ensemble
Formal Education:M.M. Suny New York, B.A. Bucknell University

Professional Experience: An accomplished electric bassist, Charles brings his 4-string, 5-string, and 6-string fretted and fretless bass talents to a wide variety of performances. He has worked with accomplished acts, including Jimmy Valentine, Lamont Cranston, Doug Maynard, Mick Sterling, and the TC Jammers, among others. Charles has also performed with regional and national jazz groups Northcoast and Glen Helgeson’s Axis Mundi.

Dr. Jay Fuchs
Department Head, Music Theory
Faculty Member Since: 1992
Primary Department: Music Theory
Secondary Department: Ensemble
Formal Education: Ph.D. Music Theory and Composition, University of Minnesota; M.A. Music Theory and Composition, University of Minnesota; B.A. Voice, Minnesota State University Moorhead

Professional Experience: 20 years as a band leader, singer and piano player; 15 years as a college teacher; composer of orchestral and choral works: author of a Music Theory book; and recently served as a music consultant to the Science Museum of Minnesota on their exhibit called Wild Music, which is about music in nature.  Jay has been a teacher at McNally Smith College for over 15 years, leading the Music Theory Department for over 10 years. He earned his B.A. degree in vocal performance at Minnesota State University in Moorhead, then went on to earn a M.A. and Ph.D. in Music Theory and Composition at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Jay is very active as a performer, doing close to 100 gigs each year.  He leads the popular Twin Cities’ band Metro Jam and, along with Erin Schwab, is a popular cabaret singer and piano player.  In his spare time he writes music, mostly choral compositions. Jay has written several music textbooks as well. His Music Fundamentals book is the primary textbook used for the first semester of music theory at McNally Smith College. 

Dave Jensen
djensen@mcnallysmith.edu
Faculty Member Since: 1999
Primary Department: Brass and Woodwinds
Secondary Department: Ensemble
Formal Education: Summa Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music

Professional Experience: Dave Jensen is a member of Hornheads, a Billboard magazine award-winning a capella jazz group. As a group they have released two solo albums, as a horn section, they have recorded over fifty albums for artists in the U.S., Argentina, Portugal, and the U.K. From 1991 through 2001, the Hornheads recorded nine albums with Prince and the New Power Generation. During this time, they toured and performed with Prince throughout the U.S., Europe, Japan and Australia. Dave spent three years touring with the Artie Shaw Orchestra. His trumpet and flugelhorn can be heard on the albums of Chaka Khan, Babyface, Phil Upchurch, Larry Graham, Tevin Campbell, Mavis Staples, Ben Sidran, Pete Whitman, Dave Graf, Ricky Peterson and the JazzMN Big Band. He is a pit musician for theatrical and musical productions at the Ordway Center, Guthrie Theater, Orchestra Hall and other venues. Dave also is a busy session player, working with Asche & Spencer, Absolute Music and Wow & Flutter. In the Twin Cities, Dave has played with Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Frank Sinatra Jr. and the late Rosemary Clooney.

Jerry Kosak
jkosak@mcnallysmith.edu
Department Head, Guitar
Faculty Member Since: 2003
Primary Department: Guitar
Secondary Department: Ensemble
Formal Education: M.M. Northern Arizona University, B.M. Arizona State University

Professional Experience: Performances with Don Ross, Tommy Emmanuel, Andy McKee, Walnut Valley Festival, and the Canadian Guitar Festival.  Former guitar instructor at Northern Arizona University.  Winner of the Zeitgeist Eric Stokes Song Contest 2000 and 2001. Jerry has an artist endorsement from National Resophonic Guitars and Petros Guitars, is a recording artist with Candy Rat Records, and has release 2 CD's Many Dances and Sounds Like This.

Peggy Larson
plarson@mcnallysmith.edu
Faculty Member Since: 2005
Primary Department: Voice
Secondary Department: Ensemble
Formal Education: Concordia College, Moorhead

Professional Experience: Peggy Larson is known in the Netherlands as a leader in choral music: she founded the improvising jazz choir Tamam to perform contemporary compositions and combine music and theater, and her group Peggy Angels was very popular for their outstanding performances of jazz and world music. Here in the Twin Cities she teaches private and group lessons, works for MCTC and the Compleat Scholar, and leads several choirs. She returns to the Netherlands every year to teach and perform. Other teaching experience: Peggy taught voice and vocal pedagogy at the Arnhem and Rotterdam conservatories for many years.

Tim Lyles
tlyles@mcnallysmith.edu
Primary Department: Guitar
Secondary Department: Ensemble
Formal Education:Berklee College of Music, B.P.S. Memphis State University

Professional Experience: Tim's career includes a wide range of accomplishments in television production, recording studio session work, producing, arranging, engineering, studio management, and multi-instrumental live performance. Having studied with Memphis area sessionmen and Bill Bresnahan in Boston, his university studies culminated in working with artist-in-residence, Aaron Copland, and visiting artists, Gunther Schuller and electronic music pioneer, Vladimir Ussachevsky. Tim has toured nationally in a 14-piece horn band and shared the stage with Carole King, The Beach Boys, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Merle Haggard, Ann Margaret, and many more. He also maintains a long-running contingent of private guitar students.

Ric Oliva
roliva@mcnallysmith.edu
Faculty Member Since: 2007
Primary Department: Guitar
Secondary Department: Ensemble
Formal Education:B.M. Berklee College of Music – Contemporary Writing and Production
General Education:Ric has been playing guitar for over 20 years and has been teaching guitar and songwriting since 1997.  Since graduating Magna Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music where he received the Peter Koleta award for Commercial Arranging, he's had the honor of sharing the stage with members of The Sounds of Blackness, The New Power Generation, The Steele Family, and many great local and national touring acts.  He's also had the honor of opening for rock legends Pat Benetar, Peter Frampton, and Huey Lewis and The News.  Before joining the faculty at McNally Smith he was teaching at The West Bank School of Music in Minneapolis and still teaches privately in Bloomington at The Nechville Center for Music and maintains a rigorous performance schedule.

Bobby Stanton
bstanton@mcnallysmith.edu
Primary Department: Guitar
Secondary Department: Ensemble
Formal Education:B.M. Berklee College of Music

Professional Experience: Bobby’s extensive career includes playing with James Taylor, Garrison Keillor, Mark O'Connor, the Shirelles, Bo Diddley, the Coasters, the Marvelettes, the Platters, and Richie Havens, to name a few. He has also been featured on “A Prairie Home Companion” and “A Welcome Home Christmas.”

Pete Whitman
pwhitman@mcnallysmith.edu
Department Head, Brass & Woodwinds
Faculty Member Since: 1998
Primary Department: Brass and Woodwinds
Secondary Department: Ensemble
Formal Education:MM in Jazz Studies University of North Texas; BM in Jazz Studies (UNT).

Professional Experience: Pete has spent over 25 years teaching and playing professionally as a saxophonist, flutist, and clarinetist. He has toured the U.S., Japan, and Brazil with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and has also performed with such distinguished ensembles and musicians as the Minnesota Orchestra, Jack McDuff, Curtis Fuller, the Woody Herman Orchestra, the Jazz MN Big Band, JAZZAX saxophone quartet, Andres Prado and Laura Caviani. Whitman has also recorded extensively as a sideman and has three CD’s out under his name: “Departure Point” (Igmod Records) “The Sound of  Water”(Artegra) and "Where’s When" (Artegra). His latest CD, “Where’s When” features the X-tet, a ten-piece ensemble led by Whitman received a four star rating by Downbeat Magazine (Feb.04).