Jeffrey Meyer, tubaIn the Cleveland area, tuba player, conductor, and composer Jeffrey Meyer has appeared as a solo artist with the Kent Wind Ensemble, in the Teatime Concert Series (Tallahassee, FL), with the Luzerne (NY) Chamber Players, and in recitals in Ohio, New York, and New Jersey. He has performed with the Mansfield (OH) Symphony, Geneseo (NY) Symphony (as principal tuba during the 2003-2004 season), Kent (faculty) Brass Quintet, Eastman Wind Ensemble, Eastman Philharmonia, Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and the new music ensemble Ossia. Concert tours include a performance with the Eastman Brass Guild at the New York Brass Conference and concerts with the Kent State University Jazz Ensemble at the Elmhurst College Jazz Festival and the Northview Jazz Festival. Jeff is currently instructor of tuba at Case Western Reserve University and has organized a Cleveland summer tuba day featuring a recital and masterclass by guest artist Philip Black (Wichita Symphony.) He has also served on the performance faculty of the Luzerne Music Center summer festival.
He has been featured on 'R News performing with the Dave Rivello Ensemble, and has also recorded a studio album with them and performed with jazz legend Bob Brookmeyer. An active freelancer, he currently performs with the Bethany Brass Quintet, the Ohio Brass Ensembles, and the new music ensemble Five-One. He is also a featured performer on the CD "Natural Melodies" produced by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Jeff has commissioned and premiered many new solo and chamber works featuring tuba including Quartet for the End of Music by Chappell Kingsland (winner of the Harvey Philips composition award of the International Tuba-Euphonium Association, published by Tuba Press), Doodles by Keith Kirchoff (recently reviewed in the I.T.E.A. Journal), Foldings by Hannah Lash (commissioned by the Howard Hanson student commissioning grant of the Eastman School of Music), and Academic Probation for tuba and CD by Michael Bratt (premiering in the Spring of 2008.) He has also performed in the world premiere performances of works by Stefan Freund, Payton McDonald, and Robert Morris.
As a music director, Jeff has conducted the Kent Wind Ensemble, University Circle Wind Ensemble (in the world premiere performance of Chords for Unused Memories by Hannah Lash), the Luzerne Music Center Festival Orchestra (as an assistant conductor), Chamber Music Society of Kent, Musica Judaica, the Gibbs Street Chamber Orchestra, and Tower Winds. He was music director of the Kent State University New Music Ensemble from 2004-2006 and while at Kent he also started a free improvisation group and organized a Prism concert. From 2000-2004 he performed with, conducted, and arranged music for the Eastman Tuba Mirum Ensemble, leading them in performance with guest artist David Zerkel (professor of tuba at the University of Georgia) and conducting a wind ensemble performance of Elizabeth Raum's Concerto del Garda with the late John Griffiths as soloist (Regina [Canada] Symphony Orchestra, professor of tuba at the University of Regina.) Jeff has also participated as an associate conductor in the Conductor's Institute of South Carolina, as a conducting fellow at a workshop hosted by the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, and in a workshop, the Preparation of Tomorrow's Conductors, hosted by the Eastman School of Music. Jeff holds a Master of Music degree in conducting from Kent State University and his conducting teachers include Wayne Gorder, Donald Hunsberger, Brad Lubman, Charles Peltz, and Frank Wiley.
Jeff is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Musical Arts performance program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Ronald Bishop (Cleveland Orchestra, retired.) He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in performance from the Eastman School of Music and a Masters degree in performance and conducting from Kent State University. His previous tuba teachers include Don Harry (Buffalo Philharmonic), Craig Knox (Pittsburgh Symphony), John Bottomley (Richmond Symphony), and Scott Mendoker (Rutgers University.)
Jeff also occasionally composes music when he finds time in his busy schedule. Currently he is orchestrating his Sonata for Oboe and Piano (2002) as a concerto with wind ensemble accompaniment. Recent works include 3 Palindromes (2007) for solo flute and Crazybusy (2007) for two trumpets and organ (or piano.) Works are available from the composer. Jeff's composition instructors include Thomas Janson, Ken Eberhard, Todd Coleman, and Matt Barber.
Hear Jeff's audio clips below!
Jeff Meyer, tuba
Rachel Schultz, piano
Alec Wilder Sonata