Ensemble Directors and Conducting Faculty
D.M.A – Arizona State University, Wind Conducting
M.M. – Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Wind Conducting
B.M.E. – New Mexico State University, Music Education
Dr. Trae Blanco currently serves as Director of Bands in the School of Music at Butler University. His teaching responsibilities include conducting the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, teaching undergraduate and graduate conducting, and overseeing the band program. Previously, Dr. Blanco has served as the Director of Bands at Murray State University, and the University of Southern Maine; where he was the conductor of the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble, Casco Bay Wind Symphony, and cover conductor for the Portland (ME) Symphony.
A native New Mexican, Dr. Blanco received his undergraduate degree in music education from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM, a Master of Music in conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he studied with Professor Stephen Pratt, and Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting from The Herberger Institute at Arizona State University. Dr. Blanco also served as Director of Bands at Las Cruces High School, where both the jazz ensemble and wind ensemble were selected as Honor Bands for the New Mexico All-State Convention in 2010 and 2011, respectively.
As a clinician, Dr. Blanco has worked with bands and orchestras in Maine, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as presented at state conferences in Maine, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Dr. Blanco served as the conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra for the annual Quad State String Day at Murray State, as well as the Paducah Symphony Summer Music Camp Orchestra in 2019. In summer of 2019, Dr. Blanco was an invited presenter to The Midwest International Clinic, and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Bunol, Spain. He currently serves as a conductor for the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, directing the Symphony Band, and Festival Band for the Falcone International Tuba and Euphonium Festival. Dr. Blanco has served as a leadership clinician to marching bands throughout the country including Texas State University, Murray State University, University of the Incarnate Word, and Pearland High School. In 2023, Dr. Blanco has been invited to conduct the Maine All State Band.
A strong proponent for new music, Dr. Blanco has commissioned new music for winds from Jim (James) Bonney, Steven Bryant, Aaron Perrine, Roshanne Etezady, Onsby Rose, Steve Danyew, James Syler, Jim Stephenson, Brett Kroening, David Dzubay, and others. Dr. Blanco’s research on BCM International has appeared in the National Band Association Journal and the WASBE Journal.
Dr. Blanco was the recipient of the New Mexico Music Educators New and Emerging Teacher Award for 2010. He is currently a member of the Kentucky Music Educators Association, College Band Directors Association, WASBE, NBA, and the Percussive Arts Society. He has continued conducting studies with workshops across the country and in July 2015, Dr. Blanco was a guest conductor with the United States Army “Pershing’s Own” Concert Band in Washington, D.C. In both 2015 and 2016 Dr. Blanco was a finalist in the American Prize in Wind Conducting. Currently, Dr. Blanco resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife, Kelsey, and their two children; Ophelia and Ellis.
Composer, conductor, violinist, and violist Richard Auldon Clark is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, and the Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival. A strong proponent of American music, Mr. Clark has performed and/or recorded hundreds of world premiers, and his work has received extraordinary praise in the New York Times, Fanfare, American Record Guide, Washington Post, and dozens of others. Mr. Clark has recorded the music of David Amram, Henry Cowell, Seymour Barab, Lukas Foss, Alan Hovhaness, Otto Leuning, Osvaldo Lacerda, Dave Soldier, Alec Wilder, and many more. An active studio musician as well, Mr. Clark has performed and recorded for Broadway, television, commercial, and film music, including several films for Philip Glass. Mr. Clark’s compositions have been praised in the New York Times and broadcast on NPR stations around the country. With more than twenty chamber works to his credit, Mr. Clark has premiered six new compositions in the past three years at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, and in September 2016, his opera Happy Birthday, Wanda June with a Libretto by Kurt Vonnegut was premiered by Indianapolis Opera. A frequent collaborator, Mr. Clark works with dancers, choreographers, and visual artists in the creation of new works. Currently, Mr. Clark is Professor of Music at Butler University where conducts the Butler Symphony Orchestra and Butler Ballet.
In a dynamic career that combines performance, scholarship and collaborative leadership, conductor Eric Stark has established himself as a choral-orchestral specialist.
Stark has led performances of the Berlioz Grande Messe des Morts, Britten’s War Requiem and Saint Nicolas, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Die erste Walpurgisnacht, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Bach’s Mass in B minor, the Weihnachts-Oratorium and numerous cantatas, Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt, Zipoli’s Te Deum, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Mozart’s “Coronation” Mass and Requiem, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, the Poulenc Gloria, Fauré’s Requiem, and Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna. He has prepared choruses for such notable conductors as Nicholas McGegan, Raymond Leppard, Jahja Ling, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Mario Venzago, Carl St. Clair, Erich Kunzel, Krzysztof Urbanski and Jack Everly. His choruses are heard on multiple compact discs, including A Festival of Carols with Sylvia McNair (Naxos, 2019), the world premiere recording of Fairouz’s Zabur (Naxos, 2016), Festival of Carols Vol I (2014), Mendelssohn’s Elijah (2011); From East to West (2005) a holiday compilation with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir; The Harmonies of Hoosier History, (2001) featuring works by Indiana composers performed by the Indianapolis Arts Chorale; and A Festival of Carols (1997) with the Muncie, IN Masterworks Chorale. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 2019, Stark was invited to teach and conduct at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and the Pontifical Catholic University in Porto Alegre (Brazil).
Stark’s work as artistic collaborator and community leader has been both broad and unique. Under his leadership, his choirs have performed with such groups as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Dance Kaleidoscope, Indiana Repertory Theater, Indianapolis Children’s Choir, American Pianists Association, Jordan College Academy of Dance, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Clowes Memorial Hall, Orquesta Sinfonica Juvenil de Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia) and Butler University. He has conducted in the Oriental Art Center Concert Hall in Shanghai, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Strathmore Hall in Bethesda, MD, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. He has made conducting appearances in Greece, Italy, China, Hong Kong, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay, and has led choirs on domestic tours in New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, New Orleans, Orlando and Tampa.
In 2012, Stark served as chorus master for the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show, featuring Madonna, Cee Lo Green, Nicki Minaj and LMFAO. He was honored with a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis in 2005. A firm believer in the power of music to connect diverse audiences and enrich lives, Stark has led a revitalized program of innovative educational outreach programs since joining the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir in 2002. In-Choir-ing Minds is an interactive discussion/performance featuring engaging dialog interspersed with live musical examples. Hallelujah—What’s It to Ya?! is a light-hearted musical inspection of the greatest musical work of all time, Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus. The in-depth Choral Colloquium focuses on the contextual issues surrounding the great works for chorus and orchestra, and has featured such notable participants as composers Morten Lauridsen and Kyle Gann, scholar/performers Vance George, John Shirley-Quirk, Nick Strimple, Byron Adams and R. Larry Todd, and theologians Richard Hamilton and Frank Burch Brown.
Stark serves as Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music of the School of Music at Butler University’s Jordan College of Fine Arts. There he leads the graduate program in choral conducting, conducts the Butler Chorale, and teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting and choral literature. His former conducting students have received appointments at leading choral positions around the United States, including Stetson University, Hollins University, Purdue University, Princeton University, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Los Angeles Opera, Transylvania University, Fort Wayne Children’s Chorus and the University of Wisconsin. In 2003 and 2009 he taught a Butler University honors course he designed, Putting Wings on Dreams—the First 100 Years of Powered Flight, using the dramatic stories of aviation pioneers as case studies in human determination and innovation. He has served on the faculties of Christian Theological Seminary, Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne and Earlham College. He received the doctoral degree in choral conducting from Indiana University, where he was a student of Jan Harrington, Robert Porco and Thomas Dunn. He is a 2014 Sagamore of the Wabash, the state of Indiana’s highest civilian honor. A 1988 graduate of Wabash College, he is also a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight, a non-profit network of pilots providing free air transportation for those with medical needs.
Dr. John Perkins is the Associate Director of Choral Activities and an Associate Professor of Music at Butler University. In addition to directing the Butler University Choir (SATB ensemble), Perkins teaches in the First Year Seminar core curriculum ("Why Music?"), instructs Aural Skills, Conducting (undergraduate), and Graduate Choral Conducting Seminar. Combining with Nassim Al Saba Choir (United Arab Emirates), Sao Vicente Acapella (Brazil), and five local high school choirs, Dr. Perkins created a transnational course in Spring 2016, entitled "Peacebuilding through Choral Singing." The course focused on social justice dialogue, relationship-building, and community leadership through choral singing. In the summer of 2019, Dr. Perkins led a cross-cultural course with Malaysian and North American students in Malaysia, entitled "Musicking Futures." Recently, the Butler University Choir has partnered with Eastern Star Church, Fishers campus, to encourage dialogue between predominantly Black and White communities. He practices choral-dialoguing with his ensembles and in the community as a way to engage more deeply in critical justice learning.
Outside of Butler’s campus, Dr. Perkins is the Director of Music at Castleton United Methodist Church, a board member of Matthew’s Voices Choir (https://www.matthewsvoices.org/), a founding member the Alliance for the Transformation of Musical Academe (https://atma.jazzcosmos.com/), a Fellow at the Desmond Tutu Center for Peace, Justice, and Global Reconciliation, an Advisory Board Member for Euro Mediterranean Music Academy (EMMA) for Peace, and a member of the American Choral Directors Association Diversity Initiatives sub-committee.
Before arriving in Indianapolis in Fall of 2014, he taught at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 2008-2014 and developed the country’s first music program in higher education. There, Perkins directed the university’s choral program and founded the Nassim Al Saba Choir, the first Arabic, four-part choir in the Gulf region. The ensemble, aimed at building cultural bridges between Arab and non-Arab countries, performed extensively in the UAE and abroad in New York City, Indonesia, and Jordan.
Dr. Perkins has presented research papers at the MayDay Group (Limerick, Ireland), International Society for Music Education (Azerbaijan), Research in Music Education (United Kingdom), New Directions in Music Education, Music, Sound and Trauma (Bloomington, IN), ACDA statewide and regional conferences, the Lund International Choral Festival (Sweden), Aswatuna Arabic Choral Festival (Jordan), International Symposium on Choral Music (Indonesia), and the International Musicological Conference: Marginal Figures in 20th-century Music (Russian Federation). His research is published in the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, the Choral Journal, the International Choral Bulletin and in other books. His values-based indigenous music pedagogy (VIMP) research and teaching project was accepted by the Fulbright Senior Scholar committee.
As a guest clinician, Dr. Perkins has been a resident artist and has given conducting masterclasses in the United Arab Emirates, USA, Indonesia, Oman, Lebanon, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His research and professional contributions include presentations, articles, and arrangements concerning social justice through choral musicking, trauma-informed critical-musical pedagogy, Arabic choral music, cross-cultural music education, the choral works of Lili Boulanger, and music of the Symbolist (Belle Époque) era. Perkins’s new choral-orchestral arrangement of Lili Boulanger’s Psaume 130, Du fond de l’abîme and Arabic choral arrangements have been internationally premiered.
Perkins received his graduate degrees from the University of Arizona (Tucson) and Temple University (Philadelphia), and bachelor’s degree from Westminster Choir College of Rider University (Princeton). His education continues through many transformative moments with his students.
As a performer of jazz and popular music, Matt Pivec has worked with Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Ana Gasteyer, Dave Rivello, Bob Brookmeyer, MariaSchneider, Julia Dollison, Melvin Rhyne, the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra,Steve Allee, Ana Gasteyer, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, theIndianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Pops Orchestra, and the national touring companies of Hairspray, 42nd Street, and The Producers. Asa band leader and soloist, Matt has performed at jazz festivals and venues throughout the United States. He has three albums to his credit, Live atSnider Hall, Psalm Songs and Time and Direction.
Currently, Matt is the Director of Jazz Studies at Butler University where leads the Jazz Ensemble and teaches courses in the jazz studies curriculum. Since his arrival in 2008, Butler ensembles have performed with world-renowned guest artists such as Cécile McLorin-Salvant, Sullivan Fortner, John Clayton, Benny Golson, Stefon Harris,Maria Schneider, Kurt Elling, Christian McBride, Bobby Sanabria, Donny McCaslin, Fred Sturm, Melvin Rhyne, Steve Allee, Ted Poor and the Wee Trio.Under his direction, in 2020, the Butler University Jazz Ensemble won theDownbeat Student Music Awards Undergraduate Large Ensemble Category.
Matt received the Doctor of Musical Arts (Saxophone Performance and Literature)and Master of Music (Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media) degrees from theEastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. While at Eastman, Matt studied with Ramon Ricker. He performed with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Eastman Graduate Saxophone Quartet, and served as lead alto saxophone of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble. Matt received the Bachelor of Music Education degree with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Matt has presented educational clinics and research at the Jazz Education Network Conference, the International Association for Jazz Education Conference, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Hong Kong Institute of Education, and the Indiana Music EducatorsAssociation Conference. His publications have been featured in Teaching Music, Inform, and Jazzed magazines.
Matt is a member of the national music honor society, Pi Kappa Lambda, and in 2013, he received the Mortar Board, Excellence in Teaching Award from the Jordan College of the Arts. In 2020, Matt received theOutstanding Collegiate Music Educator award from the Indiana Music Education Association. He is also a past president of the Indiana Jazz EducationAssociation.
In February 2009,Matt founded the Butler Youth Jazz Program and Butler Summer Jazz Camp. From these programs, students have progressed to study at some of the top music conservatories and colleges in the United States.
Melissa Johnson received her Master’s of Music Performance in Conducting from Butler University, where she studied with Col. Michael Colburn and served as the Graduate Assistant to the Athletic Bands program. In addition, she received her Bachelor’s of Music Education from Hope College. Following her undergraduate work, she taught PS-12th grade music at a variety of schools in Michigan and Indiana. Johnson guest conducted with the Hope College High School Honor Bands program and spent time working with the Fred J. Miller and Music Effect Design Summer Clinic programs, where she worked with student leaders at colleges and universities across the United States. Most recently, Johnson served as the Interim Director of Athletic Bands at Butler and is now fully stepping into the position of Director of Athletic Bands.
Erin Benedict is a graduate of The Manhattan School of Music and holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Voice Performance and Commercial Music. While in school, she traveled with the Manhattan School of Music Big Band to Italy where they were featured performers at the Venito Jazz Festival. Erin had the privilege of studying under Jackie Presti while in school. During her years in New York, she worked as a session singer recording movie backgrounds for Disney, including the motion picture “Mission To Mars”. If you visit the the Hayden Planetarium of New York’s Museum of Natural History you will hear her singing in the featured program “Passport to the Universe” narrated by actor Tom Hanks. Erin toured the United States with “Pieces of 8”, an eight person a cappella jazz ensemble, performing songs written and arranged by Dr. Charles Mead. She now resides in Indianapolis with her husband Greg and three children. In addition to being a soloist at Second Presbyterian Church, Erin is also a regular session vocalist at The Lodge Studios, Airborne Studios and Gaither Studios. She is a background vocalist for renowned Christian singer Sandi Patty’s studio albums “Broadway Stories” and “Forever Grateful”. In 2015, Erin released her first album “Steal Away” and currently serves on the jazz faculty at Butler University.
Frank Felice is an eclectic composer who writes with a postmodern mischievousness: each piece speaks in its own language, and they can be by turns comedic/ironic, simple/complex, subtle/startling or humble/reverent. Recent projects of Felice’s have taken a turn towards the sweeter side, exploring a consonant adiatonicism.
His music has been performed extensively in the U.S. as well as garnering performances in Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom, China, the Russian Federation, Austria, the Philippines, the Czech Republic and Hungary. His commissions have included funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Omaha Symphony, the Indiana Arts Commission, The Indiana Repertory Theatre, Dance Kaleidoscope, Music Teachers National Association, the Wyoming State Arts Board, the Indianapolis Youth Symphony, Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma as well as many private commissions and consortia. A recording of electronic and electro-acoustic music entitled "Sidewalk Music" is available on Capstone Records & Ravello records on iTunes, Naxos and other online sites. Scores and other performance materials can be obtained from Mad Italian Bros. Ink Publishing.
Frank began his musical studies in Hamilton, Montana, singing, playing piano, guitar and double bass. His interest in composition began through participation with a number of rock bands, one of which, Graffiti, toured the western United States and the Far East in 1986-1987. He attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, the University of Colorado, and Butler University, studying with Michael Schelle, Daniel Breedon, Luiz Gonzalez, and James Day. Most recently he has studied with Dominick Argento, Alex Lubet, Lloyd Ultan, and Judith Lang Zaimont at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he completed his Ph.D in 1998. Frank currently teaches as an associate professor of composition, theory and electronic music in the School of Music, Jordan College of Arts at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He is member of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S., the American Composers Forum, the American Music Center, The Society of Composers Inc., and the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers. Residencies include those with the Wyoming Arts Council, and the Banff Centre for the Arts and a number of mini-residencies in universities and high schools throughout the west and mid-west. In recent years he has been in demand as an electric and upright bassist, playing in various rock/funk/prog rock/big bands in the greater Indianapolis area. In addition to musical interests, he pursues his creative muse through painting, poetry, cooking, home brewing, paleontology, theology, philosophy, and basketball. He is very fortunate to be married to mezzo-soprano Mitzi Westra.
http://www.frank-felice.com/
https://soundcloud.com/felice-composer
Jon Crabiel is Percussion Artist-in-Residence at Butler University Jordan College of the Arts in Indianapolis, IN. At Butler University, Jon serves as coordinator of percussion studies, conducts the percussion ensembles and teaches courses in percussion literature, pedagogy and world drumming. In addition, Jon serves as director and founder of the Butler Percussion Camp held every June at Butler University.
In 2017, Jon took a one-year leave of absence from Butler to perform and serve as Acting Assistant Principal Timpani and Percussion with the National Symphony Orchestra for the 2017-18 season in Washington, D.C. Jon is first-call extra percussion with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Ft. Wayne Philharmonic, Empire Brass, Ronen Chamber Ensemble, Dance Kaleidoscope and national Broadway tour companies. He has served as Principal Timpani at Bear Valley Music Festival and toured with the River City Brass Band. In addition to classical music, Jon is equally versed in rock, pop, jazz, Latin American and Brazilian percussion and drumset. He is a member of The Icarus Ensemble, an eclectic five-piece jazz group made up of members of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. The Icarus Ensemble have performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in concert as guest artist at the Hilbert Circle Theatre and released their first self-titled CD The Icarus Ensemble in 2015.
Jon studied as an Artist Diploma candidate at Carnegie Mellon University and received both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts degrees from Eastern Illinois University. His past teachers include: Timothy Adams Jr., Professor Johnny Lee Lane and Richard Paul. In 2014, Jon received Outstanding Graduate Alumni Award from Eastern Illinois University.
An active performer, clinician and educator throughout the Midwest, Jon serves annually as percussion coach of the Honor Orchestra of America and Masterclass Clinician for the Music For All National Concert Festival. He has served on faculty of the United States Percussion Camp, MidWest Percussion Camp, Las Vegas Percussion Camp, Great Lakes Music Camp and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
He has presented clinics for the Percussive Arts Society, Indiana Music Educators Association and Indiana Percussion Association. Jon is an active and in demand studio musician for commercial recording sessions and has made solo performances with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (with The Icarus Ensemble), Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Midwest Band and Orchestra International Conference and the Indiana Music Educators Association Convention.
Jon’s students have received numerous Butler University Concerto Competition honors and awards – and his former students are currently performing with major symphony orchestras, touring nationally and internationally with Broadway shows and teaching at universities in North America. Jon is a Yamaha Performing Artist and endorses Yamaha Drums and Percussion, Vic Firth Drumsticks and Mallets, Remo Drumheads and Zildjian Cymbals.