Dr. Jena Gardner
Jena Gardner, DMA, is the Assistant Professor of Horn at Western Illinois University. In addition to teaching, she is an active soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player throughout the state of Illinois and the United States. Dr. Gardner has performed extensively around the world including tours in Europe, Mexico, Japan, and the United States. She has been a guest section member with the Chicago Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, Steamboat Springs Festival Orchestra horn sections and was acting 2nd and 4th horn of the Louisiana Philharmonic orchestra for the 2012 and 2013 seasons respectively.
Dr. Gardner is a passionate chamber musician and can be heard performing with the faculty ensembles at WIU: the
Camerata Woodwind Quintet and the
Lamoine Brass Quintet . From 2010-2015 she was a member of the Arabesque Winds. With that ensemble, she performed concerts and master classes at the University of Madison, Wisconsin, the Sanibel Music Festival, the Wooster Chamber Music Festival and many others.
In 2016 Dr. Gardner was the recipient of the Early Music America Summer Study Scholarship and attended the Natural Horn Workshop at Indiana University, studying with Dr. Richard Seraphinoff. Previously, she has participated in the Lucerne Festival Academy, the Youth Orchestras of America, New York String Orchestra Seminar, and the Pacific Music Festival. From 2007-09, Dr. Gardner was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and had the privilege to perform under the batons of Bernard Haitink, Pierre Boulez, Mark Elder, Esa-pekka Salonen and many others.
Dr. Gardner recently completed a Doctor of Musical Arts at Northwestern University under the guidance of Gail Williams and Jon Boen and was involved in presenting the 2016 and 2017 Peak Performance Horn Symposiums. She holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in horn performance from Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern Universities respectively. Her principal teachers have included Gail Williams, Jon Boen, Bill Caballero, Dave Krehbiel, and Jennie Blomster.
Joanne Chang
Described for her captivating and poetic musical interpretations, Malaysian pianist Joanne Chang has performed internationally in North America, Europe, and Asia. She has been featured on distinguished platforms including WQXR's Young Artist Showcase (New York), BFM's Front Row Podcast (Kuala Lumpur), Indiana University's Latin American Music Center (Bloomington), Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara), and the National Youth Orchestra of China (Beijing).
Joanne is currently Faculty Assistant in Collaborative Piano at Western Illinois University. She previously held teaching positions at Indiana University, Florida State University, and Camp Encore/Coda. While at Indiana, Joanne founded the IU MTNA Collegiate Chapter and served as chapter president from 2019-20. Recent success include the release of debut album Diálogos (2018) featuring Mexican violin-piano music, first prize at the Charleston International Music Competition (2021), and presentations at major conferences including the CMS National Conference (2020), MTNA Collegiate Symposium (2020,21), and UCSI Piano Pedagogy Symposium (2019).
A doctoral candidate in Piano Performance and Literature at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, Joanne holds Minors in Music Theory and Arts Administration. Joanne received a MM degree in piano from Florida State University, a BM (summa cum laude) in piano from Kent State University, alongside an honors thesis written on French piano duet music. Joanne is currently working on a written project titled "Franz Liszt: The Bridge to Modernism."
Joanne's primary teachers are Karen Shaw, Read Gainsford, and Jerry Wong, with additional studies with Menahem Pressler and Joela Jones. Follow
www.joannechangpiano.com for more updates.
Anneliese Land
Recruitment, Retention, and Admissions Coordinator
Email: A-Land2@wiu.edu
Phone: (309) 298-1087
Mrs. Anneliese Land is the Recruitment, Retention, and Admissions Coordinator for the School of Music at Western Illinois University (WIU) and is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Music Education at WIU. Mrs. Land graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Cincinnati, Ohio with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and Euphonium Performance in 2016.
Prior to her appointment at WIU, Mrs. Anneliese Land served as the Director of Bands and founder of the band program at Lakeland Middle Preparatory School (LMPS) in Lakeland, TN, which consistently earned Superior ratings at festivals and adjudicated events. Previously, Mrs. Land taught middle school band in Cincinnati, OH, then served as the Assistant Band Director at Cordova High School in Cordova, TN. During the summer months, Mrs. Land serves on faculty as Assistant Junior Band Director and Instructor of Instrument Exploration at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan.
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