James Colonna
Assistant Professor, Director of Bands
James.Colonna@uvu.edu
801-863-6188
he studied conducting with John Whitwell, John T. Madden and Kevin Sedatol. He is the Director of Bands
at Utah Valley University . He served as the director of concert bands at the University of Wisconsin- Eau
Claire, Indiana/Purdue University and Laramie County Community College . Prior to joining the faculty at
LCCC, he was a conducting graduate assistant at the University of North Texas where he earned his
master of music performance degree in wind conducting with Eugene Corporon.
For the last 20
years Colonna has been a frequent guest conductor throughout the United
States where
he has premiered many of his own compositions. As a
conductor, Colonna has been praised by many
composers for his
meticulous attention to their work. Jim released a CD with the LCCC
Wind Symphony
and Jazz Band, Wind Dancer , in 1994. Norman
Dello Joio, Sammy Nestico, and H. Robert Reynolds have
granted critical
acclaim for this release of their music. “The Wind Symphony's
performance of my variants
will be placed among those of the very
fine,” stated Norman Dello Joio. “We can help change the world
one note
at a time,” said Sammy Nestico.
As a trumpet
performer, he performed with the 113th Army Band, the Edgewood Symphony
Orchestra, UNT
Wind Symphony, MSU Wind Symphony, the Cheyenne Symphony
Orchestra, the Night Flight and Jim
Colonna Big Band, Voices of Unity,
and notable artists' Patti Austin, Connie Francis and the Fort
Wayne
Philharmonic.
In 1996, he began his career as a
composer and has composed more than 16 original compositions, of
which
12 have been published by Larry Daehn Music, C-Alan Publications, and
Masters Music. He has
received many commissions to create unique works
for large concert ensembles, most recently a
commission from the
Michigan State University Symphony Band and New England Music Camp
titled "7".
His work, “Fanfare Antiphonal vox Gabrielli”, is one of
seven featured fanfares by the Dallas Wind
Symphony for their 2009-2010
season. His compositions have been performed at CBDNA, Midwest, and the
WASBE conferences as well as internationally in the UK , Canada , Japan
, Belgium , and Finland . He has
been recognized by fellow composers
including Cindy McTee, Michael Colgrass, Michael Torke, Joel Puckett,
Steven Bryant and Jack Stamp. Torke remarks on Illusions (a work for
winds and percussion): “Mr. Colonna's
music is artistic even
though composed for young high school band, his music is honest and
deserves repeat
performances.” Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Michael
Colgrass states: “Illusions is a wonderful addition to
the band world,
it contains magnificent scoring throughout.” Currently Jim is
transcribing a work by Gyorgy
Ligeti for concert band, and a new work,
also for band, based on Beatles Lyrics.