Winds on the Lake
The Conductors
Dr. Matthew Inkster is the Director of Bands at West Liberty State College where he conducts the Wind and Jazz Esembles and coordinates the brass area. He recently served in a similar capacity at the D'Angelo School of Music, Mercyhurst College. Inkster is in demand as a guest conductor and clinician. He has specialized in conducting the music of our time, and he has led ensembles on several compact disc recordings of new music on American and European labels. Inkster is also active as a trumpet soloist, recitalist, and clinician and has performed in 45 states and across Europe. He is Prinicipal Trumpet of the Symphony of the Mountains (Tennessee/Virginia), and has held similar positions with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, the Chapman and Redlands Symphony Orchestras (California). He is the receipient of numerous honors and awards, and he has competed in a number of the most prestigious trumpet competitions across the world: the Prague Spring International Music Competition, the International Trumpet Guild Solo Competition, the National Trumpet Competition, and the MTNA National Collegiate Artist Competition. Dr. Inkster is the WVMEA Research and Grants Chair and has recently served as the Composition Contest Chairman for the International Trumpet Guild. He has a number of research articles submitted for publication in the Journal of the International Trumpet Guild and in the Journal of Research in Music Education. He holds the degrees Doctor of Music (The Florida State University), Master of Music (University of Redlands), and Bachelor of Music Education (University of Wyoming). Dr. Inkster has taught in the public shools of Wyoming, California, and Florida.
Dr. Gary A. Viebranz is the Director Instrumental Ensembles at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College, where he conducts the Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble, Pep Band, and teaches curricular courses in Music. Dr. Viebranz was graduated from the Ohio State University with the Bachelor of Music Education degree, cum laude. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in tuba performance from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. His conducting teachers have included Dr. Donald McGinnis, Dr. Terence Milligan, and Mr. Eugen Corporon, and he has studied tuba with Mr. Robert LeBlanc and Mr. Samuel Green. Dr. Viebranz is in frequent demand as guest conductor, clinician, and soloist throughout the United States. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, the Musice Educator's National Conference, the College Band Directors National Association, the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Bandmasters Association, the International Association of Jazz Educators, and the American Federation of Musicians, and is a regular contributor to the PMEA News as reviewer of new jazz publications. Dr. Viebranz is the founder and artistic co-director of Winds on the Lake, a professional chamber wind ensemble based in Erie, Pennsylvania, and he performs as a member of UnderCurrents, a professional tuba-euphonium quartet.