Alumni Portraits

Javier Arau, LU'98

Four-time Downbeat Award winner Javier Arau currently resides in New York City where he is a saxophonist, composer, arranger, teacher, and entrepreneur. A double-degree student at Lawrence majoring in Theory/Composition and Economics, Javier later went on to earn his Master of Music degree in Jazz Composition from the New England Conservatory. Javier has performed throughout the world and has appeared with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Charlie Haden, and Maria Schneider. Also an accomplished classical musician, he played tenor saxophone in the Lawrence University Saxophone Quartet that won first prize in the Music Teachers National Association’s national collegiate chamber music competition. His compositions and arrangements, which span a great variety of genres, have earned him three Downbeat awards, an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer award, and an MENC Young Composers award and have been performed throughout the United States. Javier is founder and director of the New York Jazz Academy, a school with locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island that employs about forty teachers and serves students of all ages. To listen to Javier’s performances and to read more about his activities and his advice to students, visit his website at www.javierarau.com.

Watch: Javier Arau, New York Jazz Academy: Lady Bird

Jesse Dochnahl LU'05

Jesse Dochnahl is instructor of instrumental music at CS Porter Middle School in Missoula, Montana. An active chamber musician, clinician, and conductor, he has worked with young musicians across Montana, Wisconsin, and Illinois and taught instrumental music for three years at Sheboygan Falls (WI) High School. In the 2012-13 academic year, he served as Instructor of Saxophone and Freshman Studies at Lawrence University. He was awarded First Prize in the MTNA Woodwind Young Artist (2005) and Chamber Music (2012) National Competitions, and was the winner of the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. He has performed as concert soloist with the Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra and the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra and in recitals at the NASA 2012 National Conference, SEAMUS 2012 National Conference, 13th World Saxophone Congress, the 2005 & 2012 MTNA National Conferences, and the U.S. Navy International Saxophone Symposium. Jesse has performed with Sinfonia da Camera Chamber Orchestra, Eugene Symphony, Green Bay Civic Orchestra, Sheboygan Symphony, and Helena Symphony. A staunch advocate of new music, Jesse has presented world premieres of music by Joanne Metcalf, Asha Srinivasan, Scott Unrein, and Ming-Ching Chiu, among others. Jesse earned his Master of Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he studied with Debra Richtmeyer and holds degrees in music education and saxophone performance from Lawrence University where he studied saxophone with Steven Jordheim. Jesse usually spends his summers in southwest Montana - his home state - as a trails technician with the Forest Service.

To hear and watch Jesse Dochnahl's performances and to learn about his teaching and performance activities, visit his website at: jessedochnahl.com

Jacob Teichroew, LU '06

Jacob Teichroew is a saxophonist, woodwind player, composer, arranger, bandleader, and music educator based in Brooklyn, New York. He was raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he took up the saxophone at age ten, and was trained as a classical saxophonist.

Before pursuing a degree in classical saxophone under the tutelage of Steven Jordheim at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, Jacob fell in love with the music of Cannonball Adderley and Kenny Garrett, which inspired him to play jazz. He briefly got involved in the Washington, D.C. jazz scene, where he performed weekly as the lead alto player in the Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra at H.R. 57.

While at Lawrence University, Jacob focused on classical saxophone and also eraned a degree in philosophy. Unable to shake an obsession with improvisation, he moved to New York in 2007 to attend Queens College, where he earned an M.A. in jazz studies, and studied with Antonio Hart, David Berkman, and Michael Philip Mossman.

Upon first moving to New York, Jacob worked as a freelance music writer, contributed to jazz.com, and edited jazz.about.com. His experiences as a classical saxophonist, critic, sideman, and music teacher informed his approach to composing and performing music. His tone is clear and round, his solos include not a single extraneous note, and his compositions are intended to give the sense of movement and development.

“To me, things like style, technique, scene, and tradition are secondary. What’s important is the music itself: whether it goes somewhere, creates drama, establishes a mood, and does so in a way that can be clear to anyone.”

Aside from playing regularly with HasHaveHad, the Russ Flynn Ensemble, Le Zhang, Grupo Arcano, Tamela D’Amico, James Hall, Trevor Long, Loren Benjamin, and others, Jacob can be heard as a sideman in an array of projects varying in style and genre.

Jacob leads his own group, the Jacob Teichroew Quintet, and his debut album Tableaux is due for release in the Spring of 2013.

Aside from performing saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet, and flute, jacob teaches privately, and in New York City Public Schools through various non-profit education programs.

To listen to performances and learn more about Jacob Teichroew, visit jacobteichroew.com.

Kim Reece, LU’06

Kim Reece is a woodwind perfomer with the United States Navy Band. Formerly the instructor of saxophone at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, she has performed as saxophonist with the Oregon Symphony and presented numerous solo and chamber music performances. An avid performer of new works, Kim recently premiered "Alborado" for soprano saxophone and electronics by Bei Zhang, which won the second prize at the Prix d’Ete at the Peabody Institute. Kim holds degrees from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Arizona (UA) and Lawrence University, Conservatory of Music (LU). Primary teachers include Steven Jordheim, Gary Louie, Timothy McAllister, and Joe Wimmer.

At Peabody, Kim was selected to perform Libby Larsen’s "Holy Roller" at the commencement ceremony. She also performed with the Black Box Quartet and was the soprano chair of the Catalina Saxophone Quartet while at the University of Arizona. Catalina Saxophone Quartet had an extensive performance schedule throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada, performing at numerous festivals, competitions, and outreach programs. Concluding their tenure together, they released their recording of Gavin Bryars’ "Alaric I or II" on Arizona University Recordings’ CD release, America’s Millennium Tribute to Adolphe Sax: Volume XIV.

To learn more about Kim Reece, visit http://kimreecemusic.com.

Watch: Kim Reece and Douglas Schneider (LU’95) perform Ned Rorem’s A Bend in the River

Watch: Kim Reece and Douglas Schneider (LU’95) perform Ned Rorem’s Bal Musette

Yiannis Miralis, LU'93

Yiannis Miralis is Associate Professor of Music Education and Saxophone and Coordinator of the Music Program at the Department of Arts at European University Cyprus. He holds degrees from Michigan State University (PhD), Bowling Green State University (MM), and Lawrence University (BM), where he was a Fulbright scholar. His primary saxophone teachers were Joe Lulloff, John Sampen, and Steven Jordheim, respectively.

As the first Cypriot classical saxophonist, Miralis has given numerous solo and chamber performances in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Canada, Sweden, and the USA. He was the first saxophone soloist with the Cyprus State Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Ayis Ioannides. He later performed with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Spiros Pisinos, Miltos Logiades, and Sasha Mäkilä. He also appeared as soloist with the Macedonian Saxophone Quartet and the Ensemble Philharmonia. He was a member of the Macedonian Saxophone Quartet which performed at the Cultural Olympiad of Athens 2004 and on a five-concert tour of Switzerland with the Orchestre de Chambre de Neuchâtel. As a member of the acclaimed Transcontinental Saxophone Quartet (TSQ) he won a number of chamber music competitions in the USA. The Transcontinental Saxophone Quartet has given hundreds of performances in the USA and Europe. They have also performed at the renowned Ravenna Music Festival in Italy and appeared as soloists with the Royal Belgian Air Force Band in Minneapolis. Their first CD, “Mountain Roads,” (Albany Records) received outstanding reviews.

Miralis has a genuine interest in expanding the saxophone repertoire and has commissioned numerous saxophone works by such composers as J. Harbison, B. Rands, D. Maslanka, L. Bell, R. Borel, Ph. Dymiotis, G. Karvellos, C. Stylianou, H. Sofocleous, D. Constantinides, and C. Papageorgiou. He has given world premieres of a number of these works in the United States and Cyprus.

Yiannis has taught at the University of Cyprus, ARTE Music Academy, University of Windsor in Canada, Flint Institute of Music, and Michigan State University Community Music School. From 2001-2004 he served as Assistant Professor of Saxophone and Music Education at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho. He is a founding member of the Hellenic Saxophone Association (HSA) and president of the Cypriot Saxophone Association Saxophonia.