Combining Live Performance and Technology
Providing great music in all venues
Providing great music in all venues
Performed by Doug Reader
About Us
Doug grew up in a musical family. Adding his trombone to the family band of sax, clarinet, and piano was a big moment. Mom was also a soprano soloist as well as pianist and insisted her children practice an adequate amount of time on both piano and their band instrument of choice.
By the time Doug graduated from college with music education and performance majors, he had played with the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Opera, the American Ballet, not to mention the circus band, the Ice Capades, and the Lake Harriet Pops Orchestra.
Doug started teaching college at age 22, and pursued this career along
with performing for the next 2 decades. He was privileged to play in orchestras with luminaries like Luciano Pavorotti, Aaron Copland, the Canadian Brass, Dave Brubeck, Pinchas Zuckerman, Neville Marriner,
Klaus Tenstedt, Herbert Blomstedt, Dennis Russell Davies, Frederic Fennell, Peter Nero, Peter Schikele, and many others. He recorded albums with
the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and a grammy winner with the Minnesota Opera, as well as traveling to the Casals Festival with the Minnesota Orchestra.
with performing for the next 2 decades. He was privileged to play in orchestras with luminaries like Luciano Pavorotti, Aaron Copland, the Canadian Brass, Dave Brubeck, Pinchas Zuckerman, Neville Marriner,
Klaus Tenstedt, Herbert Blomstedt, Dennis Russell Davies, Frederic Fennell, Peter Nero, Peter Schikele, and many others. He recorded albums with
the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and a grammy winner with the Minnesota Opera, as well as traveling to the Casals Festival with the Minnesota Orchestra.
As a composer, his fanfares were recorded and used by the Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall. He was commissioned for a performance by Gustavus Adolphus College for the Nobel Conference, and his Brass Quintet has been performed by the Galliard Brass Ensemble and recorded on the Nonesuch label. He has composed for band and various ensembles at the college level, performed at Northwestern College in St. Paul, MN.
In addition to performing and composing, Doug coordinated a Concert Series with its own featured orchestra. He continued the series for over a decade and was appointed Artistic Director. The series included creative programs such as Beginners’ Night Out, Carnival of the Animals with live animals from the local zoo, the 3 B’s, and Horns o’ Plenty. Artists included Henry C Smith, Jerome Hines from the Metropolitan Opera, the Mpls Artists’ Ensemble, the Bach Society Chorus, Jeff Van, Richard K Allison, the Masters Chamber Players, Ken Medema, Michael Card, Bill Pearce, John Wasson, Edith Schaeffer, and others. As a contractor, he managed the orchestras for the Rhapsody in Praise tours under the direction of Bill Berntsen and later Dick Anthony, the first tour which performed for a Congressional Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. on the day of the release of the Iran hostages. The group received a standing ovation in D.C. and every performance after.
In the mid 1980s when MIDI emerged onto the music scene, Doug initiated a MIDI lab, and taught a course which was soon required by all music majors. This was followed by a music and media major,
which included student Tedd Tjornhom, now famous Nashville producer. Doug’s technology curriculum was adapted by 2 colleges in the area. In the late 1980s, Doug bought an EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument) after seeing it demonstrated by inventor Nyle Steiner. Doug played the new EVI on the Rhapsody in Praise tours, in a top 40 band, Mr. NiceGuy, and appeared on Sunday Night Live radio broadcast. He demonstrated his EVI performance at the International Computer Music Association in Montreal and the Music Technology national conference in Duluth. He also played synth (keyboard) and trombone at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre,
and performed regularly at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, including music director Dave Bullock’s Farewell Concert which featured Lorrie Line, Mike Donelly, and other T.C. musicians. The EVI was the centerpiece of Mac’s Miraculous Music Machine, an edutainment vehicle utilizing theatre and music technology. Mac’s played at churches and colleges, ultimately evolving to a family production involving wife Diane and daughter Mandy.
which included student Tedd Tjornhom, now famous Nashville producer. Doug’s technology curriculum was adapted by 2 colleges in the area. In the late 1980s, Doug bought an EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument) after seeing it demonstrated by inventor Nyle Steiner. Doug played the new EVI on the Rhapsody in Praise tours, in a top 40 band, Mr. NiceGuy, and appeared on Sunday Night Live radio broadcast. He demonstrated his EVI performance at the International Computer Music Association in Montreal and the Music Technology national conference in Duluth. He also played synth (keyboard) and trombone at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre,
and performed regularly at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, including music director Dave Bullock’s Farewell Concert which featured Lorrie Line, Mike Donelly, and other T.C. musicians. The EVI was the centerpiece of Mac’s Miraculous Music Machine, an edutainment vehicle utilizing theatre and music technology. Mac’s played at churches and colleges, ultimately evolving to a family production involving wife Diane and daughter Mandy.
In 1992, when Coda Music Technology (Makemusic, Inc.) began marketing it’s new intelligent accompaniment (now called SmartMusic), Doug was the first clinician hired. In this pioneering role, he began with
4 states, ultimately managing half of the U.S. He worked alongside top musicians like Jimmy Walker, Wynton Marsallis, Vern Kagarice, John Marsellus, Vince DiMartino, Allen Vizzutti, Bill Watrous, Christian Lindberg, Gary Bordner, as well as top music dealers and business people in the U.S. Doug has presented at music educator conventions as well as colleges and universities in over a dozen states, also the American Choral Directors Association, and College Band Directors Nat’l Association.
4 states, ultimately managing half of the U.S. He worked alongside top musicians like Jimmy Walker, Wynton Marsallis, Vern Kagarice, John Marsellus, Vince DiMartino, Allen Vizzutti, Bill Watrous, Christian Lindberg, Gary Bordner, as well as top music dealers and business people in the U.S. Doug has presented at music educator conventions as well as colleges and universities in over a dozen states, also the American Choral Directors Association, and College Band Directors Nat’l Association.
In recent years, Doug has consulted with public school music programs, taught courses in the TI:ME program (TI:ME = Technology Institute for Music Educators) at Bethel University, taught music online, and developed EVi-Songs. In addition to music, he and wife Diane enjoy gardening and landscaping,
the great outdoors, which their 2 setter dogs like even more. They also enjoy traveling, and working with Chinese students and scholars from the U of M.
Doug has continued his education over time and holds a B.S. in Music Education from the University of Minnesota, an M.M. from Northwestern University in performance, and a Ph.D. in music theory/composition from the University of Minnesota. He has studied with some of the best teachers in the world, in performance - Steven Zellmer, Henry Charles Smith, Arnold Jacobs, and Frank Crisafuli and master classes with Dale Clevinger and Vincent Cichowicz. In composition, he studied with Pullitzer prize winner and Regents’ professor Dominick Argento, Paul Fetler, Alan Parsons, and Anthony Donato.
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EVi-Songs features the creative work of Doug Reader, including live perfor-mance, music production, composition and arranging, sound editing, and music programming.
