Verena M. Moesenbichler-Bryant

Education

• DMA University of Texas at Austin, 2009
• MMus Michigan State University, 2007
• BA Anton Bruckner Private University, 2005

Research Interests

Verena Moesenbichler-Bryant serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of the Practice of Music and Director of the Duke University Wind Symphony. She also conducts the Duke Medicine Orchestra and the North Carolina Saxophone Ensemble. Verena grew up in Eberschwang, Austria. She began piano lessons at the age of 6, continuing later with church organ, flute, and bassoon.

Her conducting debut at age 16 was followed by a three-year fundamental conducting course taught by Johann Mösenbichler. Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant then studied conducting for symphony orchestra with Ingo Ingensand at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz, Upper Austria, and received her bachelor degree, with distinction, in 2005. She completed her Master of Music in 2007 with Kevin Sedatole at Michigan State University. Verena graduated in May 2009 with her DMA in Wind Ensemble Conducting from The University of Texas at Austin where her principal conducting teacher was Jerry Junkin.

Professional engagements have included three years as the conductor of the Hofkirchen community band, conducting the youth band of Eberschwang, and she currently serves as Executive Director of the World Youth Wind Orchestra Project, the international youth orchestra of the annual Mid-Europe festival in Schladming, Austria (www.mideurope.at).

Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant’s transcription of John Corigliano’s Grammy- winning work, Mr. Tambourine Man, for Wind Ensemble and Amplified Soprano, published by G. Schirmer, has received strong praise from the composer, and has received numerous performances since its 2009 premiere. She has also published an article in GIA’s respected Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. Verena serves frequently as a guest conductor and clinician across the United States as well as in her native Austria.

Duties:

Director of the Duke University Wind Symphony Visiting Assistant Professor of the Practice of Music, Duke University Conductor of the Duke Medicine Orchestra Conductor of the North Carolina Saxophone Ensemble Executive Director WYWOP (World Youth Wind Orchestra Project)

Teaching (Fall 2012):

• Music 210-2.01, Wind symphony Synopsis

  Biddle 019, TuTh 07:30 PM-09:30 PM

• Music 318.01, Instrumental conducting Synopsis

  Biddle 102, TuTh 04:40 PM-05:55 PM

• Music 418.01, Adv study conducting Synopsis

  Biddle 101, TuTh 04:40 PM-05:55 PM

Recent Professional Work:

• transcribed by V.M. Moesenbichler-Bryant. Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan for Wind Ensemble and amplified Soprano.  G. Schirmer, 2009 . (Transcription of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan for Wind Ensemble and amplified Soprano. Premiered March 27, 2009 during the National College Band Directors Association Conference in Austin, Texas with John Corigliano present. Jerry Junkin conductor, and Hila Plitmann soprano soloist. The work is published by G. Schirmer Inc.)

• V.M. Moesenbichler-Bryant. "Article on Steven Bryant’s Axis Mundi published in “Teaching Music Through Performance in Band” Vol. 8, GIA Publications." . Edited by Richard Miles. GIA vol. 8 2011.

   Performances:

• Two Shades of Blue: Joint concert with UNC Chapel Hill ensembles, December 05, 2011
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQCgrTq2J9g&feature=related Two Shades of Blue blend onstage in Memorial Hall Elizabeth Thompson Publicist, Duke University Department of Music Their slogan is “Because this isn’t the court—it’s the stage.” For one evening competition is put aside as students in the UNC Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band join with the Duke University Wind Symphony to present the second annual “Two Shades of Blue” concert. The three groups will perform separately, then join together to play two works by Percy Grainger: Ye Banks and Braes O'Bonnie Doon and "Lost Lady Found" from Lincolnshire Posy. “UNC and Duke are big rivals,” concedes Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant, director of the Duke Wind Symphony, “but on December 5 we will collaborate and share one stage. In music making there are no boundaries.” The first “Two Shades of Blue” concert took place last year in Baldwin Auditorium on Duke’s East Campus. This year, the concert moves to Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill. Mösenbichler-Bryant and Evan Feldman, director of the UNC groups, hope to continue to share the concert jointly, bringing together students who might otherwise see each other mainly as competitors. “UNC and Duke are not only close geographically,” says Feldman, “but our programs share the same values: we support high-level performing ensembles within first-rate liberal arts educations. And the deep traditions of both programs is something we want to honor in the grand finale when we put all 150 musicians on stage at once and perform the music of Percy Grainger, who was a guest of both ensembles over 50 years ago.” The UNC ensembles will also perform Puccini's "Te Deum" from Tosca, Guy Woolfenden's Bohemian Dances, John Williams's Midway March and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, with Professor Clara Yang on piano. The Duke Wind Symphony will perform Richard Strauss' Festmusik der Stadt Wien, Eric Whitacre's Seal Lullaby, and works by Tchaikovsky and Ticheli. Two Shades of Blue UNC Wind Ensemble & UNC Symphony Band- Evan Feldman, director Duke University Wind Symphony - Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant, director Monday, December 5 7.30 pm, Memorial Hall, UNC-Chapel Hill $10 general admission/$5 students, faculty, staff and senior citizens Information and tickets: 919-843-3333
• Flutes en masses, Reynolds Industries Theater, November 17, 2011
  Duke University Wind Symphony: Flutes en masse, featuring Rebecca Troxler and the Duke University Wind Symphony flute section, works by Chaminade, Ticheli, George, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Whitacre
• Parents' and Family Weekend Concert, October 29, 2011
  Guest conductor for the Duke University Symphony Orchestra: Parents’ and Family Weekend concert: Beethoven Symphony No. 6 Mvt. I, Beethoven Coriolan Overture, Strauss Radetzky March Duke University Wind Symphony: Strauss "Festmusik der Stadt Wien", Whitacre "Seal Lullaby", Susato "Selections from 'Dansereye'", Whitacre "Cloudburst"
• Eric Whitacre at Duke, Duke Chapel, October 27, 2011
  Duke University is proud to host a visit from renowned composer and conductor Eric Whitacre. Mr. Whitacre will conduct a selection of his own works, performed by both the Duke Chorale and the Duke Wind Symphony. The concert will culminate in a combined performance with the Chorale, Wind Symphony, and over two hundred Durham area high school singers led by Mr. Whitacre, making it a true celebration of music in the Durham community. Mr. Whitacre’s visit to Duke will provide numerous opportunities for students to have an up-close, personal experience with one of the music world’s brightest stars. Proceeds from this event will directly benefit both Duke ensembles.
• Of Seas and Storms, Reynolds Industries Theater, October 06, 2011
  Duke University Wind Symphony: Of Seas and Storms, Reynolds Industries Theater, featuring Of Sailors and Whales, The Thunderer, Rolling Thunder, Seal Lullaby, Cloudburst, Sea Songs, Ye Banks and Braes O’Bonnie Doon, and Handel in the Strand
• Concert # 3 with the Duke University Wind Symphony, Baldwin Auditorium, November 19, 2009
  "MADE IN AMERICA" This program included significant compositions by American composers, such as "America, the Beautiful" by Samuel Augustus Ward (arranged for wind band by Carmen Dragon), Steven Bryant's "Bloom", four movements from Bennett's "Suite of Old American Dances", Overture to "Candide" by Leonard Bernstein (arr. Walter Beeler), Persichetti's "Symphony for Band", "Undertow" by John Mackey, and an encore featuring John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes forever".
• Concert # 2 (Parents' weekend) with the Duke University Wind Symphony, Duke Chapel, October 24, 2009
  This concert was a shared performance between the Duke Chorale, the Duke Symphony Orchestra, and the Duke University Wind Symphony. The Duke Wind Symphony performed four dances from Susato's "The Danserye." In this performance we used them as frame pieces. We started the concert with “La Morisque” from "The Danserye" followed by a transcription for wind band of Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen. Two more Susato Dances followed: “Ronde & Salterelle” & “Ronde & Aliud." We continued with "Bloom" by Steven Bryant, who attended the concert that night. We concluded with a final "Danserye" movement: “Pavane: La Battaille.”
• Concert # 1 with the Duke University Wind Symphony, Baldwin Auditorium, 2009/10/01
  This was my premiere concert with the Duke University Wind Symphony. We opened the concert with a selection of dances from Susato's "The Danserye" which were composed in 1551, and transcribed for wind band in 2001. Two original works for wind band followed: Gustav Holst's "Second Suite in F" and Ralph Vaughan Williams' "English Folk Song Suite." The second half of the concert consisted of William Walton's "Crown Imperial," followed by the two most difficult works on our program: Donald Grantham's "Southern Harmony" and Paul Hindemith's "March" from his "Symphonic Metamorphosis."