Andrew Glendening, currently the dean of the School of Music and professor of music at University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif., has been selected as the next director of the School of Music at Northern Illinois University. Glendening will begin his new post on July 1. Eric Johnson, professor of music and coordinator of choral activities at NIU has been serving as acting director since the fall, after the previous director, Janet Hathaway accepted the position of acting associate dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at NIU.
Andrew Glendening
Glendening has been dean of the School of Music at University of Redlands since 2004. Prior, he was chair of the Department of Music at Denison University and served on the faculties of Morehead State University and Northeastern Illinois University. He has been a member of the Board of the National Association of Schools of Music, has presented multiple time at the annual meetings and serves as an accreditation site visitor.
“I am honored and excited to join the outstanding faculty of the School of Music to continue the traditions of excellence and to explore the tremendous opportunities to provide an affordable, elite and inclusive education,” Glendening said. “As all of the arts are converging in new combinations and places, collaboration is the key to the future. I believe that the chance to work with Dean Paul Kassel and the entire College of Visual and Performing Arts at NIU is the right time and place to truly realize a collaborative future in the arts.”
Kassel said, “We are delighted that Dr. Glendening will be joining us this July. His experience, wisdom, and wry sense of humor will be a welcome addition to college and school. I know he’ll hit the ground running, and lead the school with a deep commitment to artistry, scholarship, and the training and education of the next generation of musicians and music teachers.”
A native of Logansport, Ind., Glendening earned a Bachelor of Music degree in trombone performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music before attending Indiana University where he was awarded the school’s highest honor: the Performer’s Certificate. He also earned a Master of Music degree and was the first ever to receive the Doctor of Music degree in trombone performance from the Indiana University School of Music.
An active innovator in inter-active music, Glendening has premiered, performed and recorded many works for computer and instruments and has lectured on inter-active applications at such institutions as the CNMAT Laboratory at UC Berkeley, CEMI at the University of North Texas and the Eastman School of Music. He is also the inventor of the “Magneto-restrictive slide position sensor” for the trombone, which allows for direct integration of the trombone and a computer using MAX/MSP software both for performance and pedagogical study.
An active proponent of new music for the trombone, Glendening has premiered over 100 works, including three concerti. In 1998 he was awarded Morehead State University’s Distinguished Creative Productions Award for his solo CD, “Pathways: New Music for Trombone” (Mark Records.) He premiered the wind ensemble version of Robert Parris’s Trombone Concerto with the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in 1999, was the featured performer at the 4th Annual American Music festival in Sofia Bulgaria, performed the Rouse Trombone Concerto with the Redlands Symphony Orchestra in 2008 and performed a recital at the 2014 International Trombone Festival at the Eastman School of Music. He is Principal Trombonist of the Redlands Symphony Orchestra and has performed as a substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and the California Philharmonic. Six of Glendening’s trombone students have won the U.S. Army Band National Solo Competition.
In 2017, International Music Diffusion published his book, co-authored with Julia Broome-Robinson, “The Art and Science of Trombone Teaching” in both English and French. Glendening was host and artistic advisor for the 2017 International Trombone Festival.
