Mike McFerron | co-director
Mike McFerron is an associate professor of music and composer-in-residence at Lewis University in the Chicago area. He has been on the faculty of UMKC and the Kansas City Kansas Community College, and he has served as resident composer at the Chamber Music Conference of the East/Composers’ Forum in Bennington, Vt. McFerron is founder and co-director of Electronic Music Midwest.

McFerron’s music has received critical acclaim and recognition. Perspectives for orchestra was awarded first prize in the Louisville Orchestra Composition Competition (2002), was a recipient of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s "First Hearing" Program (2001), was awarded an honorable distinction in the Masterprize International Composition Competition (2003), and an honorable mention in the Rudolf Nissim Prize (2001). McFerron was chosen the winner of the Cantus Commissioning/Residency Program (2003), and he was a recipient of the 2005 CCF Abelson Art Song Commission. His music was a finalist in the 2004 Confluencias Electronic Miniatures II International Competition, the 2005 Truman State/MACRO Composition Competition, the 2005 American Modern Ensemble Composition Competition, the 2002 Swan Composition Competition, the 1999 Salvatore Martirano Composition Contest, and the 1997 South Bay Master Chorale Choral Composition Contest. McFerron has been a composers fellow at the MacDowell Colony (2001), June in Buffalo (1997), and the Chamber Music Conference of the East/Composers’ Forum in Bennington, Vt (1999). His music has been featured on SCI National Conferences, SEAMUS National Conferences, University of Richmond’s 3rd Practice Festival, Spark Conference, Annual Florida Electroacoustic Music Festivals, Spring in Havanna, the MAVerick Festival, several SCI regional conferences, and concerts and radio broadcasts across the U.S. and throughout Europe. He has received commissions from Cantus, SUNY-Oswego, GéNIA, the Chamber Music Conference of the East/Composers' Forum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Jesus Florido, Thomas Clement, Lewis University, Sumner Academy of Arts and Science, and three times by the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra. McFerron’s music can be heard on numerous commercial CDs as well as on his website at http://www.bigcomposer.com.


Paul Rudy | co-director
Paul Rudy (1962) is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Composition, and Director of the Inter-media/Music Production and Computer Technology Center at the Conservatory of Music, University of Missouri, KC. From 1995-2001 he was the composition technologist at the Aspen Music Festival and School and has created over 80 a radio programs for public radio (Aspen, Colorado and Resonance FM, London, England). He is the 2002 winner of the EMS Electroacoustic Music Prize (Stockholm, Sweden) along with other recognition from the Bourges Electroacoustic Music Competition (2000 & 2005), the Fulbright Foundation, Meet the Composer, the National Music Teachers Association, and the Missouri Music Teachers Association. Commissions include Meet the Composer USA, the American Composer's Forum Jerome Composer Commissioning Project, 8th Blackbird and Third Practice, Music From China, New York New Music Ensemble, Kansas City Chorale, newEar, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the UMKC Conservatory. His works, published by Twisted Trail Music, have been broadcast and performed worldwide and can be found on EMS, Living Artist, Capstone, SEAMUS and Centaur recordings. In addition to composing he has an avid interest in bicycling, hiking, camping, and mountaineering. In 1994 he completed the Colorado Grand Slam after climbing all 54 of Colorado's 14,000 ft peaks.

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Ian Corbett | technical director
Dr. Ian Corbett is the Coordinator of the Audio Engineering Program, and Assistant Professor of Music Technology and Audio Recording at Kansas City Kansas Community College. He also owns and operates "off-beat-open-hats - recording and sound reinforcement", specializing in servicing the needs of classical and jazz ensembles in the Kansas City area. As an audio engineer, Ian's credits include releases on Innova, ICA, Look at You Records, and many non-commercial releases. He is a Co-Director and the Technical Director and Sound Engineer for Electronic Music Midwest, an electronic music festival held in Chicago and Kansas City. Ian previously spent several summers as the Assistant Manager of the Presentations (Audio) Department at Interlochen Center for the Arts. He has provided sound reinforcement for many headline artists including Bill Cosby, BB King, the Count Basie Orchestra, Dennis DeYoung (orchestra engineer), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Nanci Griffiths, Buddy Guy, The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, The Kings Singers, Marilyn Maye, Jane Monheit, Randy Newman, Clark Terry, Nanci Wilson and many opening acts. He has provided sound system support for artists including the Boston Pops Orchestra, Canadian Brass, Chicago, The Chieftains, Rosemary Clooney, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Chris Isaak, Diana Krall, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Lisa Loeb, Kenny Loggins, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Neville Brothers, Bob Newhart, Peter, Paul and Mary, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Joshua Redman, Take 6, and Dwight Yoakam. Ian authors articles on audio recording related subjects occasionally for Sound On Sound magazine ("Europe's number 1 selling recording magazine"), most recently a multi-media article on audio mastering published on their first DVD + magazine issue. Since 2004 he has been a member of the Audio Engineering Society's Education Committee, and in 2006 mentored students at the AES' Convention in San Francisco, CA.

Ian's composition credentials include a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, a Fellowship Diploma from the London College of Music, and an M.M. degree from Emporia State University, KS. He has works published by Emerson Edition, HoneyRock Publishing, London College of Music and Media, Penfield Music Commission, Watermark Press, and his music appears in "Theory Essentials", and new text book by Dr. Connie Mayfield (Schirmer). He has works released on Mark Records and Miso Records labels. His competition successes include an Honorable Mention in the 2002 ASCAP Morton Gould Competition, First Prize in the 2002 Musica Viva Electroacoustic Music Competition (Lisbon, Portugal), First Prize in the 1999 Penfield Music Commission Project Composition Contest, and First Prize in the 1998 Hastings College Jazz Ensemble Composition Competition. In 1994 Ian was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study Jazz at Indiana University.

A saxophonist and clarinetist, Ian has performed in venues such as Sydney Opera House (Australia), Valencia's Palau de Musica (Spain), and London's Royal Festival Hall, and for many radio broadcasts in the United Kingdom. He holds a Licentiateship Teaching Diploma (clarinet) and Associateship Performance Diploma (alto saxophone) from the London College of Music. Ian also plays an electronic wind instrument, integrating technology into many of his live performances. In 1994, he produced and staged a multi-media concert of commercial studio works in the Mumford Theater, Cambridge, UK. As a studio musician, his saxophone playing (and horn arrangements) are featured on several deep-house tracks, released in 2002 on the Viva and Hed Kandi labels, and in 2004 his solo compact disc "If That's You", was released by off-beat-open-hats.


Jay Batzner | programming director
Jay C. Batzner is currently Assistant Professor of Music Technology at the University of Central Florida. He recently completed a D.M.A. in composition at the University of Missouri — Kansas City where he received such honors as a Distinguished Dissertation Fellowship, a Dean’s Doctoral Scholar Fellowship, and an Ovation Scholarship. Jay’s music has been performed throughout the Americas and Europe at various festivals and conferences such as the Wellesley Composers Conference, the International Young Composers’ Meeting in the Netherlands, and the Sonoimágenes festival in Argentina. His solo piano work, Deconstructionist Preludes, will soon be released on the Capstone label.

Jay is an active member of the EMM Festival, the Society of Composers, Inc., the College Music Society, and the Collected. He has given many presentations on analytical techniques of electro-acoustic music and his review essay of music technology textbooks has been published in College Music Symposium.

Jay is a sci-fi geek, an amateur banjoist, a home brewer, and juggler.


Jason Bolte | technical assistant
Jason Bolte (b.1976) is currently pursuing a D.M.A. in Music Composition at the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where he is a Chancellor's Doctoral Fellow. Along with his responsibilities at UMKC, he is also an Adjunct Instructor of Music at the Kansas City Kansas Community College. He is a member of the organizational staff of the Electronic Music Midwest Festival serving as a Technical Assistant. Jason holds a B.M. with an emphasis in Music Engineering Technology and a M.M. in Music Composition from Ball State University. His music has been performed at such events as the SEAMUS National Conference, ICMC, SCI National and Regional Conferences, Electronic Music Midwest, Imagine2, LASO, Spark, NWEAMO, SFIFEM, FEMF, Ai-maako 2006 - Chile, FYLKINGEN - Sweden, and ISMEM - Hungary. Jason's work, Friction for digital audio, was recently recognized as a Finalist at the 33rd Bourges International Competition of Electroacoustic Music and Sonic Art - 2006. His composition Forgotten Dreams for double bass, max/msp, and eight-channel digital audio has also been recognized by The International Society of Bassists, receiving First Prize at the 2004/05 ISB Composition Competition - Media Division.