Dr. Timothy Mahr is a professor of music at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he is the Conductor of the St. Olaf Band and teaches courses in composition, conducting and music education. Previous to his 1994 appointment at St. Olaf College, Mahr was Director of Bands at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, for ten years and taught instrumental music at Milaca High School (MN) for three years. Mahr is the principal conductor of the Twin Cities-based Minnesota Symphonic Winds and, while in Duluth, was the founder and conductor of the Twin Ports Wind Ensemble. He is Past President of the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association (1999-2001), and has served on the Board of Directors of the National Band Association (1996-98) and was a founding board member of the Minnesota Band Directors Association. He is presently the North Central Division Representative on the CBDNA Commissioning Committee.

Active in 35 states as a guest conductor and clinician, Mahr has also appeared professionally in Norway, Mexico, Singapore, and Canada. He has been in residence as a guest composer/conductor on over thirty college and university campuses and has twice conducted performances with the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra. In the past five academic years Mahr conducted all-state bands in Montana, Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Wyoming, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Kansas and North Dakota, and he has been engaged to conduct the Delaware All-State Band and the Florida 9th and 10th Grade All-State Band in 2006. His interpretations have earned the praise of notable composers such as Gian Carlo Menotti, Warren Benson, Vincent Persichetti, Ned Rorem, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Stephen Paulus, Libby Larsen, David Maslanka, Dominick Argento and Dan Welcher. Under Mahr's baton, the St. Olaf Band traveled to Norway in 1996, Britain and Ireland in 2000, and took a study tour of Mexico during January, 2004. Additionally, the St. Olaf Band performed at the 1997 American Bandmasters Association Convention in San Diego, gave its New York City debut at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in 2003 and performed in Minneapolis at the 2004 National Convention of the Music Educators National Conference. The St. Olaf Band traveled to Norway again in June 2005, this time alongside the St. Olaf Orchestra and St. Olaf Choir in a tour celebrating the centennial of Norway's peaceful independence from Sweden. Since 1994, the St. Olaf Band has produced nine compact disc recordings, four of which have received international acclaim.

Mahr is well known as a composer and has over 50 works to his credit, many of which are published for band. He received the 1991 ABA/Ostwald Award for his piece, The Soaring Hawk. Five other works have been finalists in national band composition contests. His works have been programmed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, numerous national and international music conferences and in twenty countries on four continents. This year Mahr will premiere commissioned works with a consortium of the high schools of the Lake Conference in the metro area of the Twin Cities, and the Northfield High School Concert Band. He has recently contracted commissions with the Shakopee (MN) and Bowling Green (OH) high school bands, The University of Iowa Symphony Band and the Lawrence University (WI) Wind Ensemble. His works are recorded on the Sony, Citadel, Cr est, Mark, GIA, Cafua and St. Olaf labels. He has been the subject of interview articles in Clarino: Internationale Zeitschrift fŸr BlŠsermusik (July/August, 1997), The Instrumentalist (March, 1995) and BDGuide (March/April, 1993) and has authored articles for major music journals. He is a contributor to the new text, Composers on Composing for Band (2002), edited by Mark Camphouse, and his scholarly and compositional work is cited in Frank Battisti's The Winds of Change (2002).

Mahr was the first recipient of a commission from the American Bandmasters Association Commissioning Project, and the resultant work, Endurance, was premiered by the United States Interservice Band in Washington, DC. He has received over 30 commissions including works for the U.S. Air Force Band, the Music Educators National Conference, Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma (National Honorary Band Fraternities), the Nebraska and Indiana Bandmasters Associations, and a work celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the American School Band Directors Association. He is a recipient of the National Band Association's "Citation of Excellence" and was elected in 1993 to membership in the American Bandmasters Association. Mahr was recently inducted into his alma mater's Hall of Excellence at LaCrosse Central High School.

Mahr (b. 1956) graduated with two degrees summa cum laude from St. Olaf College in 1977 and 1978 (B.M. Theory/Composition and B.A. Music Education). In 1983 he received the Master of Arts degree in Trombone Performance from The University of Iowa, where in 1995 he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Instrumental Conducting.

Website: www.stolaf.edu/people/mahr/