Dr. Lawrence Sisk, chair of the Music Department at Lewis University, announces the arrival of five new music instructors in cello, low brass, jazz piano, vocal jazz, and ethnomusicology. Four of these instructors will be available to teach students in the spring semester. Students from all majors are welcome to take music lessons and participate in Music Department ensembles.

The Music Department offers private instruction in voice, piano, strings, woodwind, brass, and percussion. Applied music may be taken for credit, for no credit, or as part of a music curriculum. The more than 20 music instructors are active professional musicians and experienced teachers.

Cellist Jean Hatmaker is principal cellist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Hatmaker graduated in 2008 from Indiana University, where she received a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in cello performance, studying with the distinguished cellist Janos Starker. In addition to her success at IU as a solo and chamber musician, the second place winner of the 2007 Cello Concerto Competition worked for the university as an associate instructor of cello, studied voice and ballet, and worked in the String Instrument Repair workshop as a luthier in training.

Hatmaker has worked extensively as an orchestral musician, appearing with the Richmond Symphony and South Bend Symphony Orchestra in Indiana, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as well as the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra in Illinois. She also has an emerging career as a chamber musician, specializing in modern music. At IU, she was a member of the New Music Ensemble, and also worked one-on-one with student and professional composers on world premieres. In Chicago, she appears as a member of “Anaphora,” a hip contemporary ensemble that performs ground-breaking compositions in a broad range of genres. She currently has two smaller chamber ensemble projects underway: Trio 65, a clarinet-piano-cello trio made up of IU alums, and the Kontras Quartet, which features members of the Civic Orchestra, and is in the finals for a fellowship with the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina.

Trombonist Brett R. Evans holds a master’s degree in trombone performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a bachelor’s degree in music education from Eastern Illinois University. During his studies at IU, Evans performed as a member of the university’s orchestral program, wind ensemble with Stephen Pratt, and in Dr. David N. Baker’s jazz ensemble. Evan’s principal teachers include Charlie Greening of Lexington, Kentucky; Eastern Illinois University retired professor of trombone Allan Horney, and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music professor of trombone M. Dee Stewart. He has also worked extensively with members of the Cincinnati, Chicago and Indianapolis symphony orchestras. Evans is currently the bass trombonist of both the Danville and Champaign-Urbana Symphonies. More recently, during the 2009 summer, he appeared in the show band on board the M.S. Norwegian Star.

Jazz Pianist Paul Scherer has produced three commercially-available instrumental CDs and is currently completing a new CD of original material with 2008 Polish Artist of the Year, Agnieszka Iwanska. He is also an expert in music technology including MIDI, audio production, recording, mixing and mastering. He holds a master’s degree in music technology from Indiana University / Purdue University at Indianapolis, and a bachelor’s degree in music theory from the University of Delaware. He performs regularly with the Joel Moore Quartet and with Iwanska at the Chopin Theater and other Chicago venues. In the past, he has performed in backup bands for artists such as Bobby Rydell, Rita Moreno and Gordon MacRae. In addition to his music career, Scherer is a partner with IBM Global Services.

Conductor Jason Hawkins took over direction of the Lewis University Vocal Jazz Ensemble in the fall of 2009. Hawkins holds a master’s degree in educational administration from Governors State and a bachelor's degree in music education and trumpet performance from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill. He is currently director of choirs at Plainfield North High School. He is also director of the Plainfield Area Community Chorus. Hawkins is past president of the WIU Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, 1999-2000, and is the webmaster of the American Choral Directors Association, Illinois chapter (www.il-acda.org).

Musicologist Christopher Lowery holds a master’s degree in music history and literature from the University of Louisville and a bachelor’s degree from Truman State University. He also studied in Tokyo, Japan at Hosei University. A resident of Romeoville, Lowery belongs to the Midwest Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology. This fall Lowery is teaching a course on the History of African-American Music. The course will be offered again in the fall of 2010.

For more information about studying music at Lewis University visit the department’s web page www2.lewisu.edu/music/ or contact Dr. Lawrence Sisk at siskla@lewisu.edu.

A Catholic university sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Lewis offers nearly 80 undergraduate majors and programs of study, accelerated degree completion options for working adults, various aviation programs and 22 graduate programs in nine fields. The 10th largest private, not-for-profit university in Illinois is being honored for the sixth consecutive year by The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report.