feels comfortable in more than one setting—musically and
personally.
Jeff grew up where Bluegrass and traditional string band music
thrived. Given his first mandolin at the age of 7 by a neighbor
(Sherman Poff, to whose memory
Partners In Time
is dedicated),
he moved quickly into the world of fiddlers’ conventions and
contests, winning his first mandolin competition before reaching
his teens.
As he grew older, he added the fiddle to his instrumental arsenal
and joined the New Grass Revue—yet at the same time, he took
up the clarinet and began to perform with his high school’s
symphonic band. Even as he was immersing himself in the
classical repertoire, he continued to gain attention as a mandolin
and fiddle player.
By the time he graduated he had his sights firmly set on a musical
career, and in 1981 Midkiff began studies at Virginia Tech,
eventually earning a degree in music education and performance.
Yet even as he was immersing himself in the classical repertoire,
he continued to gain attention as a mandolin and fiddle player
with the McPeak Brothers, a widely respected bluegrass group
with whom he made his first serious recording in 1982 (five
selections from that album are included on Rebel Records’ McPeak
Brothers: Classic Bluegrass CD).
In 1983 he joined the Lonesome River Band, which would
eventually become one of bluegrass’s most acclaimed groups. For
the next five years, as he completed his education and started
working as a music instructor, he performed with the LRB,
recording two albums with the group, including its self-titled Rebel
Records debut in 1987. Shortly after that, he enrolled in graduate
school at Northern Illinois University, earning his Master’s degree
in clarinet at the end of the decade—but though the move meant
leaving the LRB, he continued to perform with an Illinois bluegrass
band, Bluegrass Express.
During the early part of the 1990s, Jeff lived in Florida and
performed clarinet with the Naples Philharmonic and later moved
to northern Virginia area to be an orchestra director in the Fairfax
County schools. “I went a good five years without opening my
mandolin case,” he notes, “and as a full-time teacher in northern
Virginia, I wasn’t playing much clarinet, either.” An appearance
with the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
reawakened his passion for the latter, and in 1995 he moved to
the Chicago area to revive his performance career — on the
clarinet only, he thought, but ultimately on the mandolin and
fiddle, too. Busy as a clarinetist with area ensembles and as a
youth orchestra conductor and educator, he was drafted in 1998
by The Schankman Twins, a California-based bluegrass duo now
signed to Rounder Records.
“All of a sudden I was getting these ideas for tunes, and as soon as
I started getting creative, I thought, I need to start recording.” He
was writing a lot, too. “All of a sudden I was getting these ideas for
tunes, and as soon as I started getting creative, I thought, I need to
start recording.” He has appeared several times with the
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra on mandolin, and likewise in the
Roanoke Symphony Orchestra's clarinet section since 1980. In
2006, Jeff moved back to his hometown of Roanoke, Virginia. Jeff
is an orchestra director in the Roanoke City Schools.
Jeff Midkiff's
Concerto for Mandolin and Orchestra
, “From the Blue
Ridge,” was composed in 2011 as a commission from David
Stewart Wiley and the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. The first
performance was immediately hailed as an exciting and necessary
addition to the concerto repertoire for mandolin and orchestra,
and is now being performed all over the U.S.. Jeff Midkiff's
Double
Concerto for Violin and Mandolin
will premiere with the Roanoke
Symphony Orchestra in Roanoke and Blacksburg from November
9-11, 2014.
Jay Durner, Music Director and Conductor
of the
Blacksburg Community Band, began his music evolution from
performer to teacher, director, and conductor at an early age. His
lifelong involvement within multiple music disciplines has allowed
him to bring his understanding of music and his leadership
experience to a variety of musical venues in the region. Currently,
he also serves as an instrumental music teacher at Floyd County
High School, and as president of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Music
Festival Board of Directors.
Originally from Allentown, Pennsylvania, Durner began his
professional career teaching high school music in New Jersey. This
was followed by several years of teaching at the college level, but
ultimately Durner returned to the high school arena where he
directed award winning concert and jazz bands, as well as a
championship high school marching band.
Paralleling Durner’s public school career was his 30 year tenure as
music director and conductor of The Pioneer Band of Allentown.
During that time, he oversaw the production of several recordings,
numerous exchange concerts with other community bands, and
multiple performance tours of Germany. Each year the band
performed approximately 35 concerts in venues ranging from local
parks and concert halls to the Ellipse at the White House in
Washington D.C.
Durner has also been active in the area of Music Theater. He has
produced and/or directed over thirty full scale musical productions
at the high school level and served as music director for
Community Theater and the Municipal Opera Company in
Allentown, PA. He has been a guest conductor for a variety of
honor bands, a trombone clinician, and an adjudicator for concert,
jazz, and marching bands.
Since moving to Virginia, Durner has continued to be active as a
guest conductor, working with the Winds of the Blue Ridge
Concert Band, and the Highty-Tighties Marching Band at Virginia
Tech. He has also been the Music Director for Blacksburg’s
Summer Musical Enterprise productions of
The Pajama Game,
Peter Pan,
and
Cinderella
.
Throughout his career, Durner has had wonderful opportunities to
study with some of the best conductors the band world has to
offer, including Dr. Frederick Fennell, John Paynter, Anthony
Maiello and Colonel Arnald Gabriel. He holds degrees in music
education, conducting, and education administration from
Moravian College, The College of New Jersey, and East
Stroudsburg University. He is also a member of the National Band
Association, the National Association for Music Education and the
Association of Concert Bands.
Currently residing in Floyd County, Virginia, Durner and his wife,
Chris, have six children and are grandparents to nine
grandchildren. In his spare time, Durner enjoys tinkering in his
woodshop, travelling around the US to visit family, watching the
Philadelphia Eagles, and refining his piano skills.
