Conductors

 

Philip Edelman, Conductor

Associate professor of music education and Director of the UMaine School of Performing Arts, Dr. Philip Edelman, joined the faculty of the SPA in the fall of 2016. His teaching responsibilities include music education, research methodology, and conducting courses, and he directs the UMaine Concert Band. He earned degrees from the University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance (Ph.D.), Kansas State University (MM), and the University of New Hampshire (BME). Before his appointment at the University of Maine, Dr. Edelman taught various courses in music education methods, field experiences, and music technology as part of his doctoral fellowship at the University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. While in Kansas City, Dr. Edelman served as the Roeland Park New Horizons Band conductor – an ensemble dedicated to collaborative music-making among adults over 50.
For seven years before his doctoral study, he was a director of instrumental music in the Goddard, Kansas, school district, teaching in all areas of the instrumental music program (band, orchestra, jazz band, marching band, and chamber music). Edelman’s research areas include lifelong music learning, undergraduate music education preparation, conductor decision-making, and the music student teaching experience. He is an active member of the National Association for Music Education, the College Band Directors National Association, and the American String Teachers Association.
Office: Class of 1944 Hall, Room 208 C

Contact Dr. Edelman

Scott Burditt, Associate Conductor

Maine native Scott Burditt has been a public and private school music teacher for over 40 years, working with students from grades 3 through college. He is the Principal Horn and Personnel Manager for the Bangor Symphony, Principal Horn, Associate Conductor and Librarian for the Bangor Band, and Horn instructor at the University of Maine. He holds a Master’s Degree in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Maine.

As a professional horn player, he has played with many of the performing groups in Maine, including the Portland Symphony Orchestra, the Bangor Symphony, Medomak Conductors Retreat, Maine State Music Theater, PORT Opera Orchestra, the Maine State Ballet Orchestra, the Bowdoin International Music Festival Orchestra, Atlantic Music Festival at Colby College, college orchestras, brass quintets, woodwind quintets, and community bands.

Contact Mr. Burditt

 

Curvin Farnham, Conductor Emeritus

Curvin Farnham is a Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Maine in Orono and the Conductor Emeritus of the Bangor Band. For twenty-four years, he was Director of Bands at the University of Maine and conducted the University Symphonic Band.

Professor Farnham received his B.M. in Music Education from the Northern Conservatory of Music and completed his graduate work at the Vandercook College of Music in Chicago. He has studied conducting with Richard Castiglione, formerly of the Boston Conservatory, and Anthony Maiello, Director of Instrumental Studies at George Mason University.

He is past president of the Maine Music Educators Association. In 1985, he was elected to the American School Band Directors Association, and in 1990, he became a member of Pi Kappa Lambda. Mr. Farnham holds memberships in the National Association for Music Education, the College Band Directors National Association, the New England College Band Directors Association, and the National Band Association. He holds honorary membership in both Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. The Maine Music Educators Association recognized him as Music Educator of the Year in Spring 2001 and selected him for their Hall of Fame in Spring 2013.

 

 

History of Conductors

  • 1859 W. T. Standish
  • 1859 E.H. Goodale
  • 1860-1883, 1888-1893 A. D. Harlow
  • 1862 H. S. Morey
  • 1867-1883, 1888-1893 Melville H. Andrews
  • 1867-1883 W. B. Peaks
  • 1867-1883 J. Phelps
  • 1867-1883, 1885 John M. Mullaly
  • 1867-1883 M. Nesbit
  • 1867-1883 J. Delaney
  • 1867-1883 C. E. Taylor
  • 1867-1883 S. Castledini
  • 1883-1886,1893-1897 R.B. Hall
  • 1887-1893 Frank L. Tuck
  • 1887 Steven Cream
  • 1888-1893 Fred Gilbert
  • 1888-1893 Edward L. Adams
  • 1888-1893 Oscar E. Wasgat
  • 1897-1903 Harvey J. Woods
  • 1903-1905 Knute Ringwald
  • 1905-1908 Howard C. Eaton
  • 1908-1949 Adelbert Sprague
  • 1950-1956 Francis G. Shaw
  • 1956 Sam Harris
  • 1957 Chuck Edgerly
  • 1958-1961 Harold Miller
  • 1961-1965 Jerome Campbell
  • 1961-1965 George Himes
  • 1965-1975 Harold Doe
  • 1975-1978, 1983, 1985-1997 Dr. Gordon W. Bowie
  • 1978-1983 Robert Collins
  • 1983, 2002-2005 Fred Heath
  • 1984 Aime Simoneau
  • 1998-2001 Jim Trembley
  • 2005-2012 Dr. Fred Goldrich
  • 2012-2022 Curvin “Chip” Farnham
  • 2022-present Philip B. Edelman