Meet the Dance Faculty!

Calling all dancers! The dance faculty for the 2013 Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute has been announced.  Daniel Squire, the 2012 OSAI modern dance instructor, will return for another fantastic summer.  Ballet students can look forward to studying with Brian Reeder, former New York City ballet dancer.

Dance auditions take place at Tulsa Ballet on January 27 and at Oklahoma City Ballet on March 2.  Apply online and schedule your audition now at WWW.OAIQUARTZ.ORG.  Dancers with backgrounds in ballet and modern dance are encouraged to apply for both disciplines.

Daniel Squre, Modern Dance
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Daniel Squire was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire. He studied dance at White Lodge & Rambert, acting at The Barrow Group and the Atlantic Theater Company, and Acting Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He has performed with the West Riding Sinfonia, Royal Military School of Music, Michael Clark, Matthew Hawkins, Ian Spink, Merce Cunningham, Kimberly Bartosik, Magnetic Laboratorium, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, and John Kelly, among others. He has performed at venues including Wellholme Park, Royal Festival Hall, Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, Glyndebourne Opera House, Brixton Academy, Riverside Studios, Palais Garnier, Théâtre de la Ville, Staatsoper am Gärtnerplatz, Roundhouse, Barbican, Tate Modern, Edinburgh's Festival Theatre, the Kennedy Center, New York State Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, City Center, and Rose Theater. Squire has appeared with Radiohead, John Paul Jones, Sigur Rós, Sonic Youth, Alan Opie, Robert Tear, and Michael Chance. Squire lives in New York City, where he stages the work of Merce Cunningham and works as a dancer, teacher, videographer, filmmaker, editor, and actor.

Brian Reeder, Ballet

Born in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, Brian Reeder began his dance training with Marcia Dale Weary at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. He had the privilege of a dance career that saw him mainly at three widely respected dance companies: New York City Ballet (1986–1990), William Forsythe's Ballet Frankfurt (1990–1993) and American Ballet Theatre (1994–2003). During his time with these companies, questing gigs and international dance festivals, he danced numerous ballets and featured roles in the works of past and present dance masters.  As a choreographer, beginning in 2002, he has created or re-staged his ballets on American Ballet Theatre, ABT Studio Co., and many more. His work has been produced three times for the "Works and Process" series at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. He has been involved with ABT's Summer Intensives for several years, teaching for its college program and five-week NYC program; and he acted as the coordinating director for Dance Bermuda, ABT's International Summer Intensive. Brian is also on faculty as a teacher and the current resident choreographer for The Manhattan Youth Ballet.

2013 OSAI Orchestra Conductor -- Meet Scott Parkman!

Scott Parkman, photo by Chris Macke

The Oklahoma Arts Institute is thrilled to announce that the 2013 OSAI orchestra conductor will be Scott Parkman from Boston, Massachusetts!  A conductor of remarkable versatility and exemplary musicianship, Scott Parkman is widely recognized for his engaging style and welcoming rapport with audiences. Critically acclaimed for his interpretation of the standard repertoire, Mr. Parkman is gaining recognition for his innovative enterprise and efforts to examine and perform the hundreds of works by 20th century American classical composers - music that is generally underrepresented on today's concert programs.

Mr. Parkman is the founding Artistic and Executive Director of American Century Music (ACM) an organization dedicated to performing the works of 20th century American composers. Launched in 2010, ACM is uniquely designed to work with a wide array of musicians and institutions, presenting repertoire ranging from solo instrument to full orchestra.

Mr. Parkman also has command over a large breadth of the traditional repertoire. During his tenure as Assistant Conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (2003-2008), he led the orchestra in over 150 performances, including major works by Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner. He also performed works by Adams, Eisler, Reich and Rouse on the SLSO contemporary chamber music series at St. Louis's Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. As Music Director of the highly regarded Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra during the same period, Mr. Parkman performed Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with internationally-acclaimed soprano, Christine Brewer, and premiered several new compositions, including Fêtes and Fireworks by American composer Robert Pound, and his own work, Toward.

As an international guest conductor Mr. Parkman has led the New Zealand Symphony, Hong Kong New Art Camerata, and the Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra. In the United States his engagements include the Minnesota Orchestra, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Lubbock, and Oakland East Bay Symphonies, Oakland Ballet, and the Sacramento and Palo Alto Philharmonic Orchestras.

You can learn more about Scott Parkman at his website, http://www.scottparkman.com/index.php.