Jeffrey Renshaw

Jeffrey Renshaw is acclaimed by critics as a conductor whose performances are “ both atmospheric and incisive; tender and gentle and simply beautiful; refreshes the senses,” and is respected worldwide for his dynamic interpretations and extensive command of wind ensemble and contemporary repertoire. His ability to bring out vibrant colors and textures in a wide-range of works, coupled with his expertise in 20th and 21st century music, have earned him a strong following internationally as a conductor, pedagogue, arranger and author.

He received ahis Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in conducting from the Eastman School of Music. His 1993 appointment as wind ensemble conductor and associate professor of music at the University of Connecticut followed a position at the Eastman School of Music as Assistant Professor of Conducting and Ensemble Coordinator.

As a champion of new music, he has conducted over fifty world premieres. Compositions have been written for him by Pulitzer Prize winning composers Joseph Schwantner, John Harbison, and Morton Gould, as well as Warren Benson, Samuel Adler, Anthony Iannaccone, Daniel Kellogg, Frank Ticheli, Betsy Schramm, Thomas Duffy, Michael Torke, Karim Al-Zand, Gabriela Frank, Orriana Webb, Daniel Kellogg, Lowell Liebermann, Christopher Rousse and Jared Spears.

Acknowledged as one of the foremost pedagogs in conducting, he is in wide demand as a conducting clinician and is the only artist-clinician in conducting for the Yamaha Corporation of America. In 1996, at the request of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Dr. Renshaw and the University Wind Ensemble performed at Carnegie Hall to a standing room only audience of the nation’s musical elite in a Tribute to Morton Gould. In the spring of 2001, Dr. Renshaw was selected to work with Maestro Pierre Boulez at Carnegie Hall on the composer’s own Le Marteau sans maître. Dr. Renshaw and the University Wind Ensemble are the winners of the 2002 and 2005 Downbeat Magazine Student Music Award for the Best Classical Instrumentalists. The Wind Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra returned to Carnegie Hall in the Fall of 2005 with an evening of new works commissioned by Dr. Raymond and Beverly Sackler.
Dr. Renshaw has published numerous articles for the Journal of Band Research, the Instrumentalist Magazine, for which he serves as a contributing editor, and has contributed several articles to the five volumes of Teaching Music through Band Performance. His extensive research on wind band music has lead to the publication of books on repertoire, interpretation, and conducting technique. An accomplished arranger, his music has been recorded by the Eastman Wind Ensemble on the CBS/Sony Masterworks label and is published by Ludwig Music Publishers and Counterpoint Music Publishing. Performances of his ensembles and arrangements have been broadcast throughout Europe, Australia, Japan, the Netherlands and in the United States on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” and WGBH Boston’s “Art of the States”. At the University of Connecticut, he is conductor of the University Wind Ensemble and teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting classes.