Terry Vosbein

New Orleans born composer, Terry Vosbein has received numerous commissions to write works from such organizations as the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art. He has arranged for such diverse groups as the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, the Virginia Choral Society, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He has composed works for orchestra, wind ensemble, various chamber ensembles, and choir. He has written works for jazz bands of all sizes. And his compositions have been performed all over the world.

“Stunning” is what jazz writer Will Friedwald wrote in the Wall Street Journal about Fleet Street, Vosbein’s second release with the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra. It is “full of surprises and is infused with a sense of humor that adds a special dimension that is too often missing in contemporary big band writing” (Joe Lang, Jersey Jazz). Of this setting of the music from Sweeney Todd, Jack Bowers (All That Jazz) said “the voice that emerges is unmistakably Vosbein’s, placing a fresh and indelible big-band stamp on Sondheim’s cogent narrative.”

Vosbein is one of the world’s leading authorities on jazz icon, Stan Kenton. He is the founder and curator of the Stan Kenton Research Center, the only center dedicated solely to the music and career of the legendary big band icon and music educator.

He is the co-leader of the Vosbein Magee Big Band, an ensemble made up of the top musicians in the area, performing his compositions and arrangements.

Vosbein has been awarded seven summer residencies at La Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. In the fall of 2001 he was awarded a fellowship at University College in Oxford, where he composed Masque for Cello and Orchestra. And his composition A Prayer for Peace, a reaction to the events of September 11th, continues to receive performances worldwide.

In addition to his activities as a composer, Vosbein was an active jazz bassist and arranger for over twenty-five years. He performed and arranged for a variety of ensembles, including the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Atlanta Pops. And he traveled “on the road” for many years, performing in a wide range of genres: country western twang, big band swing, disco fever, country club wallpaper, plus a never ending assortment of jazz combos and studio encounters.

When not spending his summers composing in exotic corners of the world, Vosbein is a professor of music in beautiful Lexington, Virginia. He received his Masters in Composition from James Madison University under the tutelage of John Hilliard, and his Doctorate in Composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was a student of Donald Erb. He resides in Staunton, Virginia with his wife, Shannon, and their Siberian husky, Luna.