Music Minor

Alvaro Garcia, native of Spain, studied conducting with Delta David Gier and Professors Lawrence Leighton Smith and Gustav Meier. He earned two Master of Music degrees from Yale University in viola and orchestral conducting in 1999 and 2001. Mr. Garcia has held positions as Assistant Conductor for the Yale Symphony Orchestra, the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut, and the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has also collaborated with conductors Ransom Wilson, Jesse Levine, Dante Anzolini, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Gustav Meier and Shinik Hahm.
Mr. Garcia has conducted the Yale Philharmonia, Solisti New York orchestra, Norwalk Symphony, Racine Symphony, Kenosha Symphony (Feb 2012), Daejeon Philharmonic – South Korea, and Festival des Artes Orchestra – Brazil. In addition to his conducting, he also performs viola in solo recitals and in chamber groups. As an international musician, Mr. Garcia has performed in Spain, Italy, England, Portugal, South Korea, Brazil, and throughout the United States of America.
Mr. Garcia has been actively involved as a music educator in the Kenosha and Racine communities in Wisconsin. He works as a clinician and educator at the middle, high and college level and he has conducted in several occasions the Kenosha Unified Orchestra Festival and the Racine Unified Orchestra Festival.
At the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, he conducted many opera and musical productions.
Alvaro Garcia is a Professor of Music and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at UW-Parkside. He is the music Director of the UW-Parkside Symphony and the UW-Parkside Community Orchestra, and teaches viola, chamber music, and digital orchestration.

Donna Hewitt serves as Chair of the Music Department and Coordinator of Music Education at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. She has thirteen years of public-school teaching experience and currently teaches preservice educators through courses such as Music Teaching and Learning, General Music Methods, and Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning. Her research interests center on popular music education and has publications in Music Educators Journal, Visions of Research in Music Education, and the Journal of Popular Music Education. She has also presented at conferences on the topics of social justice and activism in music.

Trumpeter Russ Johnson is a recent Midwest transplant after spending 23 years as an important member of New York City’s jazz community. He has 7 recordings as a leader or co-leader and performed on more than 75 recordings as a sideman. Russ has worked alongside many of the legendary figures in jazz including Lee Konitz, Steve Swallow, Bill Frisell, and Joe Lovano. In addition, he has recorded and/or performed with a long list of the most prominent musicians currently on the international jazz scene, including Myra Melford, Ken Vandermark, and Tony Malaby. Russ has performed in more than 40 countries across the globe. His groups have recently performed at the Chicago, Winter Jazz Fest (NYC) Hyde Park, (Chicago) and Bergamo, (Italy) jazz festivals.

His most recent recordings, Meeting Point (Relay Recordings) and Still Out To Lunch! (Enja Records) received 4 1/2 & 4 stars respectively from Down Beat Magazine and appeared on many “Best Recordings of 2014/5” lists including Down Beat, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, NYC Jazz Record and Magnet magazine. Russ will be releasing a new recording by his “Headlands” Quartet in 2017.

Russ is also active as an educator/clinician, having taught at colleges and universities across the U.S. and Europe. He currently serves as Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Wisconsin Parkside where he won the university wide “Stella Gray” Teaching Excellence award in 2016 as well as the 2020 Research and Creative Activity Award.

“He’s the best!” “Dr. Kinchen is enthusiastic. His passion rubs off on you.” “The professor really makes you want to do your best.” “Knows his stuff!” “Encyclopedic knowledge!” “Knows his stuff!”
These are among the comments used to describe the man affectionately known to many students and former students as “Doctor K.” He is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities since 1989 and is driven by his passion for music and for people, and for bringing people together to experience excellence in the choral art. He has conducted on the stages of Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York’s Lincoln Center. His choral travels have taken him to Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Austria, Cuba, India, and China. He has served as President of Wisconsin Choral Directors Association and the North Central Division of American Choral Directors Association and is in frequently demand as a clinician, guest conductor, and adjudicator. He is a frequent presenter at choral and music conferences and conventions, presenting on interpretation of the “spiritual” and other topics of interest to choral teachers and artists. He is also a member of Chorus America, the International Federation for Choral Music, the National Association for Music Education, Center for Black Music Research, and National Collegiate Choral Organization. He is on the Executive Board of Wisconsin Music Educators Association. He has won teaching excellence, faculty service, and diversity awards. He is most recently recipient of the Morris D. Hayes Award, given to an outstanding Wisconsin choral director by Wisconsin Choral Directors Association. He directs the three university choirs: University Chorale, Voices of Parkside, and Master Singers. He also teaches courses in conducting, choral conducting, choral teaching materials and methods, music appreciation, and African American music. He is pretty active on campus, too, joining various search committees and elected faculty committees, including the University Committee and Faculty Senate, which he presently serves. James Benjamin Kinchen, Jr., is a Jacksonville native who has studied at Jacksonville University, Southern Illinois University, and the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Before coming to UW-Parkside, he has taught and conducted music in Florida, Illinois, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Laura Rexroth joined the music faculty at the University of Wisconsin Parkside in 2014. In addition to her duties as conductor of the UW-Parkside Wind Ensemble and UW-Parkside Community Band, she teaches courses in world music, music education, music history, and conducting. Prior to her appointment at Parkside, Rexroth held conducting posts at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Central College in Iowa, and The College of William and Mary in Virginia.

Her university bands have been selected to perform at several College Band Directors National Association and National Association for Music Education conferences. She has also led high school band programs in Massachusetts, Illinois, and Minnesota. Rexroth has guest conducted district, regional, and all-state bands in several states, as well as the Valley Festival Brass, the U.S. Army Field Band, the United States Military Academy Band, the Colorado Intercollegiate Band, the U.S. Army Band, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Band, the Tactical Air Command Band, the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music Symphonic Band, the National Band Association-Wisconsin Chapter Intercollegiate Honor Band, the Virginia Symphony, and the St. Olaf Band. She has also been on the conducting faculty of the Hooked On Bands/New Horizons Band Camp in Door County, WI.

Rexroth did her studies in music education and conducting at St. Olaf College, Northwestern University, Indiana University, the Aspen Music School in Colorado, and the International Conductors Workshop in Zlin, Czech Republic. Her conducting teachers include Miles Johnson, Steven Amundson, John Paynter, Ray Cramer, David Effron, and Paul Vermel.

An advocate for new music, Rexroth has commissioned and conducted works from numerous composers, most recently Shuying Li, Jennifer Jolley, Jodie Blackshaw, Tim Mahr, Ryan George, James Crowley, Daron Hagen and Anthony O’Toole. She has taught conducting workshops in Missouri, New Hampshire, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts.

Rexroth enjoys collaborating with colleagues and guest artists, including Gaudette Brass, Ed Shaughnessy, JoAnn Falletta, Paul Vermel, Steven Bryant, David Bayles, Russ Johnson, Ami Bouterse, and Jana Batty. In addition to regular concerts, Rexroth’s bands have performed for numerous special occasions and guests, including Jane Goodall, Warren Burger, Lady Margaret Thatcher, and HRH Prince Charles.