Faculty & Staff Directory | Department of Fine Arts

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Education

M.F.A. Theatre Arts - Acting Focuses: Stanislavski-based acting process, Alexander technique, Linklater-based vocal training, and neutral and character mask work. University of Louisville, 1993. B.F.A. Theatre Arts Valdosta State College, 1986.

Professional Associations

Board Member, South Carolina Theatre Association Member, Southeastern Theatre Conference Member, South Carolina Scriptwriters, Inc. Member, Theatre Communications Group

Lion in Winter

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Education

B.Mus.Ed., North Greenville University

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Education

D.M.A., University of Memphis

Biography

Brandon Goff (b.1973) is a composer with an often dramatic and always distinctive voice. Goff has been the recipient of numerous awards and commissions including the Arnold Sallop Prize for Composition, the Smit Award, the ASU Graduate Composer Award, as well as being named a finalist in the BMG Young Composers Competition and the ASCAP Morton Gould competition. Goff's music has been widely performed with numerous premiers in the United States as well as Europe and Asia. Holding both a B.M. and M.M. from Arkansas State University, Goff earned his D.M.A. from the University of Memphis where his principle instructors have included Kamran Ince, John Baur, Jared Spears, and Tom O'Connor. Recent commissions have included "Corpus Christi" for full chorus and orchestra composed for the city of Corpus Christi Chorale.

Along with his accomplishments as a composer, Goff is also a prolific performer and producer. As the owner of Poppsycho Studios he has innumerable production credits to his name. Recent projects have included Kyle Thomas/ Not Alone and Doug Pierce/ This Time of Year, both on Loop Road Records. Production on Radiant by the artist Gracyn Denbesten was recently completed and will be released fall 2011. Goff has performed and toured world-wide with the pop group Pierce, with whom he produced and released numerous albums. Goff is also the co-founder and co-owner of Poppsycho Records, a Memphis-based independent record label.

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www.PAGualdi.com

Education

D.M.A., University of Georgia

Biography

Italian pianist Paolo André Gualdi has played recitals in Italy, France, Brazil and the United States for music organizations such as A.Gi.Mus., Accademia Ori, and Accademia Amadeus (Italy); Universidade Federal do Rio Grande so Sul and Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (Brazil); Musée Würth (France); International Piano Series of Charleston, American Liszt Society, Cincinnati Conservatory, and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival (U.S.A.). He has also appeared with many orchestras including the Georgia Philharmonic, Wilmington Symphony, Atlanta Philharmonic, Florence Symphony, DeKalb Symphony, and the Universidade de Caxias do Sul Symphony Orchestra. He has recorded for Mark Records and IFO Classics, and his performances have been broadcasted by radios such as NPR and Radio Vaticana.

Gualdi began studying piano with his father at the age of five, and continued at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy. He earned his Piano Diploma with highest honours at the Conservatory Arrigo Boito in Parma with Roberto Cappello. While in the U.S., he earned a Masters Degree in Piano Performance at Carnegie Mellon University under the tutelage of Enrique Graf, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance at the University of Georgia with Evgeny Rivkin. He has also studied with world-renown pianists György Sandor, Earl Wild, Menahem Pressler, Sergio Perticaroli, and has worked extensively with Carlo Maria Dominici (a pupil of Michelangeli and Rosina Lhévinne).

He has won the top prize in numerous piano competitions, including the European Competition of Ostuni, the Altruda National Competition of Vasto and the Françoise Grimaldi National Competition of San Polo. Winning the “De Martino Award” at the Ibla International Piano Competition enabled him to study at Elon University in North Carolina. During this period he won the First Prize in the 15th Bartók-Kabalevsky International Competition in Virginia.

Gualdi regularly gives master classes and lectures nationally and internationally at universities, conservatories and other music institutes, including New Mexico State University and College of Charleston (U.S.A.); the universities of Porto Alegre, Santa Maria and Campinas (Brazil); Cittadella della Musica (Italy), and others. Having previously served on the faculties of Elon University, Emmanuel College and Oxford College of Emory University, he is currently Associate Professor of Music at Francis Marion University and founder and artistic director of the South Carolina Chamber Music Festival.

[caption id="attachment_26475" align="aligncenter" width="600"] South Carolina Chamber Music Festival[/caption]

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B.S., Music Industry, Francis Marion University

M.M., Music Composition, University of Memphis

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Ph.D., American Studies of Jazz and Politics, College of William and Mary

M.A., American Studies, College of William and Mary

B.A., History and Music, University of Richmond

Outside of the classroom, Dr. Brian Jones has worked as a freelance drummer with a wide variety of musicians ranging from John Abercrombie to Houston Person. He has toured professionally, writing music and performing jazz and avant-garde pieces, as well as producing over twenty-five records for his own Slang Sanctuary label.

Brian Jones joined the faculty of Francis Marion University in 2022 to take part in the developing Music Industry program.

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Education

DMA in Percussion Performance/Pedagogy from the University of South Carolina

Master of Music degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Florida

Bachelors of Science in Music Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham

Biography

Shane Reeves, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, completed his DMA in Percussion Performance at the University of South Carolina with a minor in music theory. He also holds a Master of Music degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Florida and a Bachelors of Science in Music Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His primary teachers include Eric Hollenbeck, Gene Fambrough, Ken Broadway, Scott Herring, and Jim Hall. In addition, Shane has studied drum set and hand percussion with Rick Dior, West African percussion with master drummer Amara Camara and Brazilian percussion with Larry Crooke.

Shane has performed at many conferences and conventions including the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the College Music Society National Conference, the South Carolina Chamber Music Festival, the Society of Composers National Conference, the International Conference on Thinking, the North Charleston Arts Festival, the Savannah College of Art and Design International Festival, the McCormick Marimba Festival, the Florence Arts International Festival, and the Southern Baptist Convention. He has also performed with a variety of musical ensembles including the Central Florida Symphony, Fayetteville Symphony, Gainesville Chamber Orchestra, Palmetto Opera, South Carolina Philharmonic, Wilmington Symphony, J’Ouvert Steel Band, Pantasia Steel Band, Sunshine Steelers, Jacare Brazil, and the Woyate West African Drum and Dance Ensemble. As a member of the Florence Symphony Orchestra, Shane has shared the stage with Art Garfunkel, The Indigo Girls, Point of Grace, and Cirque Musica. He was also featured as a soloist with the Florence Symphony in a performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto. As a member of the USC wind ensemble, Shane participated in a recording of the music of Leonard Bernstein for the Naxos label and was the principal percussionist during the ensemble’s concert tour of China. Shane has also given recitals and clinics at universities throughout the United States.

As an educator, Shane has taught percussion at various middle and high schools in Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina. During his time as a graduate assistant at the University of Florida, he taught percussion methods classes and the beginner steel band. Currently, Shane is on the faculty at Francis Marion University and is the principal percussionist for the Florence Symphony Orchestra, principal timpanist for the Masterworks Choir, and drummer for the experimental rock group Yellodrama. Shane endorses Black Swamp Percussion, Evans Drumheads, and Innovative Percussion and is a member of the Percussive Arts Society, the College Music Society, and the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors.