Professor
Flute
Contact Information
Cogswell Hall 309
Courses
Applied Flute
Flute Ensemble
Theory Skills
Degrees
DMA, The Ohio State University
MM, University of Wyoming
BM, University of Northern Colorado
Biography
Therese Wacker is professor of Music at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a flutist with the Keystone Chamber Players and the Keystone Winds. A graduate of the University of Northern Colorado, she received her MM from the University of Wyoming and her DMA from The Ohio State University.
Wacker is an active performer and clinician in the Western Pennsylvania area. She has been a frequent soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of the Alleghenies and the IUP Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, Concert Band, and Jazz Ensemble and is principal flute with the Altoona Symphony Orchestra. Wacker enjoys presenting master classes, especially with emphasis on the piccolo. She has been an artist/clinician for Allegheny College's Summer Chamber Music Festival, the Allegheny College Adult Band Camp, Western Colorado University (Gunnison, CO), Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Dayton, the University of Akron, West Virginia University, and Universidad de las Americas (Puebla, Mexico). As an adjudicator, Wacker has served for the Central Ohio Flute Festival, Pittsburgh Flute Festival, and the Lima Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition and the MTNA Competition (state and regional), among others.
She is a winner or finalist in several competitions, including the Fischoff chamber music competition, MTNA, and the Denver CAS concerto competition. Her doctoral thesis, "The Piccolo in the Chamber Music of the Twentieth Century, An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Works," is a comprehensive guide to chamber music of the twentieth century, which includes piccolo and a history of the instrument. She has also published several articles on this subject in Flute Talk and the Instrumentalist. She is co-author of The Complete Piccolo, which was compiled and edited by Jan Gippo (published by Theodore Presser). She commissioned and premiered Bruce Yurko's "Concerto for Piccolo/Flute and Wind Ensemble" in February 2003. On October 10, 2010, she performed the world premiere of Eric Ewazen's "Concerto for Piccolo and Wind Ensemble," which is the result of three years' collaboration with the composer and Jan Gippo (former piccoloist with the St. Louis Symphony). She released her first solo compact disc, Impressions... Original Works for Piccolo and Piano, in October 2011. Other premieres include "Giantess," by Carter Pann (commissioned by the New Flute Music Consortium); and "Ballade for Alto Flute, Flugelhorn and Piano," by Daniel Dorff (co-commissioned with Dr. Kevin Eisensmith).
Wacker is the former principal flute/piccolo of the Air Force Band of Flight. She performed as a frequent soloist with the Band of Flight and taught master classes throughout the United States. She also served as the non-commissioned officer in charge of the Huffman Prairie Winds, the Band of Flight's Woodwind Quintet. As a member of the Air Force Band, she recorded seven CDs, including one for the Huffman Prairie Winds