John Climer

Director of Bands; Professor, Conducting
DMA (conducting) University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music
MM (conducting) University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
BM (music education, trombone) University of Akron

(414) 229-2936
Zelazo 348
climer@uwm.edu

John Climer is Director of Bands and Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. At UWM, Dr. Climer oversees all aspects of the University Bands ensembles and operations, guides the graduate wind-conducting program, and serves as conductor of the Wind Ensemble, the University’s premiere wind band. Dr. Climer recently completed a fourteen-year tenure at Ohio University as Professor of Music and Director of Bands. In addition to conducting the Ohio University Wind Ensemble, he served as Director of the New Music Ensemble and taught undergraduate and graduate courses in wind literature and conducting.

Dr. Climer maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor and clinician throughout the U.S. and Canada. He has served as a guest artist at numerous festivals, universities, and concert venues including the Eastman School of Music, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the University of South Florida, the Rocky Mountain Music Festival (Canada), Central Missouri State University, Cornell University (NY), Murray State University, East Tennessee State University, Fort Hays State University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City among others. Ensembles under his direction have performed for conferences of the College Band Directors National Association, the North Dakota Music Educators Association, the Ohio Music Educators Association and the Society of Composers Inc. A strong advocate for new music, Climer has been involved in numerous commissioning projects leading to works by composers Chen Yi (due in 2010), Akira Miyoshi, Warren Benson, Mark Phillips, Roberto Sierra, Walter Mays, Timothy Broege, Robert Rodriguez, Michael Schelle, and John Orfe.

Climer is Vice-President Elect of the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association and the former Editor of “The Report,” an online publication of CBDNA. He is the recipient of the 1997 Ohio University School of Music Distinguished Teaching Award, the 2001 Ohio University College of Fine Arts Outstanding Teacher Award, and the 2007 Outstanding Music Educator Alumni Award from the University of Akron.

Dr. Climer earned degrees from the University of Akron, Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music where he was a student of Gary W. Hill. He has served on the faculties of Ohio University, the University of North Dakota, Emory University (Atlanta GA), and Ohio Northern University; he is a former conductor of the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony.