UW Major: Music Performance
Age: 37 |
Tuscaloosa, AL
Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alabama
Demondrae Thurman hits
so many notes in his busy life that the cadence belies the mellow tones of his
horn, the euphonium. A brass instrument smaller than a tuba, the euphonium is
rarely called upon in a symphony orchestra's repertoire, but Thurman's solo and
quartet prowess has brought the instrument onto center stage. Its sound has
taken him across the world for performances and clinics: France, Germany,
England, Norway, Hungary, and China.
From backing up the
Temptations to performing at Madison's Chazen Art Museum, Thurman acts as a
role model for young African-American musicians, keeps a busy teaching
schedule, and recently became director of the University of Alabama Symphony
Orchestra. Thurman also excels at the trombone, baritone, and bass trumpet.
Thurman is a founding
member and musical leader of the internationally acclaimed Sotto Voce Quartet,
which features two euphoniums and two tubas. The group has three recordings on
a major brass recording label with Thurman featured on two solo efforts. (Hear
him play at demondrae.com.)
Thurman's teaching is
renowned, and his students in low brass performance have been nationally
recognized. John Stevens, UW professor of music and a mentor to Thurman, says
his former student is highly regarded internationally as a performer and
teacher: "In reality, he has occupied a position of extremely high esteem
in the field since his mid-twenties," Stevens says.
Thurman has been a
leading advocate for the euphonium and its increasing popularity through
commissioning or premiering more than ten new works for solo euphonium or
euphonium in a chamber setting.
The musician's ties to
Madison, his colleagues, and teachers is tight, despite the fact that he had
never visited Madison or even spent more than two weeks outside of his hometown
of Tuscaloosa before his graduate studies began. His former classmates are now
his musical collaborators. Stevens, whom Thurman says "is like a father to
me," wrote the music for Sotto Voce's first CD and Thurman's first solo
CD. The Alabama professor's most recent CD features Martha Fischer, UW
associate professor of collaborative piano.
"The same people who have had such a great
impact on my professional life have also become some of my dearest
friends," Thurman says.
What is the one thing every UW student
must do?
Every UW student must
go to the farmers' market at the Capitol on Saturday mornings in fall. There is
nothing like that anywhere!
What do you do in your free time?
I wish I had free
time, but when I carve it out, I tend to watch or play sports. I'm fond of
boxing, basketball and football.
What was your first job?
Picking up trash from
major highways as a 15-year-old.
What's your guilty pleasure?
CHOCOLATE CHIP
COOKIES! Warm them, please.
If you could trade places with any person
for a week, with whom would it be?
Mike Tyson — I would
like to have offered his mind and body the notion that with hard work,
dedication, and a good environment along with his talent, he could have been
the greatest boxer and one of the greatest ambassadors the world has seen.
