Brett Dietz

Carolyn Mattax Professor of Percussion

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Biography

Brett William Dietz is the Carolyn Mattax Professor of Percussion at the Louisiana State University School of Music. He is the music director of Hamiruge (the LSU Percussion Group). He earned the Bachelor of Music in Percussion and the Master of Music in Composition/Theory from the Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University. In 2004, Dietz earned his Doctorate of Music from Northwestern University. He has studied percussion with Jack DiIanni, Andrew Reamer, Stanley Leonard, and Michael Burritt while his principal composition teachers include Joseph W. Jenkins, David Stock, and Jay Alan Yim.

Dietz is in demand as a clinician and soloist throughout the United States and abroad. Recent performances have taken him Paris, France (perKumania International Percussion Festival), Bongkok, Thailand (College Music Society International Conference), and General Roca, Argentina (Patagonia International Percussion Festival), and appearances at Carnegie Hall (New York City). He has performed at several Percussive Arts Society International Conventions and is a founding member of the Tempus Fugit Percussion Ensemble. TFPE has performed throughout the United States and Europe and has released two compact discs (Tempus Fugit and Push Button, Turn Crank) that have received great critical acclaim. Dietz has released numerous compact disks with ;Cat Crisis Records including Seven Ghosts: The Percussion Music of Brett William Dietz, In Motion: The Percussion Music of David Stock, and Nocturne.

An avid composer, Dietz's music has been performed throughout the United States, Europe, East Asia and Australia by numerous ensembles including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Winston-Salem Orchestra, Dallas Wind Symphony, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Arizona MusicFest, Eastman Wind Ensemble, National Wind Ensemble, North Texas Wind Symphony, New Music Raleigh, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, River City Brass Band, Northwestern University Wind Symphony, Duquesne University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Louisiana State University Wind Ensemble. His compositions have been featured at the 1998 College Band Directors National Association Eastern Division Conference, and the 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Dietz's composition, Pandora's Box received its New York Premiere at Carnegie Hall by the National Wind Ensemble conducted by H. Robert Reynolds. His opera Headcase was premiered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Called "haunting and powerful – a remarkably sophisticated score that blends words, music and visual displays to touch the heart and mind” by the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, the opera relives the story of the stroke Dietz suffered in 2002.

He was a recipient of the 2005 Merrill Jones Young Composers Band Composition Contest, the 2002 H. Robert Reynolds Composition Contest, 3rd Place Winner of the 2002 Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest, and the 2001 Pittsburgh Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts. His composition five-0 for brass quintet received an award from WFMT (Chicago Classical Radio) and was premiered live on the air as part of the station's 50th anniversary (2001). He has also received numerous teaching awards at Louisiana State University including the 2010 School of Music Teaching Excellence Award and the 2011 LSU Alumni Association Faculty Excellence Award.

In addition to his work at Louisiana State University, he has also served on the music faculties of Duquesne University, Westminster College (New Wilmington, PA), and the Merit School of Music in Chicago. Dietz endorses Pearl/Adams Percussion, Vic Firth Sticks, and Zildjian Cymbals. When not composing, performing, or teaching, he spends all of his free time with his wife Jennifer, his son Owen, and his daughter Tessa.