Meet Our Team
Luke Rackers - Executive Director
Luke is passionate about new music and helping composers connect with performers, students & listeners. With a Masters of Fine Arts in music composition, Luke uses his education, experience in music as a performer, composer and educator, and expertise in a variety music business endeavors to help composers successfully present their artistic voice to the world. Luke has over a decade of experience in the music industry and loves learning about new ways to help promote and produce new musical works of art. Luke performs in a variety of ensembles including his new music ensemble, Musica Verto Novo, which performs many of the works in the Abundant Silence catalog. He composes primarily for solo piano and small ensemble. Finally, Luke spends much of his time as a recording and audio engineer, helping musicians, film producers and others capture high quality audio for their projects. He lives in Montpelier, VT and loves traveling to perform Abundant Silence works and sharing his vision for the organization.
Luke is passionate about new music and helping composers connect with performers, students & listeners. With a Masters of Fine Arts in music composition, Luke uses his education, experience in music as a performer, composer and educator, and expertise in a variety music business endeavors to help composers successfully present their artistic voice to the world. Luke has over a decade of experience in the music industry and loves learning about new ways to help promote and produce new musical works of art. Luke performs in a variety of ensembles including his new music ensemble, Musica Verto Novo, which performs many of the works in the Abundant Silence catalog. He composes primarily for solo piano and small ensemble. Finally, Luke spends much of his time as a recording and audio engineer, helping musicians, film producers and others capture high quality audio for their projects. He lives in Montpelier, VT and loves traveling to perform Abundant Silence works and sharing his vision for the organization.
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Andrea Pakieser - Development Consultant
Andrea is a writer, musician and teaching artist who is thrilled to be a part of the development team of Abundant Silence. She began working as a grant writer and fundraising assistant for arts and culture nonprofits in Chicago, then spent several years studying and performing in Europe. Now in Denver, she frequently performs with her jazz duo petit bleu and teaches creative writing and foreign language workshops through Think 360 Arts for Learning. She is inspired by the mission of Abundant Silence particularly through its initiatives to inspire artists, encourage creative play, and imagine a culture that stimulates and cherishes the works of living composers. http://think360arts.org/artists/andrea-pakieser/ |
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Meet our Board of Directors & Program Directors
Meet Our Advisory Board Members
Kevin Olson
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Kevin Olson is an active pianist, composer, and member of the piano faculty at Utah State University, where he teaches piano literature, pedagogy, and accompanying courses. In addition to his collegiate teaching responsibilities, Kevin directs the Utah State University Youth Conservatory, which provides weekly group and private piano instruction to more than 200 pre-college community students. The National Association of Schools of Music has recently recognized the Conservatory as a model for pre-college piano instruction programs. Before teaching at Utah State, he was on the faculty at Elmhurst College near Chicago and Humboldt State University in northern California.
A native of Utah, Kevin began composing at age five. When he was twelve, his composition, An American Trainride, received the Overall First Prize at the 1983 National PTA Convention at Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since then he has been a Composer in Residence at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and has written music commissioned and performed by groups such as the American Piano Quartet, Chicago a cappella, the Rich Matteson Jazz Festival, Music Teachers National Association, and several piano teacher associations around the country. |
Our board of directors, staff, program directors, artistic directors and advisory board members bring in expertise from a variety of musical and organizational backgrounds. If you are interested in volunteering for Abundant Silence or joining our team, please contact us today.
