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Mike Conrad
Member Since: 2017 | Location: Iowa City | Page Views: 1,047 
About Me
Mike Conrad is a composer, arranger, improviser, and professor from Iowa.
Mike Conrad is a composer and improviser currently serving as Associate Professor and Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Northern Iowa, where he earned the Outstanding Teacher Award in 2024. His compositions have garnered four ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards, a SONIC Award from the International Society of Jazz Arrangers & Composers, the 2023 Sammy Nestico Award, and many other accolades. Conrad’s music has been performed all over the world by ensembles including the Metropole Orkest (Netherlands), the United States Air Force Airmen of Note, the Count Basie Orchestra, and the Chris Washburne Octet at Carnegie Hall. Mike Conrad’s wide-ranging creative projects include his unique 15-piece group, the All Angles Orchestra (New Angle, 2017), the Iowa Jazz Composers Orchestra (Fertile Soil Suite, 2021; Our Harvest, 2026), reimaginations of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 and Ravel’s La Valse for the Berlin-based Stegreif Orchester (2019 and 2026), and two jazz trio albums (Reconnect, 2022; Pretzel Letters, 2025). He records and performs regionally on piano with groups like Christopher Merz’s “Shorter Stories,” the Jon Ailabouni Quintet, and Jackson Churchill’s “Good Question,” and has also performed and recorded with musicians such as Louis Hayes, Alexa Tarantino, and Greg Gisbert. His jazz festival appearances include the Umbria Jazz Festival, the Rochester International Jazz Festival, the Rockport Jazz Festival, the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, and the Iowa City Jazz Festival. Dr. Conrad earned degrees from the University Northern Iowa (BM and BME), the Eastman School of Music (MM), and the University of Northern Colorado (DA). He is in high demand as a clinician and guest director for jazz ensembles, including All-State Jazz Bands in Iowa (2023), North Dakota (2027) and South Dakota (2027). Mike lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa with his wife Ashley and their daughter Madeline.
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This page was last updated on 2026-10-16.
