FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Lissa May, associate dean for instruction and professor of music education at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, received the 2020 James B. Calvert Outstanding Music Educator Award Sunday evening during a concert by the Indiana Wind Symphony at the Palladium in Carmel.
The award was presented by Jacobs alumnus Jay Gephart, Purdue University director of bands, who was a Calvert Award honoree in 2018. May guest conducted the wind symphony in Clifton Williams’ “The Sinfonians.”
The Calvert Award honors the lifetime achievement of Indiana music educators at all educational levels. The 2020 presentation was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic concerns.
Also interim chair of the Jacobs Guitar Department, May served previously as the school’s director of undergraduate studies. Her responsibilities have also included teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in music education and placing and supervising student teachers of music.
As a jazz educator, May served as Jazz Band director at Oakland University, Michigan, while also serving as supervisor of fine arts for the Waterford School District. She is a former faculty member in band and jazz studies at Purdue University, where she directed the Purdue Jazz Band for its tour of Japan and China.
May’s publications include “Getting Started with Jazz,” compositions for band and jazz ensemble and music education research. She has made appearances as a clinician and guest conductor in 15 U.S. states, Brazil and China.
The late William Adam, legendary IU trumpet professor, was the first recipient of the James B. Calvert Outstanding Music Educator Award, in 2003.
Other Indiana University and Bloomington faculty who have received the Calvert Award include David Baker, Ray Cramer, James DeCaro, Stephen Pratt and Janis Stockhouse.
The Indiana Wind Symphony is an 80-piece concert band, music directed by Jacobs alumnus Charles Conrad, that is a resident ensemble at the Palladium of the Carmel Center for the Performing Arts.