Dr. Brian Pfoltner, adjunct professor of music at Concordia, has been recognized by the Nebraska Arts Council's 2008 Individual Artist Fellowship program as a Distinguished Artist. The award comes with a $5,000 fellowship.
"I was very surprised," said Pfoltner, who also serves as director of music at First Presbyterian Church in Lincoln, Neb. "I have submitted material before but have never won. It is very affirming."
The NAC's Individual Artist Fellowship Program annually recognizes outstanding accomplishments by artists in their fields of endeavor. It is a competitive program with completed materials submitted by the artists to be judged by a panel of peers. This year, the categories of performing arts and filmmaking were judged. Every three years, the program rotates through literature and the visual arts as well.
"I only entered one work this time. It is called "Light From Out of Darkness: The Promise of Christmas," and was written a few years ago for the First-Plymouth Choir and Brass in Lincoln. It was a recent work, and I felt it was the best thing I had written, so it was an easy choice to submit."
The judges who reviewed Pfoltner's entry included Meira Warshauer, professional musician and composer; Jon Tuttle, professional playwright and professor at Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C.; Booth Chilcutt, director of cultural affairs for the city of Sumter, S.C.
"I think the most gratifying part of this is that a group of people from outside the area, with no knowledge of me or my work, found merit in something I wrote," said Pfoltner. Pfoltner commented that it is difficult to become well-known composer, someone directors will turn to. "I hope it will lend credence to my compositions with other people or groups outside the area who may then consider performing my pieces and possibly commissioning me to write new ones for them."
Pfoltner has put his composition skills to work at Concordia since 1993, creating works for the University Wind Ensemble and teaching courses in composition and arranging. He has also taught brass techniques and directed jazz band, chamber orchestra, and brass ensembles at Concordia.
This is the second year in a row that a NAC award has been given to member of Concordia's faculty. James Bockelman, associate professor of art at Concordia University, Nebraska, was named as one of the two 2007 Individual Artist Fellowships Merit Award winners by the Nebraska Arts Council, honored for his painting and drawing.