Alumni

Jon Bellona

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Kyle Chattleton

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Victoria Clark

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Amy Coddington

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Kevin Davis

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Stephanie Doktor

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Jarek Paul Ervin

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Liza Flood

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Steven Lewis

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Christopher Luna-Mega

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Ben Robertson

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Rachel Rome

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Tracey Stewart

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Max Tfirn

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Kristina Warren

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Lydia Warren

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Faculty, Emeritus

Donald Loach

Professor Emeritus

Judith Shatin

Professor Emeritus, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Kate Tamarkin

Professor Emeritus and Music Director Laureate of the Charlottesville Symphony

Donald Loach

Professor Emeritus

Judith Shatin

Professor Emeritus, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Kate Tamarkin

Professor Emeritus and Music Director Laureate of the Charlottesville Symphony

Faculty

JoVia Armstrong

Assistant Professor

Ayn Balija

Associate Professor

Pamela Beasley

Instuctor, Voice

Calvin Brown

Instructor, Jazz Piano

Matthew Burtner

Professor, Eleanor Shea Professor of Music (Composition & Computer Technologies)

A.D. Carson

Assistant Professor of Hip Hop and the Global South

Adam Carter

Associate Professor

Jiyeon Choi

Lecturer, Clarinet

Ted Coffey

Chair, Professor (Composition & Computer Technologies)

John D'earth

Senior Lecturer, Director of Jazz Performance

Luke Dahl

Assistant Professor (Composition & Computer Technologies), Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering by courtesy appointment

Nomi Dave

Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Professor (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Scott DeVeaux

Professor (Critical & Comparative Studies)

I-Jen Fang

Associate Professor

Bonnie Gordon

Associate Professor (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Kelly Gross

Instructor, Piano

Karl Hagstrom Miller

Associate Professor (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Cody Halquist

Lecturer in Horn

Anastasia Jellison

Instructor, Harp

Robert Jospé

Lecturer, Groove Percussion

Colin Killalea

Saxophone Instructor

Michelle Kisliuk

Associate Professor (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Andrew Koch

Assistant Professor and Associate Director of Bands

Nathaniel Lee

Lecturer, Trombone

Noel Lobley

Assistant Professor (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Fred Maus

Director of Undergraduate Programs, Associate Professor (Critical & Comparative Studies)

John Mayhood

Lecturer, Piano

Maximillian McNutt

Lecturer in Trumpet

Nicole Mitchell Gantt

Professor (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Barbara Moore

Instructor, Piano & Organ

Stephanie Nakasian (aka Patricia O'Brien)

Instructor, Non-Classical Voice

Chris Owens

Instructor, Voice

Elizabeth Ozment

Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor of Music

Brenda Patterson

Instructor, Voice

Kelly Peral

Lecturer, Oboe

Michael Puri

Associate Professor (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Leah Reid

Assistant Professor of Composition

Elizabeth Roberts

Senior Lecturer, Bassoon

Michael Rosensky

Instructor, Guitar (Jazz & Classical)

Benjamin Rous

Associate Professor of Music (Conducting) and Music Director of the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia

David Sariti

Interim Director of Performance and Associate Professor

Daniel Sender

Associate Professor

Michael Slon

Professor, Director of Choral Music

Peter Spaar

Senior Lecturer, Double Bass

Kelly Sulick

Senior Lecturer, Flute

Elliott Tackitt

Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands

Richard Will

Professor (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Michele Zaccagnini

Lecturer (Composition and Computer Technologies)

Graduate Students

Timothy Booth

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Becky Brown

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Alex Christie

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Daniel Fishkin

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Omar Fraire

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Samuel Golter

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Corey Harris

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Kristin Hauge

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Molly Joyce

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Brian Lindgren

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Heather Mease

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Emily Mellen

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Siavash Mohebbi

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Savanna Morrison

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Natalia Perez

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Juan Carlos Vasquez

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Matias Vilaplana

CCT (Composition & Computer Technologies)

Hannah Young

CCS (Critical & Comparative Studies)

Staff

Alex Christie

Technical Director of Composition and Computer Technologies

Marcy Day

Director of Promotions

Michael Idzior

Assistant Athletics Band Director

Joel Jacobus

Director of Music Production

Tina Knight

Assistant to the Chair, Academic Programs Coordinator

Katelyn Rupe

Fiscal Assistant and Event Coordinator

Kim Turner

Department Finance and Administration Manager

Leslie Walker

Administrative Assistant

Brandon West

Assistant Band Director

Profile

Faculty

John

John D'earth

Senior Lecturer, Director of Jazz Performance

Biography

Trumpeter and composer John D'earth is the Director of Jazz Performance at the University of Virginia  where he teaches improvisation, jazz trumpet, jazz composition, and directs the UVA Jazz Ensemble.

D'earth was born in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1950. He studied, as a teenager, with saxophonist Boots Mussulli, (Stan Kenton, Charlie Ventura, Teddy Wilson) with John Coffey, (principal trombonist in the Boston Symphony) and arranging with Thad Jones. He attended Harvard University and, later, moved to New York City where he studied with Carmine Caruso, Vince Penzarella and Richie Beirach.

In 2019 he was a part of two exciting new releases.  Planet D’earth is a collaboration with UVa alumna Kait Dunton and a celebration of musical convergences.  The free improvisation trio Angela on the Arts released Within

D'earth has performed and recorded internationally and appeared on over one hundred recordings spanning the analog and digital eras on vinyl, CDs, film, and video. Working with Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton, Gunter Hampel’s Galaxie Dream Band, Miles Davis/Quincy Jones at Montreaux, Tito Puente, Bruce Hornsby, Emily Remler, Bennie Wallace, Eddie Gomez, The George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, Bob Moses, Pat Metheny, Joe Henderson, Clark Terry, John Scofield and John Abercrombie, among many others, has called upon his ability to feel at home, creatively, in many genres.

D'earth has recorded as a leader for Vanguard Records, ENJA Records, DoubleTime Jazz and his own Cosmology label.  His recordings reveal an eclectic, searching nature, rooted in the entirety of the jazz and blues tradition and a hard bop trumpet sensibility that owes as much to Louis Armstrong as to Miles Davis.

D’earth is an avid composer and arranger with hundreds of compositions to his credit including full-length works for orchestra and/or other large ensembles.  He has written music for the Kronos String Quartet, the Kandinsky Trio, Bruce Hornsby, the Dave Matthews Band, the San Diego, Atlanta, Richmond and Roanoke Symphony Orchestras, the Charlottesville Chamber Festival, the University of Virginia Jazz Ensemble, the Great American Music Ensemble and the Charlottesville-Albemarle Youth Orchestra.

Relocating from Manhattan to Charlottesville in the mid-eighties, D’earth is a co-founder of the Free Bridge Quintet, was the music director for Cosmology (which became the Thompson D'earth Band) with his wife, vocalist/songwriter Dawn Thompson, leads the Charlottesville Swing Orchestra, the one blood jazz/poetry project, Thursday Night at Miller’s, and his own quartet/quintet.

As an educator D’earth has become interested in early musical development and in playing freely improvised music with young and even brand-new musicians in his “Precognitive Conservatory Orchestra” jam sessions and workshops.  As a jazz musician and composer he is interested in the nexus of composition and improvisation and in working with musicians, from any genre, who are committed to pushing their own boundaries in both of these areas.

John D'earth's career in music is documented in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, (Oxford Press) by Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler.

 


Address

UVA Department of Music
112 Old Cabell Hall
P.O. Box 400176 Charlottesville, VA 22904-4176

Email: music@virginia.edu