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Dr. Phillip Ostrander

Phil Ostrander
  • Professor of Music-Trombone
  • Music and Theatre Arts

Phil Ostrander is Professor of Trombone and Bands at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where he conducts the Symphony Band, teaches private trombone, and trombone ensemble.  Dr. Ostrander completed his doctoral studies at the Eastman School of Music. Dr. Ostrander received master's degrees in both trombone and wind conducting from the New England Conservatory, as well as a bachelor's and Performer's Certificate from Eastman. Dr. Ostrander champions diversity in repertoire with the UWEC Symphony Band. The band performs music composed by under-represented composers in every concert, and since 2017, the ensemble’s first concert of the year celebrates music written by female composers. The ensemble tours to a middle or high school with a diverse student population every year to perform and collaborate.

He has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Kansas City Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the popular chamber groups Rhythm and Brass and the Burning River Brass Ensemble. Currently, he is a member of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in Memphis, Tennessee under Michael Stern and also Principal Trombone of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra.  He performs in Broadway shows regularly at the Orpheum and State theatres in Minneapolis. An accomplished jazz trombonist, Dr. Ostrander has collaborated with jazz artists Maria Schneider, Jim McNeely, Jimmy Heath, Claudio Roditi and Rich Beirach.  He teaches jazz and created the Trombone Workshop at the Shell Lake Arts Camp in northern Wisconsin.  He has recorded on Sony Classical with the Eastman Wind Ensemble and Naxos with the IRIS Orchestra.  Dr. Ostrander is a clinician for the Conn-Selmer Musical Instrument Company.


Teaching Interests
  • MUSI 165/365 Applied Trombone
  • MUSI 180/380 Symphony Band
  • MUSI 202 Brass Techniques
  • MUSI 256/456 Brass Ensemble
Research and Creative Activities
  • Symphony Band Conductor
  • Brass Ensemble Conductor
Education
  • B.M., Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester
  • M.M., New England Conservatory (Wind Conducting)
  • M.M., New England Conservatory (Applied Trombone)
  • D.M.A., University of Rochester-Eastman School of Music