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University of Wyoming

Dr. J. Scott Turpen
Director of Jazz Studies
Saxophone Studio


(307) 766-4252
sturpen@uwyo.edu
Visit Scott Turpen's webpage

Dr. J. Scott Turpen is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Wyoming where he serves as Director of Jazz Studies and saxophone professor. Originally from Nampa, Idaho, he earned an undergraduate degree in music education from Boise State University. At the University of Georgia, where he was a student of Kenneth Fischer, he completed the Master of Music degree in Woodwind Performance and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone Performance. Since arriving in Wyoming Scott Turpen has received many prestigious awards including the Jack P. Ellbogen Meritorious Classroom Teaching Award, the College of Arts & Sciences Top 10 Teacher Award, and an Excellence in Advising Award from the University of Wyoming. In addition, he was awarded a Performing Arts Fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council.

In demand as a performer and clinician of jazz and classical music, Dr. Turpen has performed throughout North America, Hawaii, and Europe. He has performed at numerous national and regional meetings of the North American Saxophone Alliance. In addition, Dr. Turpen represented the United States when he performed at the XI, XII, and XIII World Saxophone Congresses held in Valencia, Spain, Montreal, Canada, and Minneapolis, Minnesota respectively. His orchestral experience is extensive and includes performances with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, the Macon Symphony Orchestra, the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, and the Augusta Symphony Orchestra. Turpen has performed with some of the most distinguished artists in jazz and popular music including Louis Bellson, Doc Severinsen, Red Rodney, Ernie Watts, Bob Mintzer, Ray Charles, The Temptations, Frankie Valli, Crystal Gayle, and Carol Channing to name only a few. He has had many outstanding composers write new saxophone works for him such as Anne Guzzo, Lewis Nielson, Derek Keller, Bonnie Miksch, and David Brinkman.

Saxophone students of Scott Turpen have won various competitions including, but not limited to, the MTNA State and Regional Competitions and the Jacoby Concerto Competition at the University of Wyoming. His students have gone on to study music at some of the most respected Masters and Doctoral music programs in the country. The Wyoming Jazz Ensemble, under his direction, has received much acclaim in recent years for performances at major jazz festivals and with guest artists such as Ingrid Jensen, Eric Marienthal, Gregg Bissonette, John Fedchock, Ellen Rowe, and Allen Vizzutti.

The Macon Telegraph said of the performance of Alexander Glazounov’s Concerto with the Macon Symphony Orchestra, “Turpen turned the saxophone into a producer of a most rounded and liquid tone…the audience responded with a deserved enthusiasm.” Dr. Turpen has recorded music for the cable television channel National Geographic and has performed, presented clinics, and adjudicated at several music events including the Gene Harris Jazz Festival, the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the University of Georgia Saxophone Performance Workshop, the Siskiyou Saxophone Workshop, the Wyoming Music Educator’s Conference, the Kinser Jazz Festival, the Eastern Montana Jazz Festival, the Georgia Music Educator's Association Conference, and the Georgia Governor's Honor Program for gifted students. He has performed numerous concertos with orchestras and concert bands throughout the United States. Dr. Turpen has served on the Executive Board for the Georgia Association of Jazz Educators and as the Treasurer for the North American Saxophone Alliance. He also served NASA as the editor of the bi-monthly newsletter the Update. His first saxophone CD entitled Tableaux received much acclaim and Turpen’s latest recording with the ACA label, Crossover, was released in the summer of 2009. Scott Turpen is a Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician