Bio
Known for his passionate conducting style, Dr. Patrick M. Fortney brings not only his 35 years of musical experience to the stage, but also his commitment to the music, performers, and audience who share the experience. Whether he is conducting band or boogying with a jazz band, Fortney works to move instrumental music out of the shadows, bringing renewed interest and engagement to band music through concerts, campus events, and special occasions. His groups often perform at community events, collaborate with other ensembles, and volunteer their time.
Fortney maintains a commitment to life-long musical involvement through the work with amateur groups. He is the founding director of both the North Bend Area Community Band and the Delaware Community Band. Additionally, he served as conductor and musical director of the Lincoln Community Concert Band for seventeen years. He also served as music director and conductor of the Lincoln Civic Orchestra, Great Plains Music Society, the Union College Chamber Orchestra.
A proponent of new music, Fortney has commissioned and conducted works by noted composers Loris Chobanian, Steve Bryant, William Ballenger, Rusty Banks, Randall Snyder, and Alfred Reed, who wrote and dedicated his Twelfth Night (A Musical Masque After Shakespeare) to him. A frequent wind band/orchestra adjudicator and clinician, he has conducted groups throughout the United States and Australia. As an active researcher, he has presented at regional and national meetings and published in the major music education journals.
Fortney currently serves as the Director of Instrumental Music at Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska. Previously, he served as the Director of Bands at McMurry University, Peru State College, and Nebraska Wesleyan University. Further, he was the Director of Music Education at Ohio Wesleyan University. He taught at the University of Miami, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Union College, and public and private schools in Florida and Nebraska.
Fortney’s degrees include a doctorate in music education from the University of Miami where he studied with Nicholas DeCarbo and Alfred Reed, serving as Reed’s rehearsal assistant. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Education/Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a music education emphasis.
As a tubist he has studied with Vernon Forbes, Craig Fuller, and John Olah, and played professionally with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and Nebraska Chamber Orchestra. He is also a bassist and is comfortable in a variety of styles, from rock to jazz. Fortney has worked in the classical world with such notable artists as Nathaniel Rosen, Richard Stoltzman, Alicia de Larrocha, and Margret Hillis; George Shearing, Gary Burton, and Kathy Kosins in the jazz world; and blues greats, Magic Slim and Johnny Rawls.
As comfortable off the podium as he is on, Fortney can often be found attending the symphony, a rock concert, or a blues festival. When it is time to slow down, he is likely sitting around a campfire with his family or watching classic Batman and Star Trek.