Joshua Mietz

Joshua R. Mietz is an Instructor at Casper College in Casper, Wyoming. He serves as the Director of Bands and teaches Applied Clarinet and Saxophone, Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble I, Jazz Improvisation, the History of Blues, Jazz, and Rock and Wind Ensemble. He also serves as the Executive Director of Casper College’s Annual Kinser Jazz Festival. He has worked with artists such as Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, The Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices, the Ben Markley Big Band, and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Mietz also serves as Acting Bass Clarinetist with the Wyoming Symphony.

Prior to arriving at Casper College, Mietz served as an Adjunct Instructor at both Fort Lewis and San Juan Colleges, as well as the Director of Choirs at the First United Methodist Church in and performed with the San Juan Symphony Orchestra in Durango, Colorado.

While earning a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Mietz studied clarinet with Diane Barger and conducting with Carolyn Barber. His doctoral document examined David Maslanka’s Desert Roads from the perspective of a clarinetist and a conductor. It contains the transcription of an interview detailing Maslanka’s fascinating compositional technique.

While at the University of Montana-Missoula, Mietz served as the E-flat/bass clarinetist with the Missoula Symphony and studied Applied Clarinet with Maxine Ramey and conducting with Stephen Bolstad, Kevin Griggs, and Luis Milan.

Prior to his study at the University of Montana, Mietz taught junior high and high school band/orchestra in the public schools of Colorado as well as performed with the Denver Pops Orchestra. Mietz received a Bachelor of Music degree in clarinet performance from the University of Colorado-Boulder and studied clarinet with Daniel Silver, Bil Jackson, and Phillip Aaholm. He also studied conducting with Allan McMurray.

Mietz is an active member of the College Music Society, International Clarinet Association, North American Saxophone Alliance, and National Association for Music Education.

In his spare time, Mietz enjoys ultra-marathon running, bread baking, vegan cooking and hiking with his wife Roni and son Turner.