Since the premiere of Fantasia in G in 1983, Timothy Mahr's compositions have been performed worldwide, recorded, and broadcast. The first recipient within the American Bandmasters Association Commissioning Project, Mahr has composed works for the Music Educators National Conference, the United States Air Force Band, the American School Band Directors Association, and the Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma National Intercollegiate Band. He received the 1991 ABA/Ostwald Award for his work, The Soaring Hawk. A professor emeritus of music at St. Olaf College, Dr. Timothy Mahr conducted the St. Olaf Band and has taught courses in composition, music education, and conducting.
A well-known composer, Mahr has written over 100 works, many of which are published for band and orchestra. Beyond The Soaring Hawk, five other works have been finalists in national composition contests. He has received more than 70 commissions over the years.
Mahr is a past president of the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association and has served on the Board of Directors of the National Band Association and the Minnesota Band Directors Association. He has led the St. Olaf Band in performance at the national conventions of the American Bandmasters Association (1997), Music Educators National Conference (2005), College Band Directors National Association (2013), and led the Minnesota Symphonic Winds’performance at the American School Band Directors Association National Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2024).
Mahr has appeared in 38 states as a guest conductor and clinician, including leading over twenty all-state bands, and he has also been engaged professionally in Norway, Canada, Mexico, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia.
Dr. Mahr is married to Jill Mahr, musician and educator, and their family includes Jenna and her husband Michael, and Heron.
The American School Band Directors Association created the Edwin Franko Goldman Award as a symbol of high esteem and respect and as a measure of appreciation and gratitude for outstanding personal contributions to the school band movement.
The recipient may or may not be a member of ASBDA, but shall be an active or retired director whose teaching career shall have included work in the schools and who has contributed substantially in the fields of Grade, Junior, and Senior High School Band work.
