Dr. James Boldin, Associate Professor of Music at the University of Louisiana Monroe, maintains a diverse career as an educator and performer. He currently holds the L.M. McKneely Endowed Professorship in Humanities, and from 2011-2014 he held the Dr. William R. Hammond Endowed Professorship in Liberal Arts.
Boldin has performed at four International Horn Symposiums and numerous regional horn conferences, and has presented at the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference and the Louisiana Music Educators Association State Convention. He performs extensively with Black Bayou Brass, a resident faculty ensemble at the University of Louisiana-Monroe. As a member of this ensemble, Boldin has performed recitals and presented master classes throughout the region and abroad at the International Women's Brass Conference, the National Association of College Wind, Percussion Instructors National Conference and a series of performances and master classes in Thailand. He is proud to be a Yamaha Performing Artist.
An active orchestral musician, Boldin holds positions with the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, Rapides Symphony Orchestra and Monroe Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the South Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Lyric Opera, Opera East Texas and with numerous orchestras in the Midwest. As a soloist, he has performed Mozart's "Concerto for Horn, K. 447" with the Monroe Symphony Orchestra and Paul Basler's "Missa Kenya and Songs of Faith" with the Monroe Symphony Chorus.
As an advocate for new music, Boldin has commissioned and premiered numerous compositions for horn solo, brass trio, brass quintet and other chamber ensembles, including the world premiere of Gary Schocker's "In Arkadia for Horn and Harp" at the 47th International Horn Symposium in Los Angeles.
His debut solo recording, Jan Koetsier: Music for Horn, was released in 2013 on the MSR Classics Label and has been critically praised for "superb playing... on an extraordinarily high level of both technique and communicative abilities" (Fanfare magazine). He is the author of two books: Solo Training for Horn and Solo Duet Training for Horns, published by Mountain Peak Music, and his articles and reviews have been published in The Instrumentalist magazine, The Horn Call: Journal of the International Horn Society and the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors Journal. An avid arranger, Boldin's works have been published by Mountain Peak Music, Cimarron Music Press, The International Horn Society and Stainer & Bell, Ltd. In 2012 and 2015, he was awarded Career Advancement Grants from the Louisiana Division of the Arts. Boldin is a member of The College Music Society, The National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors and The International Horn Society, and serves as IHS area representative for the state of Louisiana. Boldin earned his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor of Music from Appalachian State University.
