Biographical Sketch
Dr. Douglas Ovens, Associate Professor of Music, has been the head of the Muhlenberg College Department of Music since 1994. A composer and performer, Dr. Ovens teaches second year music theory, composition, electronic music, percussion performance and conducts the Chamber Orchestra.

An active composer, Dr. Ovens has created over 60 works in media ranging from orchestral compositions to electronic works for dance. He has had recent performances of his music in New York City, Philadelphia, Chapel Hill, Boston and Salt Lake City. International performances have taken place in Berlin, at the International Courses for Percussionists in Bydgoszcz, Poland, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland, the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima, Japan and various cities in Canada. Ovens was one of four musicians from across the United States selected for a month long residency at the Akiyoshidai International Arts Village in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan during the month of October, 1998.

Ovens is a frequent participant in the New York City new music scene having had works premiered in the city in each of the past four years. He has been a featured performer on the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in each of the past three years.
His "Moving Image" for piano solo is available on the North/South Recordings label and his "Play Us A Tune" for soprano and orchestra is available on the Vienna Modem Masters label. "Moving Image" was described in the New York Times as a work of "special appeal... that has an almost conversational shape and pacing and some wonderful textural detail."

Ovens' teaching innovations have received national attention. His "Workshop in Music Composition and Improvisation" was the subject of a feature article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (April, 1999). This has led to invitations to give presentations on this approach to organizations such as the Iowa Choral Conductors statewide conference.