Lawrence Stoffel returned to his native California when he assumed the position of Director of Bands at California State University, Northridge in 2004. He serves as conductor of both the internationally-recognized Wind Ensemble and the Wind Symphony. As a professor of music, he also teaches courses in conducting and music education, as well as being the coordinator of wind studies.
Dr. Stoffel is known for his enthusiasm at rehearsals, concerts, and clinics alike. Dr. Stoffel was named California’s music professor of the year for 2010 by CMEA. Recent activities include a “Sounds About Town” concert for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chief Clinician for the Australian Band & Orchestra Directors Association, conductor of the All-Southern California Honor Band, and conductor at the Los Angeles Bach Festival. Upcoming invitations include the 2011 California All-State Honor Band. This May he will present his 7th Annual “Discovery: Music!” concert—an innovative, interactive band concert series that has received international attention.
Prior to his appointment at CSUN, Dr. Stoffel served as Director of Huskie Bands at Northern Illinois University (where he was honored with the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award) and Director of Bands at Eastern Illinois University. Earlier teaching assignments also included Director of Bands at the University of California-San Diego, and at the high school level in Pasadena and Buena Park.
Dr. Stoffel holds the degrees Doctor of Music from Indiana University, the Master of Music from the University of Colorado, and both the Bachelor of Arts in Music and the Master of Education degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles.
With a breadth of scholarly and artistic interests, Dr. Stoffel is published and lectures on topics pertinent to the profession—from musical interpretation to band transcriptions, from the use of religious music in the public schools to band in the school curriculum, from copyright law to band discography. His publications are found in both books (Teaching Music Through Performance in Band and Alta Musica) and journals (The Instrumentalist and MBM Times). Some of his writings on conducting gestures are found in The Music Director’s Cookbook: Recipes for a Successful Program (Meredith Music). His book, A Discography of Concert Band Recordings on Compact Disc (Edwin Mellen Press), was selected as a finalist for Best Research in Recorded Classical Music Discography by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC). He frequently presents at regional, state, and national music conferences, as well as having presented at international musicology conferences in Germany and Austria. He has presented and conducted at The Midwest Clinic on four occasions.
As a clinician, Lawrence Stoffel has guest-conducted middle school, high school, all-state, college, and community bands and orchestras throughout California, the United States, Canada, and Australia. His professional affiliations include MENC, CBDNA, WASBE, IGEB, CMS, and NCBA. He has received honorary membership in Tau Beta Sigma, Kappa Kappa Psi, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Phi Mu Alpha.