Carole Flatau
Carole Flatau was a composer, publisher, editor, educator, and proponent of American folk music.
As an editor, she served in an executive position of keyboard instruction for Columbia Pictures Publications (CPP/Belwin) and Warner Brothers Publications. Later, she was an editor for Alfred Music Publishing. Her contributions with the National Federation of Music Clubs include serving on the National Board of Directors, lecturing and contributing as composer, editor and publisher. Her works once published with her own company, Noteworthy Publications, are now published through Nouvelle Music Publishing, LLC. These works continue to be a part of the NFMC bulletins.
Carrie Kraft
Carrie Kraft, daughter of Carole and Don Flatau, won her first composition contest in the seventh grade; her winning entry for junior high category was "Carry ON!" for two pianos, eight hands. She would teach the piece with her own students through the years. Kraft received a Bachelor in Music in piano performance from the University of North Dakota.
Active in almost every kind of music, Carrie directed a choir at one church, played organ for several others, accompanied the Choralaires (a men's community chorus) for 25 years, co-wrote a mass (Trinity Mass), served on the board of directors for Rotary, was an officer in Jamestown North Dakota Music Teachers Association, as well as music director for a local children's theater. She has served several terms as state treasurer of North Dakota Music Teachers Association. She holds professional certification. Her students have been active on the local music scene and many have won state honors including composition and Baldwin competitions.
Kraft is nationally recognized for her compositions and arrangements, especially for keyboard ensemble. Besides numerous listings in the Federation Bulletin, her solos and ensembles have appeared on many different state lists. "Whistlestop Junction" (1993), for one piano, four hands and two whistles, has been the highlight of multi-piano concerts all over the country.
William Allen Myers
Dr. Allen Myers educational background includes a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance and Music Education from Baldwin-Wallace College, currently Baldwin-Wallace University, Conservatory of Music, Master in Music degree in Jazz Studies from Indiana University School of Music, and a Doctoral of Musical Arts in Composition from University of Missouri at Kansas City.
As a composer, he was named Composer of the Year 2000-2001 from the Music Teachers National Association/Missouri Music Teachers Association. His commissioned work for the MMTA convention Trio of Time for flute, piano and cello went on to win the 2003 Chamber Music Composition Contest at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. In that same year his doctoral dissertation Kaleidoscope for solo alto saxophone and chamber orchestra took first place in the 2003 Orchestral Music Composition Contest at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. In 2008 he was invited to participate in the International Jazz Composers’ Symposium Poster Session in Tampa, Florida. His music has been featured at Society of Composers Incorporated regional conference as well as the Indiana Music Educators Conference.
Myers has studied composition with the great Manny Albam, David Baker, Dominic Spera, Mike Parkinson, James Mobberly, Paul Rudy, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, John Eaton and Loris Chobanian. His works and recordings can be found in numerous music production libraries and he is a regular contributor of original recordings to Studio 51 Music. Myers’s music has aired on ABC, Amazon Streaming, Animal Planet, ID, CBS, CNBC, CW, E TV, History Channel, Hulu, MTV, NBC, Oxygen, Paramount Network, Showtime, Travel Channel, TV One, USA, Weather Channel, and VH-1.
As an educator and performer, he has taught as an adjunct faculty member teaching Business of Music, Orchestration, and a variety of jazz courses at William Jewell College. On occasion, he leads and performs with the Allen Myers Jazz Orchestra.
Myers is president of Nouvelle Music Publishing, LLC.