Jeffrey Agrell was born in Minneapolis, MN in 1948. He earned a B.A. at St. Olaf College and a Master of Music degree in horn performance from theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison. He did further studies at the Institut de Hautes Etudes Musicales in Montreux (Switzerland) and at the Basel Conservatory. He was a member of U.S. Army Bands from 1970 to 1973 and wasassociate principal horn with the Lucerne (Switzerland) Symphony Orchestrafrom 1975 until 2000. During that time he also had the opportunity to perform chamber music with various ensembles throughout Europe. An avid writer, he has been on the editorial staff of two international brass journals for several decades, with over fifty published articles to his credit.
He began composing and arranging during his college years and played jazz guitar and electronic music in the 1980s. For the past decade he has had a steady stream of commissions from professional chamber music ensembles, including the Slokar Trombone Quartet, Philharmonic Brass Luzern, Swiss Clarinet Players, Wildwind Quintet and the Swiss Brass Consort. His Rhythm Suite for Clarinet and Marimba was the winner of the 2000 composition contest of the International Clarinet Association. Jeffrey Agrell's works have appeared on CD and have been broadcast on radio and television nationally and internationally. Many of his works have been published and performed at contests and festivals. He is a member of the SUISA, the Swiss Composer’s Rights Society.
Jeffrey Agrell is currently on the music faculty of the School of Music of the University of Iowa, USA, where he teaches horn, directs the Horn Choir, coaches chamber music, and performs in the Iowa Brass Quintet. He recently performed at the 2001 Workshop of the International Horn Society his Night Sonata for horn, piano, bass, and percussion, which is revolutionary in its integration of written and nonjazz improvised material. It is the first in a series of such compositions. Jeffrey Agrell also presents clinics on this new approach to improvisation for classical musicians.
