Craig Mohr

1965 -  

Craig Mohr, a trumpet performer and conductor, is director of the instrumental program at Loma Linda University Academy, a position he has held since 2018. He taught music for over twenty years at Glendale Adventist Academy in California, before relocating to the Seattle area  in 2013, where he taught music at at Kirkland SDA School while his wife completed a D.M.A. in choral conducting at the Universlty of Washington. His GAA bands received top ratings at adjudicated festivals and  toured widely.

Craig was born in Walla Walla, Washington, and spent most of his childhood in Downey, California, the older of two sons born to Floyd and Sharon Craig Mohr. Although neither of his parents is a musician, they appreciate good music and he was exposed to a wide variety of music in the home.

He started trumpet in a once-a-week program in fourth grade at a public elementary school. While in junior high he had band every day, started taking private lessons, and played in a community marching band and jazz band. In his freshman year at Warren High School, he played in the concert band as well as in the marching and jazz bands.

Craig was baptized during that year and transferred to San Gabriel Academy for one year before going to San Pasqual Academy for his junior and senior years. Even though SGA did not have a band program, Craig continued with private trumpet lessons and when he went to SPA played frequently. In his two years at SPA he was inspired by its band director, Wally Brandmeyer, who, though not trained in that area, was willing to do the job and had great patience with the group.

After graduating from SPA in 1983, he enrolled at Pacific Union College, where he spent the next six years. In his four years as a music major, he gave a recital annually, an accomplishment that was acknowledged with a special certificate from the music department when he completed his B.Mus.Ed. in 1989. His mentor and major professor while he was at PUC was Kenneth Narducci.

Mohr was hired by Glendale Academy to run its band program when he graduated. For the previous four years, Brenda Hanson had developed a flourishing music program that had become too large for one person to teach. Since she was now able to focus on the choral program and he on the band program, they  developed a music program widely known for its excellence.

Craig and Brenda married in July 1991, and four years later their daughter, Kaitlin Jean, was born. Kaitlin sings and plays the oboe. Craig completed a Masters in Letters and Arts, a degree offered as part of the American Band College Program overseen by Max McKee at Southern Oregon University, in 1997.

He is a frequent soloist and performer in ensembles, including several community bands, orchestras, and brass groups in the Los Angeles area. He has studied trumpet with Richard Hoffman (California State University, Northridge). Although primarily a band conductor, he has on occasion also conducted orchestra, choir, and handbell ensembles.

Under Mohr's direction, the Glendale Academy Concert Band regularly achieved top ratings at adjudicated festivals. It tours annually in California and has also performed in the Northwest and Canada as well as in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Mohr received the NAD Alumni Achievement Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award in 2005.

ds/2018

Source: Information provided by Craig Mohr, June 2011 and 2018.