department of music - Casper College

Neeraj Mehta is an active performer and educator, having presented concerts, clinics and
master classes in North America and Europe. With interests in a wide variety of
percussive styles, Mr. Mehta has performed and recorded with numerous artists and
ensembles including: Michael Udow, the Michigan Chamber Players, Alan Abel and
Anthony Orlando of the Philadelphia Orchestra, New Music Detroit, Linda Maxey,
Michael Spiro, John Santos, Raul Rekow, and Clyde Stubblefield of the James Brown
Band. Mr. Mehta was a Fulbright Fellow to Denmark, where he worked with solopercussionist
Gert Mortensen at Det Kongelige Dansk Musikkonservatorium
(DKDM). In Copenhagen, he also premiered and recorded En Lys Timer (A Light
Hour) by Danish composer Per Nørgård on the DaCapo label. Mr. Mehta’s orchestral
work has included performances with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Madison
Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. He is also deeply committed
to the performance of new works for solo and contemporary chamber ensembles, and
has worked with many internationally recognized composers including: Bright Sheng,
Michael Daugherty, Russel Hartenberger, Bob Becker and Dave Hollinden. Mr. Mehta
is also an active jazz and Latin percussionist, having appeared at numerous venues and
festivals including the University of Toledo Jazz Faculty Concert Series, the Isthmus
Jazz Festival, and the Jazz at Five Summer Music Series. As percussionist with the
Afro-Cuban jazz quartet Nuevo Rumbon, he has been featured at Jazzloop 2007 and
the Art Tatum Heritage Jazz Festival. He conducted fieldwork in Cuba as a graduate
fellow and grant recipient of the Center for World Performance Studies at the
University of Michigan. Neeraj Mehta is currently a doctoral candidate at the
University of Michigan where he also received a master’s degree in percussion
performance. He holds a bachelor of music degree from the University of Wisconsin-
Madison.
JAMES OLM is a composer/playwright, and Coordinator of Musical Theatre at Casper
College. His newest original musical, Mary the Magdalene, has had three
developmental readthroughs in New York City in February and October, 2004 and
August, 2006, and is expected to open Off-Broadway in the summer of 2011. His
score for the play Flight by Arthur Giron, is contracted to be published by Samuel
French, Inc. In the spring of 2003, his original musical Emerald Green, was
developmentally read at the Off-Broadway York Theatre in New York City. He has
written two other original musicals: Mulberry and Obits. James’ commissioned
compositional works include choral pieces written for professional and high school
choirs and theatre programs in the Midwest, as well as for faculty at UW-Whitewater.
Through the years, James has directed over forty musicals and dramas, from
professional and university theatre to community and high school theatre. He has
also been a public school teacher for twenty-one years in both choral music and
drama. James has an M.F.A. in Musical Theatre Composition and Playwriting from
Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and a B.M. in Education from the
University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.
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