Bret Zvacek is a multi-faceted musician deeply involved in performing, composing, arranging and teaching. He is Director of Jazz Studies and Associate Professor of Music at The Crane School of Music, Potsdam, New York, and has also served as an adjunct faculty member of the Jazz Studies department at McGill University, Montreal. He has led ensembles on tour and in competition in Europe and North America, and has guest conducted and adjudicated in Finland, England, Canada, New York, Massachusetts, Texas, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, and Iowa. Bret was a member of the Jazz Studies faculty at the University of North Texas, where he taught improvisation and ensembles, and founded the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. As a student, he performed as a soloist with the University of North Texas One O'clock Lab Band.
As a published composer and arranger, Bret has more than 25 compositions and arrangements for the big band idiom to his credit. He traveled to Helsinki, Finland, in March of 1996 to be featured as guest composer, conductor, and performer with the UMO Jazz Orchestra. Bret's music has been performed and recorded by professional groups including the UMO Jazz Orchestra, the Air Force Band Night Flight Jazz Ensemble, the Bruce Gates Jazz Consortium Big Band, the Trilogy Big Band, and also by college and university groups at the Manhattan School of Music, University of North Texas, University of Northern Colorado, University of Massachusetts, and McGill University.
Currently an active educator and performer in the Northern New York area and Canada, Bret's professional credits include appearances with jazz artists ranging from Conte Candoli to Kenny Wheeler, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recordings, Bob Hope, Engelbert Humperdink, The Temptations, Disneyland, and the Chamber Orchestra of Northern New York, along with live and studio recordings in New York, Dallas, Montreal, Europe and Australia.
