Gerald Dolan

About:

Gerald J. Dolan, Jr. is the Director of the Gordon College Jazz Ensemble and Music Education Practicum and Pre Practicum Coordinator. He also teaches instrumental conducting in the Graduate Summer Music Education Program. Mr. Dolan recently retired Director of Fine Arts for the Ipswich Public Schools and as Director of Bands having conducted the high school Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Pep Band, and Jazz Ensemble.  The Ipswich High School Jazz Ensembles have shared the stage with many outstanding performers including Rufus Reid, Herb Pomeroy, Mike Tucker, the United States Navy Commodore Jazz Ensemble, Roomful of Blues, Kendrick Oliver and the New Life Jazz Orchestra, the Glen Miller Band and the Tom Dorsey Band.  The Ipswich High School Jazz Ensemble performed at the premiere jazz festival, the Newport Jazz Festival, kicking off the festival with their opening performance during the summer of 2008. Mr. Dolan has studied conducting with Malcolm Rowell and Frank Battisti and holds degrees from St. Michael’s College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Currently, the Music Director of the Northeast Massachusetts Youth Orchestras (NMYO), Gerry is the Conductor of the NMYO Wind Ensemble.  Mr. Dolan served as a conductor of the United States Youth Wind Ensemble,  as Assistant Conductor of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell Youth Wind Ensemble, and Music Director of the Ipswich Community Band and Jazz Ensemble. Mr. Dolan received the 2003 Olmstead Award for excellence in secondary school teaching from Williams College and was honored by the Massachusetts Music Educators' Association (MMEA) with the 2002 Lowell Mason Award,  the 2015 Paul Smith Hall of Fame Award from the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association (MICCA) and the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Jazz Educators Association (MAJE).  Mr. Dolan has also been elected into the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps Hall of Fame. As a 1993 Fulbright Scholarship recipient, he served as Head of Music at the Speedwell School, in Bristol, England.  He has been a member of the American Symphony Orchestra League, Fulbright Association, International Association of Jazz Educators, and Massachusetts Music Educators’ Association, he is active as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout New England and the United Kingdom. Mr. Dolan lives in Ipswich with his wife, Susan, and their two children.