Music Department Faculty and Staff

B.M.E., University of North Carolina at Greensboro; M.M., University of North Texas; D.M., Florida State University

Jesse Krebs has performed guest recitals in Costa Rica, England, Thailand, Ireland, and throughout the United States.  He joined the music faculty at Truman State University in 2005.  In addition to instructing the clarinet studio and directing the Truman Clarinet Choir, he teaches the Music and Political Protest Interdisciplinary Seminar.  Before coming to Kirksville, he was the Clarinet Instructor and the Director of Chamber Winds at Bainbridge College in Georgia, and he served on the summer faculty for the Cultural American Music Program in the Florida Keys. With colleague Dr. Xin Gao, he hosted the inaugural American Single Reed Summit at Truman in 2018.

Dr. Krebs has performed with the Kansas City, Tallahassee, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Quincy, and Missouri Symphony Orchestras, as well as with the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound.  He was featured as a concerto soloist with the North Carolina, Central Florida, and Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestras.  In 2002, he was one of three American semifinalists selected for the International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition and competed in Stockholm, Sweden.  He received a Doctor of Music in clarinet performance from the Florida State University, where he was a graduate teaching assistant and played under the baton of guest conductors Krzysztof Penderecki and Bobby McFerrin.  He received a Master of Music from the University of North Texas, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he won the university concerto competition and received the Presser Foundation Scholarship.  His clarinet teachers include Frank Kowalsky, James Gillespie, Kelly Burke and Curtis Craver.

Dr. Krebs performed on recitals at the International Clarinet Association Conferences (ClarinetFest) in Reno, NV (2022), Ostend, Belgium (2018), Lincoln, NE (2012), Austin, TX (2010) and Kansas City, MO (2008), and he presented a lecture on the clarinet soloists of the John Philip Sousa Band at the 2006 ClarinetFest in Atlanta, GA.  Currently the Missouri State Chair, he previously served as coordinator of the ICA High School Competition (2022-2024), coordinator of the ICA Research Competition (2016-2018), and on the judging panel for the 2010, 2011, and 2015 ICA Research Competitions.  He also conducted the ICA Professor's Clarinet Choir at the ClarinetFest conferences in Reno, NV (2022), Denver, CO (2023), and Dublin, Ireland (2024).  Dr. Krebs was a guest performer at the 2011 Iowa Clarinet Day, the 2016 Arkansas Clarinet Day, the 2016 Eastern Kentucky Clarinet Festival, the 2017 South Dakota Clarinet Day, the 2018 Midwest ClariFest in Nebraska, the 2022 National College Music Society Conference (Long Beach, CA), and the 2024 Northwestern State University Clarinet Day in Louisiana.  His articles have been published in The Clarinet journal, The Instrumentalist magazine, the NACWPI journal, and the Missouri School Music magazine.  He has performed on Iowa Public Television, has recorded with the North Texas Wind Symphony (Klavier and GIA labels), and has given guest artist recitals and master classes at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (Dublin), Mahidol University (Bangkok), Imperial College (London), the University of Costa Rica, the Illinois State University, the University of Central Arkansas, Ouachita Baptist University, UNC-Charlotte, the University of Northern Iowa, Winona State University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the National Music Museum.  He has premiered works by composers Donald Grantham, Andrew Hannon, Kevin Poelking, Paul Chihara, Robert Tindle, Man-Ching Donald Yu, Victor Marquez, Thomas Dempster, Charles Gran, and Nicholas Maluf.

The accomplishments of his clarinet students include receiving a Fulbright Grant to teach in Spain, attending the Festival Suoni d'Abruzzo (Ortona, Italy), Tanglewood, Brevard, Bay View, Lift, and Aspen summer music festivals, winning the MMTA Collegiate Woodwinds Competition and the Truman concerto competition, presenting at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, and receiving graduate acceptance into some of the most prestigious music programs in the country.  Under his direction, the Truman Clarinet Choir performed at the 2012, 2016 & 2020 Missouri Music Educators Association Conventions, the 2012 Buffet Crampon/Vandoren Clarinet Ensemble Festival in Greensboro, NC, the 2013 MTNA National Conference in Anaheim, CA, the 2016 International Clarinet Association's ClarinetFest Conference, and the 2017 Missouri Bandmasters Association Convention.  Dr. Krebs was awarded the 2016 William O’Donnell Lee Advising Award and the 2018 Truman Academic Innovation Award.  He has been nominated five times for the Truman State University Educator of the Year Award, and was selected as a finalist in 2011 and 2019.  He was also nominated for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award.  He is an Honorary Member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the Tau Beta Sigma, Phi Mu Alpha, and Sigma Alpha Iota National Music Fraternities, holds membership in the Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda National Honor Societies, and serves on the Advisory Board for the Vivre Musicale chamber music society.

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