Robert Spittal, D.M.A.

Conductor and award-winning composer Robert Spittal is the director of the Creative Music Lab Ensemble and teaches courses in conducting. Dr. Spittal was Director of Bands from 1992-2019, when he led the Gonzaga Wind Ensemble and Chamber Winds, and he directed the Jazz Ensemble from 1992-1998. He maintains an active schedule of composing commissioned works and conducting ensembles regionally and nationally.  Dr. Spittal’s compositions are performed and recorded worldwide by ensembles such as The Bay Brass, Borealis Wind Quintet, Atlanta Chamber Winds, and North Texas Wind Symphony, and they are published by Boosey & Hawkes Co., Maestro and Fox Music. See full bio at www.robertspittal.com

Dr. Spittal’s research on the wind music of Stravinsky and American Pulitzer-winner John Harbision has been published and presented at conducting symposia. Spittal and Harbison collaborated on a well-received session at the national College Band Directors Association conference at the University of Colorado in 1997. Dr. Spittal contributed several research articles for publication in the “Teaching Music Through Performance in Band” series (GIA Publishing) which has reached musicians and music educators throughout the US and Canada.

Dr. Spittal received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and has also studied at Baylor University, The Ohio State University, The University of Michigan, Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, the Cleveland Institute of Music and University of Colorado. His conducting teachers include Craig Kirchhoff, Michael Haithcock, and Eugene Corporon.