2025 NMTA State Conference
October 17, 2025
Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska
2025 NMTA Conference Competition and Festival Bulletin
2025 NMTA Conference Registration Form – coming soon
On behalf of the NMTA Executive Committee, I am pleased to provide details of our upcoming 2025 Nebraska Music Teachers Association State Conference, Competitions, and Festival events.
NMTA State Conference: Friday, October 17
MTNA Performance Competitions: Friday-Sunday, October 17-19
Nebraska Performance Competition: Saturday, October 18
NMTA State Festival: Saturday & Sunday, October 18-19
Conference Mission Statement: to enrich our members through connection, education, and inspiration
Conference Guests, Artist and Presenters
Dr. Rhonda Fuelberth, featured speaker:
Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: UDL for the Private Music Teacher
In a one-on-one lesson setting, private music instructors have the powerful opportunity to tailor instruction to each student—but that doesn’t mean every lesson is automatically inclusive. Students come to us with diverse strengths, needs, identities, and learning preferences. How can we proactively design lessons that are accessible, engaging, and meaningful for every student?
This interactive session introduces Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a practical, flexible framework for creating educational experiences that remove barriers and celebrate learner variability. Drawing on the latest UDL Guidelines 3.0, we’ll explore strategies to:
- Spark engagement by connecting lessons to student interests and identities
- Represent material in multiple ways with an emphasis on music reading processes and rhythm mastery
- Expand expression by offering students options to show what they know and how they make music
You’ll leave with actionable tools to help students stay motivated, grow in musicianship, and feel a deep sense of belonging in your studio—no matter their ability, background, or stage of development.
Whether you teach voice, piano, strings, or beyond, this session will help you design lessons where every student has a place and a path to thrive.
Optional: Bring a device to access interactive resources. No experience with UDL required—just curiosity and a passion for inclusive teaching!
Biography:
Rhonda Vieth Fuelberth is Professor of Music Education and Associate Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Glenn Korff School of Music. In
addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in choral music education and music and special education, she is the artistic and program director for i2Choir—Inclusive, Intergenerational, Exponentially Better Together. Now in their twelfth season, i2Choir is an effort to open choral singing opportunities to individuals who have a variety of physical, sensory, and cognitive challenges, as well as those who support them through their friendship and musicianship.
An active member of the National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Dr. Fuelberth is a Past-President of the North Central Region (now Midwest Region) ACDA, previously serving as Repertoire and Standards Chair for Women’s Choirs for the same and President for the Nebraska Choral Directors Association. She frequently serves as a clinician and guest conductor with notable engagements including the Wisconsin All-State Women’s Choir, the Minnesota All-State Women’s Choir and the Omaha Public Schools High School All-City Music Festival Chorus. She has also presented and published research at the state, regional, national, and international levels of the National Association for Music Education, the American Choral Directors Association, the International Society for Music Education, and the American Music Therapy Association.
Dr. Liz Gre, commissioned composer:
Dr. Liz Gre (pronounced “Grey”) — who goes by Gre — is a Black Midwestern American composer, interdisciplinary artist, vocalist, and researcher originally from Omaha, Nebraska. Gre is known for genre-defying, collaborative compositions that center storytelling, cultural memory, and the affective dimensions of sound.
Their artistic and research practice is anchored in Endarkened Co-Composition, a non-linear, collaborative method Gre developed that centers Black and Indigenous ways of knowing and story-keeping. This approach draws on oral traditions, interviews, and informal exchanges to create sonic works shaped by shared presence and lived experience.
Currently, Gre is a cross-departmental Lecturer in Music and Art & Media Technology at the University of Southampton (Southampton, UK). Their work has been presented at venues across the U.S. and Europe, including Tate Britain, Queens Museum, Gagosian Gallery, and the Kennedy Center.
Notable recent works include:
- Echoes of Care at transmediale (Berlin, Germany)
- The Cartography Project at the Kennedy Center/Washington National Opera (Washington, DC)
- North Star: Conversations on Boundlessness at Lincoln Center (New York City)
- Arachne: Rebirthing Dislocated Cultures, a collaboration with artist Adelaide Damoah at Gagosian Gallery(London)
- Under the Skin of a Guild: Wake of Lost Souls, co-created with Enam Gbewonyo, co-commissioned by Arts&Heritage and Guildhall Art Gallery (London)
- We Invoke the Black. To Rest, a collaborative performance activating Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s exhibition Fly in League with the Night at Tate Britain (London)
Gre continues to explore composition as a space for cultural work and radical presence, crafting sonic worlds that challenge linear narratives and invite deeper modes of listening.
Kurt E. von Kampen, Conductor
Kurt E. von Kampen has been conducting choirs at Concordia University since the fall of 1998, and is the fourth conductor in the 87-year history of the University A Cappella Choir. Prior to accepting the position at Concordia, Kurt served as head of the choral program at Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and as director of music at Lutheran High School Westland and Northwest in the Detroit area. Von Kampen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Concordia University in Seward, a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., and a Doctorate in Choral Music Education from the University of Nebraska.
In 2007, von Kampen received Concordia’s Outstanding Teacher Award, and in November 2012, was named the Nebraska Choral Directors Association Outstanding Choral Director of the Year.
In addition to conducting choirs, Dr. von Kampen enjoys composing music, leading choral clinics and teaching courses related to choral music. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA/NCDA) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME).
Lodging – coming soon
Download the 2025 Conference Bulletin with schedule
Download the 2025 Conference Registration Form
NMTA wishes to thank our 2025 Conference advertisers: (list to be updated)
Chadron State College
Concordia University Nebraska
Dietze Music
Hastings College
Lincoln Music Teachers Association
Musical Journey Publications
Nebraska Wesleyan University
Omaha Music Teachers Association
Schmitt Music
University of Nebraska-Kearney
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vesper Concerts
Wayne State College