Mike Conrad is a composer, improviser, and teacher from Iowa. His accolades include four ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards, seven DownBeat Awards, and prizes and commissions from the Contemporary Music Academy in Beijing, the Bundesjazzorchester of Germany, the West Point Jazz Knights, and many other organizations. Conrad’s music has been performed all over the world, including a 2017 concert by the Metropole Orkest in the Netherlands, a 2014 Carnegie Hall octet premiere, and a string quartet performance at the US Presidential Inauguration in 2013. Some recent career highlights include winning the SONIC Award from the International Society of Arrangers and Composers for “Flyover,” collaborating on an hour-long recomposition of Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony with Stegreif Orchester of Berlin, and releasing recordings with both the Iowa Jazz Composers Orchestra and the Mike Conrad Trio. Conrad currently serves as Associate Professor of Jazz at the University of Northern Iowa.