Branker receives Fulbright to teach in Estonia

By Eric Quinones on Nov. 22, 2005, 3:07 p.m.

Anthony D.J. Branker, senior lecturer in the Department of Music and director of the University's jazz program, has received a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach at the Estonian Academy of Music.

Branker is spending the fall semester at the conservatory in Tallinn, Estonia, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses and assisting in the development of a jazz studies curriculum. He is among some 850 U.S. scholars and professionals to receive Fulbright grants to teach or conduct research abroad this year.

A composer and trumpeter, Branker has taught at Princeton and conducted the University Jazz Ensembles since 1989. He also is a member of the jazz faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and has taught at Hunter College, Ursinus College and the New Jersey Summer Arts Institute at Rutgers University.

Branker has received numerous awards for teaching, including the Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Education, the Institute for Arts and Humanities Education Distinguished Teaching Award and the International Association of Jazz Educators Award for Outstanding Service to Jazz Education.

Branker's music has been featured in performance in Russia, France, Finland, Germany, Lithuania and New York. He has received two composition prizes from the International Association for Jazz Education.

Branker graduated from Princeton in 1980 with an A.B. in music and holds a master's degree in jazz pedagogy from the University of Miami.

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