Zach Klobnak

BIOGRAPHY

Zach Klobnak is Assistant Professor of Music at Centre College (Danville, Kentucky), where he has taught since 2013. He teaches applied lessons in piano, organ, and harpsichord, courses in American music and music theory, and newly developed courses for the college’s study abroad and general education curricula. His duties include accompanying responsibilities for Centre’s voice and choral programs. 

A native of Iowa, Klobnak holds degrees from Luther College (B.A.), the University of Florida (M.M.), the University of Kentucky (M.A.), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (D.M.A.), where he held the Brownson Fellowship for organ studies. During his doctoral work, he studied French organ literature and design in Paris and in the Alps region of France. His principal organ teachers include Dana Robinson, Laura Ellis, and Gregory Peterson; he also studied harpsichord with Kathryn Reed and choral conducting with Donald Nally, Fred Stoltzfus, and Timothy Peter.

As an active recitalist, Zach has performed throughout the region as soloist and collaborative artist. He especially enjoys designing programs that help expand the core repertoire to include underrepresented composers, including Parisian composer Rolande Falcinelli, who was the subject of his doctoral project. Since 2015, Zach has served as principal keyboardist and accompanist for the Kentucky Bach Choir and has performed in the last two seasons with the Johnson City (TN) Symphony Orchestra.

Klobnak is also a seasoned arts administrator. Much of his work in this realm is through the American Guild of Organists, where he currently sits on the Committee for Scholarships. Recently, he helped design and oversee an educational outreach program for young musicians, including a state-of-the-art virtual camp during the Covid-19 pandemic. He has also inaugurated two concert series, one each in Florida and Kentucky, both of which continue to connect audiences to unique musical offerings and are now thriving in their second decade of existence.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS / MEMBERSHIPS

• American Guild of Organists
• College Music Society
• Association of Arts Administration Educators

COURSES TAUGHT

• Applied Piano, Organ, Harpsichord
• MUS 110: Fundamentals of Music
• MUS 116: Foundations and Worldviews of Music
• MUS 120: Music Theory I
• MUS 121: Aural Skills I
• MUS 219: The Great American Songbook
• MUS 236: The Power of African American Spirituals
• MUS 280: Listening Live in London & Glasgow
• DLM 310: The Arts for a Flourishing World