Up-and-coming conductor+composer+clarinetist Travis Herd is a student at the University of Missouri. He serves as artistic director and conductor of Exit 128 Contemporary Chamber Orchestra and has also served as guest conductor of the Mizzou New Music Ensemble. He has previously held the position of music director of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia - Zeta Chapter, where he designed and coordinated the Mizzou Collaborative Arts Initiative. 

 

Herd's main goal as an artist and musician is to bring the audience closer to the music (and vice versa).​



As a composer, Herd has had multiple premieres at the University from the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, as well as other chamber ensembles. He is currently working on Confessions of an English Opium-Eater for baritone voice and chamber ensemble to be premiered by Darrell J. Jordan on April 27, 2015 in Whitmore Recital Hall. He studies with Dr. W. Thomas McKenney.

 

Mr. Herd has played in multiple large ensembles and chamber groups, including a seat as principal clarinetist in the University Philharmonic and clarinetist of Etcetera Wind Quintet. Travis will graduate from the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance in May 2016. He plans to pursue a Masters degree in orchestral conducting. Herd's principal teachers have included Dr. Bill Kalinkos and Prof. Paul Garritson.