Darren W. Jenkins is an award-winning composer whose compositions have been performed and recorded by various groups across the country, as well as internationally. His first work for band, Variations on A Mighty Fortress is Our God, won the 1989 Claude T. Smith Memorial Band Composition Contest. With hundreds of works to his credit, he has composed/arranged for symphonic, marching, and jazz bands; orchestra, choir, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments. Several of Jenkins’ compositions have been published, featured with FJH Music Publications, Walrus Music Publications, TRN Publications, Southern Music Company, Alfred Publications, and most notably with Wingert-Jones Publications. His most prominent recordings are of his Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble by soloist Jeanette Balland and The Danish Concert Band (“Visions from the North”, Rondo records) and Delaware Valley Celebration, by The Osaka Municipal Symphonic Band on their “New Wind Repertoire 2000” compact disc. Several of Jenkins’ jazz compositions/arrangements are featured on the Topeka Jazz Workshop CD The Primrose Path, as well as the CD entitled The Simple Things In Life, recorded by the Washburn University Jazz Ensemble I. He has a biographical inclusion with The Wind Repertory Project, as well as the recently revised volume of The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music.
A native Kansan, Darren was born on July 31, 1967. He grew up in Topeka where he attended the public schools, and is a graduate of Highland Park High School. Jenkins holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas and a Master of Music in Composition from The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. He has studied jazz composition and arranging with Frank Mantooth and did the majority of his graduate studies in composition with the eminent and prolific composer James Barnes.
Darren W. Jenkins began his teaching career in Troy, Kansas where he taught Instrumental Music (Grades 5-12) and Vocal Music (Grades 7-12). He also served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at The University of Kansas where his duties included teaching Intro to Jazz Improvisation, directing the Jazz Combo III and Jazz Ensemble III, and work as a Music Technology Lab Assistant. Jenkins was then Director of Music at Hayden High School in Topeka for two years before accepting a position in the Lawrence Public Schools as an itinerant elementary band instructor, where he also assisted with the bands at Lawrence High School. During his tenure at Hayden and in Lawrence, Jenkins also served as Adjunct Professor of the Single Reeds’ Methods course at Washburn University (1999 & 2001) and of Arranging at Sterling (Kansas) College (2000 & 2002). He was the Assistant Director of Bands at Olathe South High School in Olathe, Kansas for ten years and then spent five years as a Middle School Band Assistant for the same district. Mr. Jenkins has been a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician throughout the Midwest and the country.
A native Kansan, Darren was born on July 31, 1967. He grew up in Topeka where he attended the public schools, and is a graduate of Highland Park High School. Jenkins holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas and a Master of Music in Composition from The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. He has studied jazz composition and arranging with Frank Mantooth and did the majority of his graduate studies in composition with the eminent and prolific composer James Barnes.
Darren W. Jenkins began his teaching career in Troy, Kansas where he taught Instrumental Music (Grades 5-12) and Vocal Music (Grades 7-12). He also served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at The University of Kansas where his duties included teaching Intro to Jazz Improvisation, directing the Jazz Combo III and Jazz Ensemble III, and work as a Music Technology Lab Assistant. Jenkins was then Director of Music at Hayden High School in Topeka for two years before accepting a position in the Lawrence Public Schools as an itinerant elementary band instructor, where he also assisted with the bands at Lawrence High School. During his tenure at Hayden and in Lawrence, Jenkins also served as Adjunct Professor of the Single Reeds’ Methods course at Washburn University (1999 & 2001) and of Arranging at Sterling (Kansas) College (2000 & 2002). He was the Assistant Director of Bands at Olathe South High School in Olathe, Kansas for ten years and then spent five years as a Middle School Band Assistant for the same district. Mr. Jenkins has been a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician throughout the Midwest and the country.