Kaira Rouer is MUSE Sturgeon Bay’s Executive Director. She also performs and teaches flute and piccolo in Sturgeon Bay, WI. She has achieved a Master of Music in Flute Performance at the University of Denver in the Lamont School of Music, having studied under Julie Thornton of The Colorado Symphony. She received her Bachelor of Music from Lawrence University at the Conservatory of Music, majoring in Music Performance (Flute) under Dr. Erin Lesser.
While studying at Lawrence, Rouer helped her parents to start and manager Rouer’s Roadhouse, LLC, a Door County bar and grill, as the event and operations manager. After graduating from Lawrence, she continued to manage her family’s business while diving into freelancing, starting her own teaching studio out of the Tambourine Lounge building in downtown Sturgeon Bay, where still teaches flute and piccolo today.
She also serves as a board member and organizer for her familys’ Gardner Community Foundation, a trades scholarship fund. As an active musician, Rouer performs with local community groups ranging from the Peninsula Symphonic Band (where she also serves on the board) to the chamber group The Door County Northwinds and with Country Rock band Belgian Silo Experience where she also contributes with voice. Rouer has taken her expertise in performance, education, and business to serve her community, leading the Muse SB team and working to sustain a positive impact on the Door County Community through musical enrichment.
David Gerhard Utzinger is MUSE Sturgeon Bay’s Artistic Director. Dr. Utzinger began his artistic career studying visual art. After music became an ever-increasing influence in his life, he began studying piano with Dr. Renee Chevalier and composition with Dr. Paul Davies. Since then, Dr. Utzinger received his BA in Composition from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, his MM in Composition from the Manhattan School of Music and his PhD in Music at UCLA.
Dr. Utzinger has studied composition with Dr. Richard Danielpour, Dr. Reiko Füting, and Dr. David Lefkowitz and with French composer Eric Tanguy. His music has been performed throughout the United States and by numerous ensembles, including the Los Angeles based ensembles What’s Next? and Wild Up, the New York based ensemble Red Light New Music and the Ann Arbor based ensemble Brave New Works among others. Dr. Utzinger currently lives in Sturgeon Bay, WI, where he continues to write and teach music, and serves on the boards of Midsummer’s Music and The Miller Art Museum Foundation Board.