Faculty member involved in music production for theater company

Jon Newton, a Portland State graduate and PSU instructor in music technology, has produced musical arrangements and the production soundtrack for Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s They Came From Way Out There and produced music for the theater’s production of Why Do Fools Fall in Love?

Newton received his B.A. in music from PSU and attended Pacific University, where he received a master’s degree in teaching. He has toured parts of the United States and Canada with the group Classical Gas, arranging music and playing bluegrass fiddle, worked as music director and development director for films, commercials and animation projects for Will Vinton Studios, a world-renowned animation company, and is co-founder of Newton Bard Inc., a top audio production company in the Portland area.

In the past, Newton has been the recipient of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning with Technology Award, being honored for “Using Technology to Teach Music Theory.” Active in local theater, Newton has been the music director for the Portland Civic Theater since 1988, and has directed over 50 musical theater projects.

A member of PSU faculty since 2003, Newton teaches music technology and theory and oversees the PSU Music Technology Center.