Hall of Fame Member Biographies

Marvin Lamb

Marvin Lamb began his career in Houston, playing trumpet. After serving in the 328th Army Band, he continued playing in Dallas/Fort Worth, the Chicago area, and Raleigh, North Carolina. He performed with Gordon McRae, Donny Most, Bobby Vinton, and other celebrities, served long-term engagements with Illinois Summer Musicals, as well as with Tommy Dorsey’s touring band. He earned a bachelor’s in music at Sam Houston State University in 1968, a master’s from University of North Texas in 1972, and his doctorate from University of Illinois in 1977.

In 1973, Lamb began a 50-year career as a music professor, the last 27 of which were spent at the University of Oklahoma. From 1998 to 2005, Lamb was dean of OU’s Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts. During that time, he worked with Max Weitzenhoffer in naming the college and establishing the School of Musical Theatre. In collaboration with the dance and music faculty, he oversaw the completion of the Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center. He expanded the number of endowed chairs and professorships within the college, as well as scholarship opportunities for the student body. After resuming his full-time teaching duties, two of his students were selected as winners of the Young Artist National Competition in Composition. He has guided over 30 dissertation projects and theses, and many of his students enjoy national successes and today hold academic positions. Several are also active in the Los Angeles and Oklahoma film communities. In 2019, Lamb was awarded a Henry A. Zarrow Presidential Professorship in Music at OU, and in 2025 he was named professor emeritus.

Having twice received composition fellowships to the Charles Ives Center for American Music, his works have been performed in Europe, North and South America, Mexico, Japan and Russia. He is published by Carl Fischer, Inc., and included in the Fleisher Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia. His pieces have been recorded on multiple CDs and are streamed internationally through Parma Recordings, where he is also on the artist roster. His London Symphony recording was GRAMMY-nominated in 2024.