Concert Division
Medal of Distinction
Global Initiative for Talented Students (GIFTS) in association with Perform America – TX, LLC is excited to offer a new educational opportunity for middle and high school band, choir and orchestra programs. Introducing Medal of Distinction, a unique recording submission process designed to celebrate excellence in performance while simultaneously offering practical and exciting opportunities of growth for both students and directors. All participants will have access to a wealth of knowledge from evaluators with a variety of musical backgrounds. The Medal of Distinction program serves as a means to bring together a community of musicians and educators striving to better themselves, their programs and the art of music-making.
CONTEST OVERVIEW
Ensemble recordings are evaluated in two rounds by judging panels composed of nationally recognized educators and conductors. After the initial listening in the ‘Premier Performance’ round, the top performing ensembles are advanced to the Encore Circle for an “encore” listening and will be listed as ‘Encore Circle Winners’ ensembles. The top ensembles in this group will be listed as the ‘Maestro’s Circle National Winners’ and the opportunity to have a Medal of Distinction evaluator make a personal visit to their program for a clinic. This in-person interaction with a master teacher is what makes Medal of Distinction a truly educational experience!*
*Some ensembles have one evaluator, but will still have the opportunity to receive a visit from the evaluator based on availability! International Ensembles if participating can earn recognition in the Encore Circle or as National Winner in the Maestro’s Circle, but are not eligible for an in person clinic at this time.
2021 Entry Information
National Youth Wind Ensemble of Distinction
National Youth Choir of Distinction
National Youth Orchestra of Distinction
National Youth Jazz Ensemble of Distinction
National Youth Mariachi of Distinction
National Youth Chamber Wind Ensemble of Distinction
National Youth Percussion Ensemble of Distinction
2021 Medal of Distinction Evaluators
PREMIER PERFORMANCE LISTENING
Mike Howard
Mr. Howard is currently in his 11th year at Vandegrift High School and in his 17th year of teaching high school band. He was one of the founding directors of the band when VHS opened in 2009 and became Head Band Director in the Fall of 2014. While at Vandegrift, Mr. Howard’s bands have been consistent UIL Concert Competition Sweepstakes Award Winners. He has also been instrumental in several marching band high honors such as BOA Regional Champion, BOA Super Regional Finalist, BOA Super Regional Class Champion, multiple invitational marching contest championships, UIL State Marching Contest Finalist, 6A UIL State Marching Contest Bronze Medalist, 5A UIL State Marching Contest Silver Medalist and 4A UIL State Marching Contest Champion. At Vandegrift, Mr. Howard is the director of the Viper Marching Band, Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band.
Aside from being the Director of Bands at VHS, Mr. Howard is an active Leadership Consultant and Workshop Presenter. He has been a facilitator for SASI for the last 11 years. In this time, Mr. Howard has had the opportunity to work with thousands of students and directors from around the United States. As a lead facilitator for SASI, he is heavily involved with the operations of all Drum Major camps as well
as teaching several site-based workshops throughout the summer.
Before coming to Vandegrift, Mr. Howard taught at James E. Taylor High School in Katy, Texas. As Associate Director of the JE Taylor HS Band his responsibilities included directing the Jazz Program, assisting with the marching band, conducting the Concert Band, and coordinating and teaching the drumline. Mr. Howard, a native of Hondo, TX, started his teaching career at Morton Ranch High School, where he was a band director and helped open the school in 2004. At Morton Ranch, he taught the Concert Band, Jazz Band, assisted with the marching band. Before teaching at Morton Ranch, Mr. Howard was an instructor for the Cedar Park High School Band in Cedar Park, Texas and an instructor for the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps from Madison, Wisconsin.
As a performer, Mr. Howard has performed with the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps, the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Austin Lyric Opera and several bands around the Austin/San Antonio area. Mr. Howard graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos, Suma Cum Laude, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. He lives in Leander with his wife Amber, his daughter, Madison and his son, Justin.
Mike Howard
Kerry Taylor
Kerry Taylor currently serves as Director of Bands for Westlake High School. He is also the Fine Arts Director for Eanes Independent School District. Mr. Taylor is in his 33rd year as a band director in Texas public schools; five years in Katy ISD and 28 in Eanes ISD. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Masters of Music degree in Applied Conducting, both from the University of Texas at Austin.
Mr. Taylor is active as a clinician and adjudicator in Texas and across the US. He has served the Texas Music Educators Association in many positions including Chairman of the Band Division (2002-2004) and as President (2005-2006) of the 10,000+ member organization. His other professional memberships include Texas Bandmasters Association, Texas Music Adjudicators Association, Phi Beta Mu, National Band Association, College Band Directors National Association, Kappa Kappa Psi and Phi Mu Alpha. In 2001 Mr Taylor was elected to the membership of the American Bandmasters Association. Mr. Taylor currently serves as co-chair of the ABA Foundation’s Sousa-Ostwald Award for wind band compositions.
Under Mr. Taylor’s direction, the Westlake High School Band has been named “Best in Class” or “Runner-up” at the Buccaneer Music Festival, South Coast Music Festival, MusicFest (Orlando, FL) and the DC Festival in San Antonio. The Westlake Band has made concert tours to the Pacific Northwest, Canada, the British Isles and Western Europe. Under his direction, the Westlake Wind Ensemble has performed at the 2002 and 2013 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the American Bandmasters Association on March 4, 2006 and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles on July 8, 2009. In 1997, the John Philip Sousa Foundation presented the Westlake Band with the Sudler Flag of Honor recognizing excellence in the concert band program over an extended period of time.
Kerry Taylor
Cheryl Floyd
Cheryl Floyd retired in 2017 after completing a 25-year tenure as Director of Bands at Hill Country Middle School in Austin, Texas. The Hill Country Middle School Band is recognized as one of the exemplary middle school programs in the nation. Prior to her tenure at Hill Country, she served as Director of Bands at Murchison Middle School, also in Austin, for eight years.
For three decades, she has diligently championed the creation of new works for concert band and has collaborated with numerous internationally recognized award winning composers such as Frank Ticheli, Ron Nelson and Don Grantham to commission significant new works that continue to enrich the musical lives of young musicians. This body of work is acknowledged to be among the most significant repertoire available for middle school and high school bands.
In 2016 Cheryl Floyd was named a Yamaha Master Educator, one of only 18 in the nation. As such she is positioned to appear throughout the United States as a conductor, clinician and educator representing Yamaha. Among her many other national engagements she annually serves as an evaluator for the Music For All National Concert Band Festival and was recently appointed to the Middle School Educational team for the Music For All Summer Symposium.
Mrs. Floyd was elected to the American Bandmasters’ Association in 1993. She was the fifth female member of this 225-member organization and was the first middle school band director to be chosen for ABA membership.
Cheryl Floyd
Robert Herrings
Robert Tyrome Herrings, III is entering his fifteenth year of teaching and has been teaching at Henry Middle School in Leander ISD since 2004. Prior to coming to Leander ISD, he was the Director of Bands at Rockdale Junior High in Rockdale, Texas.
In 2003, Mr. Herrings received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he studied under Michael Haithcock, Jeff Grogan, Dr. Kevin Sedatole and Barry Hopper. While in college, Mr. Herrings was a member of the Baylor University performing wind bands, as well as a member of the Baylor University Golden Wave Band.
At Henry Middle School, Mr. Herrings conducts the Honors Band, assists with the Symphonic Band, Concert Band and beginning trombone class. He also teaches beginning flute and trumpet. Mr. Herrings’ bands have consistently received UIL Sweepstakes ratings, as well as unanimous first division ratings, Best In Class, and Overall Outstanding Band honors at festivals around the state. In 2009-2014, the program at Henry earned distinction as a National Wind Band Honors Class AA winner, and in 2008 and 2013, the Henry Middle School Honors Band was selected to perform at the Western International Band Clinic in Seattle, Washington. The program was named the 2010, 2014 and 2018 TMEA Class CCC Honor Band and was also selected to perform at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in 2010, 2012, and 2016. In June 2011, Mr. Herrings and his program were awarded the prestigious John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Silver Cup Award, and in July of the same year, Mr. Herrings was named the Phi Beta Mu Outstanding Young Bandmaster of the Year. In 2013, the Texas Chapter of the American School Band Director’s Association awarded the Artie Henry Middle School Band the Outstanding Band Program Award. The Percussion Ensemble at Henry Middle School was selected to perform at the 2014 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. Most recently, the Henry Middle School Band Program was named the Texas Bandmasters Association’s Exemplary Middle School Program of the Year for 2018.
An active clinician and adjudicator around the state, Mr. Herrings is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association and the Texas Music Adjudicators Association. Mr. Herrings also serves as the TMEA Region 32 Middle School Band Chair, as well as the Region 32 TBA representative. He is also a mentor to new-to-profession teachers at Henry Middle School.
Mr. Herrings enjoys motivating young musicians to achieve the highest level of performance by sharing his extreme love and passion for music with them on a daily basis. He feels honored, privileged and extremely blessed to have a loving mother and grandmother, many great mentors, band directors and close friends who have influenced his career thus far.
Above all, his students have been his greatest inspiration!
Robert Herrings
ENCORE CIRCLE LISTENING
Jerry Junkin
Serving since 1988 on the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Vincent R. and Jane D. DiNino Chair for the Director of Bands, in addition to serving as a University Distinguished Teaching Professor, Jerry Junkin is recognized as one of the world’s most highly regarded wind conductors. Previously, he served on the faculties of both the University of Michigan and the University of South Florida. In addition to his responsibilities as Professor of Music and Conductor of the Texas Wind Ensemble, he serves as Head of the Conducting Division and teaches courses in conducting and wind band literature. He is a recipient of multiple teaching awards, and students of Mr. Junkin hold major positions throughout the world.
He has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia since 2003, and as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Dallas Winds since 1993. Additionally, he serves as principal guest conductor of the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music Wind Ensemble in Kawasaki, Japan. In 2005 he was presented the Grainger Medallion by the International Percy Grainger Society in recognition of his championing of Grainger’s works. A recipient of the Kappa Kappa Psi Distinguished Service to music Award, he was the 2012 Texas Bandmaster of the Year and in 2015 received the Medal of Honor from the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. In 2017 he was named the Phi Beta Mu International Outstanding Bandmaster.
Performances under the direction of Mr. Junkin have won the praise of such notable musicians as John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, Gunther Schuller, Karel Husa, William Kraft, Jacob Druckman and Michael Colgrass, among many others. Mr. Junkin has released over 30 compact disc recordings for the Reference, Klavier and Naxos labels. The New York Times named his release with the UT Wind Ensemble on the Reference Recordings label, Bells for Stokowski, one of the best classical CD’s of that year. Their performance of Circus Maximus was recently released on the world’s first Blu Ray audio disc in 5.1 surround sound by Naxos. In 2014 he led The University of Texas Wind Ensemble on a four-week tour around the world. Other major appearances with the UT Wind Ensemble include 1992 and 2008 European Tours, the 2007 Festival Del Sole in Napa Valley, in addition to two Carnegie Hall performances, eight TMEA Convention concerts, three ABA Convention performances and six CBDNA National Convention appearances.
Jerry Junkin is an enthusiastic advocate of public school music education, having conducted All-State bands and festivals in forty-eight states and on five continents. He spends his summers in residence at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, as well as appearing at major music festivals throughout the world. Mr. Junkin has served as President of the Big XII Band Director’s Association and is a member of the Board of Directors of The John Philip Sousa Foundation, is Past-President of the American Bandmasters Association, and Past-President of the College Band Directors National Association. Regularly making guest appearances with ensembles such as the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and the Taipei Symphonic Winds, the current season finds him conducting throughout the United States in addition to appearances in Japan, China, and Europe. Mr. Junkin is a Yamaha Master Educator.
Jerry Junkin
Kevin Sedatole
2012 College of Music Faculty Portraits
Kevin Sedatole serves as Director of Bands, Professor of Music, and Chair of the conducting area at the Michigan State University College of Music. At MSU, Professor Sedatole serves as administrator of the entire band program totaling over 700 students that includes the Wind Symphony, Symphony Band, Concert Band, Chamber Winds, Campus Bands, Spartan Marching Band and Spartan Brass. He also guides the graduate wind-conducting program in addition to conducting the MSU Wind Symphony.
Prior to joining MSU, he was director of bands and associate professor of conducting at Baylor University. Previous to his appointment at Baylor he served as associate director of bands at the University of Texas and director of the Longhorn Band, and as associate director of bands at the University of Michigan and Stephen F. Austin State University.
Sedatole has conducted performances for the College Band Directors National Association, American Bandmasters Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, as well as performances in Carnegie Hall. He has conducted across the United States and Europe. Most recently the MSU Wind Symphony, under the direction of Professor Sedatole, has given featured performances at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic held in Chicago, Ill. and at the national conventions of the College Band Directors’ National Association held in Austin, Texas and Kansas City, Missouri. Performances conducted by Professor Sedatole have won accolades from prominent composers including Robert Beaser, John Corigliano, Michael Colgrass, Donald Grantham, David Maslanka, Ricardo Lorenz, Michael Daugherty, John Mackey, Jonathan Newman, Carter Pann, Joel Puckett, Dan Welcher as well as many others. Professor Sedatole also serves on the summer faculty of the Interlochen Music Camp, Board of Directors for the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic and as the president of the CBDNA North Central division. His international engagements include residencies at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, Tokyo, Japan and the Mid Europe Festival, Schladming, Austria.
Kevin Sedatole
Richard L. Floyd
Richard Floyd has been active as a conductor, music educator and administrator since 1962. He has enjoyed a distinguished and highly successful career at virtually every level of wind band performance from beginning band programs through high school and university wind ensembles as well as adult community bands. Floyd recently retired as State Director of Music at the University of Texas at Austin where he coordinated all facets of secondary school music competition for some 3500 performing organizations throughout the state for 29 years. He now holds the title UIL State Director of Music Emeritus. He also serves as Musical Director and Conductor of the Austin Symphonic Band that is viewed to be one of the premier adult concert bands in America.
Prior to his appointment at the University of Texas, Mr. Floyd served on the faculty at the University of South Florida as Professor of Conducting and at Baylor University in Texas where he held the position of Director of Bands for nine years. He began his career as band director at Richardson Junior High School and then become the first director of the award winning J.J. Pearce High School Band in the same city. He also served as Director of Fine Arts for that district for two years before moving to Baylor University in 1972.
His musical achievements include performances at numerous state and national conventions and conferences including the 1977 College Band Directors National Association, the 1981 Music Educators National Conference and concerts at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago in 1989, 1997 and 2007. Other distinguished performances include concerts for the American Bandmasters Association in 1993 and 2006 and the 2004 Western International Band Clinic in Seattle, Washington. Performances by his various ensembles have been heard on radio broadcasts throughout the United States, Australia and Europe.
Mr. Floyd is a recognized authority on conducting, the art of wind band rehearsing, concert band repertoire, and music advocacy. As such, he has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe as a clinician, adjudicator and conductor including appearances in 40 American states and in 9 other countries. He is a frequent featured clinician for the Texas Music Educators Association, the Texas Bandmasters Association and has presented three conducting and rehearsal technique clinics for the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic. In 2002 he was the single recipient of the prestigious A.A. Harding Award presented by the American School Band Directors Association in recognition of his significant and lasting contributions to the school band movement. The Texas Bandmasters Association named him Texas Bandmaster of the Year in 2006 and also recognized him with the TBA Lifetime Administrative Achievement Award in 2008. Most recently he received the Texas Music Educators Association Distinguished Service Award in 2009 and was inducted into the Bands of America Hall of Fame and Texas Phi Beta Mu Hall of Fame in 2011. Also in 2011 he was awarded the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic Medal of Honor for distinguished service and contributions to bands, orchestras and music education. He is a member of Music for All’s Bands of America Hall of Fame.
Publications include co-authorship of Best Music For Beginning Band and contributing author for The Musician’s Walk by James Jordon and published by GIA. In addition his articles have appeared in The Instrumentalist and numerous national and international publications. In 2006 he was featured on the GIA Produced DVD entitled Kindred Spirits from the series Conducting From The Inside Out. Other conductors included H. Robert Reynolds, Craig Kirchhoff and Allan McMurray.
During Mr. Floyd’s professional career he has held positions of leadership on many state and national committees for music education and wind music performance. At present he is a member of the John Philip Sousa Foundation Board of Directors, Chairman of the American Bandmasters Association Educational Projects Committee, an ex-officio member of the Texas Music Educator’s Association Executive Board and serves as chair of the College Band Directors National Association Music Education Committee. He served as National Secretary of CBDNA from 1979 to 2007 and has played an active leadership role in the implementation of that organization’s many projects and services for over three decades.
Richard Floyd
PREMIER PERFORMANCE LISTENING
Denise Eaton
Thirty-five year veteran music educator, author and editor Denise Eaton is known for her innovative and practical teaching style. She willingly shares her ideas with a unique, humble and engaging voice, capitalizing on her experiences in the high school and collegiate rehearsal. Denise has presented over fifty workshops in Oklahoma, Georgia, Louisiana, Iowa, Ohio, Florida, Alabama and Texas, including Southern ACDA as well as multiple appearances at Texas Choral Director’s and Texas Music Educator’s Association state conventions.
The co-author of three sight- reading books: SMART (Sight Reading Made Accessible Readable and Teachable), SMART Minor, and InSight Singing. She is the editor of Choral Error Detection by Paul Hondorp and is currently writing her 4th book, STEPS: Strategies & Tools Encouraging Proficient Sightsinging.
An undergraduate from the University of Texas at Austin, Eaton received the MM in Conducting from Sam Houston State University where she currently teaches Secondary Choral Methods, conducts the SHSU Women’s Choir, coordinates the annual summer Teaching High School and Teaching Middle School Choral workshops, Area Choir workshop and the annual summer All-State Choir Camp.
Prior to her 2011 appointment at Sam Houston State University, Eaton had a highly respected career as a high school choir director for twenty-nine years where choirs under her direction performed for numerous state and regional conventions. A strong advocate for music education, Eaton served as the Vocal Vice-President and the President of the Texas Music Educator’s Association. She has been the choral editor at Carl Fischer and BriLee music since 2011.
Denise Eaton
Jo Scurlock-Dillard
Jo Scurlock-Dillard received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Arts in 1975 from Stephen F. Austin State University. She taught choral music and theatre in Texas and California for 35 years before retiring from the classroom.
Jo is a Past President of the Texas Music Educators Association, and she also served two years as the Vice President in charge of the Vocal Division. She has served on many music advisory committees, such as: UIL Sightreading Committee, UIL Prescribed Music List Committee, Chair of the SWACDA Repertoire and Standards Committee for Women’s Choirs, Chair of the TCDA Ways and Means Committee, and the UIL Music Advisory.
In 2000, Jo was named as the recipient of the Southwestern Bell UIL Sponsor of the Year for her work with students in choir. She was also named SFASU’s Music Alumnus of the Year.
Choirs under Jo’s direction have been chosen to perform for the Texas Music Educator’s Association, Southwestern Division of the American Choral Association, and the National American Choral Director’s Association conferences. Her choirs have also been invited to sing in Paris, Budapest, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, Florence, Rome, Amsterdam, and Bruges.
Jo continues to be active as a choral conductor, advocate, clinician, consultant, Texas Tech University Student Teacher Supervisor, and teacher mentor/consultant for the Harlandale School District in San Antonio.
Jo Scurlock-Dillard
ENCORE CIRCLE LISTENING
Tesfa Wondemagegnehu
With a love of music as big as his last name, Tesfa Wondemagegnehu has been sharing joy and a vision for equity and justice through song for over a decade. Through a triumvirate of teaching, conducting, and performing, he has found a way to transform both students and audiences and to reach those seeking resolutions of peace, equality, and respect … through music.
Tesfa Wondemagegnehu serves as the conductor of the Viking Chorus and the Chapel Choir at St. Olaf College. He maintains an active voice studio and teaches Music & Social Justice with the goal of helping bridge the gap of social injustice through music, dialogue, and inspiring participants to take action in their communities. Wondemagegnehu most recently was the Director of Choral Ministries at Westminster Presbyterian Church of Minneapolis, where he co-founded the Justice Choir movement with noted composer Abbie Betinis. In the summer of 2018, Tesfa served as guest conductor of the children’s choir at the Aspen Music Festival, leading them in a week-long journey on the Justice Choir Songbook.
Born and raised in Memphis, with an impressive collection of opinions on barbecue, Tesfa learned early on from one of his mentors that “Excellence is never an accident.” And, consequently, he has not left much to chance. Through the love and dedication of music teachers with whom he has studied, and an abundance of grit and determination, Tesfa has risen to be one of the most sought-after conductors and educators in the country and is on the cutting edge of music-related social justice movements throughout the United States.
Tesfa has conducted and given masterclasses, workshops, and clinics both nationally and internationally. In 2017 he co-led the American Choral Directors Association’s national high school honor choir, working collaboratively with Eric Whitacre. In June of 2017, he was named the composer-in-residence for Choirs of America at Carnegie Hall, where he had the opportunity to conduct and lift over 600 voices in singing the world premiere of his composition May the Road. Wondemagegnehu made his Severance Hall debut in 2017, co-conducting with Cleveland Orchestra Chorus Master Dr. Lisa Wong a choir comprising high school students from the Cleveland area, and in 2016 he worked with Los Angeles Master Chorale artistic director Grant Gershon, co-conducting their 1,000 student honor choir in the majestic Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Tesfa holds a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting and Vocal Performance from the Florida State University and a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performing from the University of Memphis. While teaching high school, Tesfa was named Orange County Public School Teacher of the Year and received the Macy’s National Magic of Teaching Award. This award celebrated an innovative voice program started at Freedom High School in Orlando, where the class participants, who received free voice lessons and vocal coaching, obtained over $3 million in college scholarships from some of the most prestigious music schools in the country.
Tesfa’s time in Minneapolis began as the Assistant Artistic Director of VocalEssence while concurrently serving as the Manager of the Choral Works Initiative and the Choral Stream™ at American Public Media. During his tenure at APM, he was named founding artistic director of The Radio Choir from American Public Media.
Wondemagegnehu is the curator and editor of a new choral series with Hinshaw Music Publications and is celebrated as an accomplished arranger and composer. Many of his compositions have been performed by regional choirs and all-state choirs throughout the country.
Tesfa has been inspired by all of his students throughout his career. His latest prodigy, daughter Aïda Hope, born in 2017, is influencing him daily with new developments, all the while wrapping him around her tiny finger. It is still to be determined whether she will be a world-famous opera singer, a renowned conductor, or the ultimate grill master, but, nevertheless, she will be fierce.
American Public Media’s Vaughn Ormseth has this to say about Tesfa: “He believes choral music transformed his life, saved him, so his passion for it is on a cellular level. He loves the formal tradition of the art form, but plugs his own kind of electricity directly into it. He has a millennial’s impatience with systems.” And so, with music’s undeniable power and potential to save lives, and the impatience to wait for others to make change, Tesfa will continue to transform the world with his vision and determination in education, justice, and joy.
Written by Janice Teliczan, Spring 2018
Tesfa Wondemagegnehu
Dianne Brumley
Dianne Brumley is The University of Texas at Brownsville Director Emeritus of Choral Studies. She was appointed in 2003 and was the first person to hold the position of Director of Choral Studies at the University. Brumley was the founding conductor of the acclaimed University Master Chorale. During her ten-year tenure at UTB, the Master Chorale was selected to perform at the 2011 Texas Music Educators Association Convention and toured internationally. Brumley also served for 20 years as the founding Conductor and Artistic Director of the South Texas Chorale and Festival Orchestra.
Brumley is a frequent guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout Texas and the United States. Currently, Brumley works as a choral music education and choral conducting consultant. She is a passionate advocate for music in public schools and universities and mentors numerous choral directors. In 2011, Brumley was honored by the Texas Choral Directors Association with the prestigious Texas Choral Excellence Award.
Before her time with the University of Texas at Brownsville, Brumley was a successful music teacher in public schools at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels and, also, served as a public school fine arts administrator. Choirs under her direction have won numerous competitions and awards and were selected for honor performances at TMEA conventions, ACDA regional and national conventions and a featured performance at the TCDA convention.
Married to Allan Brumley, the Brumleys now make their home in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio.
Dianne Brumley
PREMIER PERFORMANCE LISTENING
Joshua Thompson
Joshua Thompson is currently the Orchestra Director at Westwood High School. The 2017-2018 school year marked his first year at the helm of this storied program with a long tradition of excellence. Previously, Joshua was the Orchestra Director at Shepton High School, in Plano, Texas. In his 13 years at Shepton, he grew the orchestra program from 79 students in 2 performing groups to 172 students in 5 performing orchestras. In 2011, the Foundation of Music Education named the Shepton Chamber Orchestra one of three National Winners in the Mark of Excellence – National Orchestra Honors Competition, despite Shepton High School being a campus of only 9th and 10th graders. He previously taught at Haggard Middle School in Plano, and South Cobb High School, in Austell, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.
Joshua holds a Master of Music degree in Music Performance in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Kentucky (Lexington) and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Kentucky, he conducted all of the university bands, the Symphony Orchestra, and various chamber ensembles. As an undergraduate conductor, Joshua became co-director of the Dana Brass Ensemble, founded a studio orchestra devoted to the performance of film music, and guest conducted both university concert bands and the Youngstown Youth Symphony Orchestra. His final conducting appearance at Youngstown State was a highly successful, full production of Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat. A lifelong learner, he has recently attended several conducting workshops around the world, including the International Conducting Workshop and Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2016.
As a trumpeter, Joshua was chosen to perform as part of a solo clinic at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Richmond, Virginia, where he performed the Sonata for Trumpet and Piano by Peter Maxwell Davies with pianist Rebecca Wilt. He was a semi-finalist at the National Trumpet Competition’s Masters Division in 1998, and was chosen as an alternate for the New World Symphony in Miami, Florida after completing graduate school. As an undergraduate, he won the Dana School of Music Concerto Competition and was the winner of the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs Solo Competition in 1996.
Originally from Steubenville, Ohio, Joshua first took up trumpet studies with his grandfather, a successful high school band director. He remains an active freelance trumpeter, and is in high demand as a performer, adjudicator, and clinician. In his free time, Joshua is a competitive distance runner, racing distances from 5 kilometers to 50 miles. In 2015, he represented the City of Dallas as a citizen ambassador to Sendai, Japan, taking part in the Sendai International Half Marathon.
Joshua Thompson
Sixto Elzondo
ald Reagan High School. He is responsible for the leadership and development of six student orchestras. Under his leadership since 2010, the Reagan High School Orchestra has enjoyed record student retention and performance attendance. In addition, the Reagan High School Orchestra has won multiple awards and recognition in region, state, and national competitions. Mr. Elizondo also serves on the Texas Orchestra Directors Association Board of Directors as Secretary advising on the growth of orchestra directors through annual sponsorship of new music reading sessions, clinics, workshops, and exhibits. For 19 years, he has been a member of the Corpus Christi Symphony and also works as a freelance violinist and vocalist in the San Antonio area. Previously, Mr. Elizondo was the Orchestra Director at Robert E. Lee High School for eight years responsible for the guitar ensemble and development for the student orchestras. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education, with a concentration in violin, from Baylor University where he was a member of the Baylor Orchestra Symphony. Mr. Elizondo has professional affiliations with the Texas Orchestra Directors Association, Texas Music Education Association, and Texas Music Adjudicators Association. He is also President of Mu Omicron, an honorary Orchestra Directors fraternity.
Sixto Elizondo
ENCORE CIRCLE LISTENING
Carolyn Watson
A major prizewinner at the 2012 Emmerich Kálmán International Operetta Conducting Competition in Budapest, Carolyn Watson was also a Fellow of the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival where she studied with David Zinman. She has conducted orchestras throughout Europe including the Brandenburg Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Kodály Philharmonic, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Operetta Theatre, Bulgarian State Opera Bourgas and in Russia, the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic.
Carolyn currently serves as Director of Orchestral Studies at The University of Kansas whilst continuing to enjoy an active freelance career throughout the US, Europe and Australia. Since moving to the US in 2013 she has conducted the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Kansas City Ballet, Austin Symphony, Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra and World Youth Symphony Orchestra. From 2013-15 she held the prestigious position of Music Director of the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra, with whom she was awarded the 2015 American Prize for Orchestral Performance. Carolyn is also a member of the summer conducting faculty at Interlochen Arts Camp.
Carolyn is the recipient of a number of prestigious national and international awards for young conductors including the Brian Stacey Award for emerging Australian conductors, Sir Charles Mackerras Conducting Prize awarded via the Australian Music Foundation in London, Opera Foundation Australia’s Bayreuth Opera Award and Berlin New Music Opera Award and the Nelly Apt Conducting Scholarship. She is the beneficiary of support from the American Australian Association’s Dame Joan Sutherland Fund and a Sheila Pryor Study Grant from the Australian Opera Auditions Committee.
Carolyn holds a PhD in Performance (Conducting) from the University of Sydney where she studied under Imre Palló. The subject of her doctoral thesis was Gesture as Communication: The Art of Carlos Kleiber.
Carolyn Watson
Jeffrey Grogan
Jeffrey Grogan is an internationally acclaimed conductor and teacher, dedicating more than 25 years to nurturing musical excellence among young musicians. Mr. Grogan has served as adjudicator, conductor, and clinician for many prestigious national and international events. In 2018 he was invited by the LA Philharmonic to conduct with Gustavo Dudamel and Michael Morgan at Disney Hall, a part of the National Take A Stand Festival. Other conducting engagements include: the Honor Orchestra of America sponsored by Music for All, the National Orchestra Cup at Lincoln Center; and the Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall. Recent international work includes conducting festivals at the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Harpa Concert Hall in Iceland, and venues in Bangkok, Thailand and Singapore. Mr. Grogan has also conducted numerous all-state orchestras and bands throughout the US, and in 2018, was named Master Educator by the Yamaha Corporation of America.
Grogan is currently Director of Orchestral Activities and Professor of Music at the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University and Artistic Director of the Oklahoma Youth Orchestras. Previously, Grogan served eleven seasons as Education and Community Engagement Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and as Conductor and Artistic Director of the NJSO Youth Orchestras, the InterSchool Orchestras of New York and the New Jersey Youth Symphony. His youth orchestras have performed to capacity crowds at some of the greatest concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Smetana Hall, Bartok Hall, Musikverein, and Konzerthaus. He has appeared as a guest conductor at many universities throughout the US from Indiana University to the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes School of Music Pre-College Division. His work with professional orchestras includes the New Jersey Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Little Orchestra Society of New York, Reno Philharmonic, Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, Ridgefield Symphony and the New York Concerti Sinfonietta.
Following his passion for performing and helping to create new music for orchestras, he has collaborated with many composers: Lowell Liebermann, Michael Colgrass, Eric Whitacre, Steven Stucky, Michael Daugherty, Amanda Harberg, Steven Bryant, Dana Wilson, David Sampson, Michael Markowski, and Scott McAllister – and has worked with soloists Richard Stolzman, Stefan Hoskuldsson, Julian Schwarz and the Canadian Brass. Grogan worked on several projects with violinist and composer Mark O’Connor, which included professional studio work in New York City. He also conducted a recording of O’Connor’s March of the Gypsy Fiddler with the Ahn Trio and New Jersey Youth Symphony. This CD is recorded on the OMAC Records label and is played on classical music radio throughout the country.
Mr. Grogan is founding Artistic Director of two El Sistema inspired music programs in New Jersey: the Paterson Music Project (PMP) in Paterson and the NJSO CHAMPS in Newark. These two programs currently teach music to more than 500 students.
Prior to his work in New York and New Jersey, Grogan taught conducting and trained future music educators for over a decade at the University of Michigan, Ithaca College, and Baylor University. He is also the former Associate Director of Bands and Marching Band Director at the University of Michigan and Baylor University. Grogan began his career teaching grades 6-12 in DeSoto, Texas Independent School District.
Jeffrey Grogan
PREMIER PERFORMANCE LISTENING
Jose Antonio Diaz
Back in the 1970s, Houston’s northside was the home to one of America, and the world’s finest youth music ensembles: the bluesyfunk jazzy and swingin’ Kashmere Stage Band, based out of Kashmere High School and directed by legendary music man and esteemed educator Conrad O. “Prof” Johnson. Before Prof passed away at 92 years of age in 2008, he’d lived to see the Stage Band win national competitions, release eight records, and star in Thunder Soul, a feature-length, award-winning documentary narrated by Jamie Foxx.
The Houston area’s lush and fertile soil never ceases to nurture music legends, and just as Johnson’s life in music was winding down, that of his spiritual successor, Jose Antonio Diaz, was continuing to rev up. Now fast-approaching his 35th year as director of bands at Aldine MacArthur High School, Diaz, who is both Grammy-nominated as an educator and a LULAC Teacher of the Year, has not only maintained the Generals’ ensemble five-star ranking for decades and send many a kid off to college with both a scholarship and a plan, but has also found nearly countless other ways to foster and develop youthful musical talent in Aldine and beyond.
First, there is Soulsa Caliente, the pan-Latin youth jazz orchestra he leads and directs from his Diaz Music Institute. Over the years, Diaz has been the one constant in Caliente, whose gig-list includes festival dates from Houston’s biggest stages to Oregon and Chicago and becoming the first youth band to win a Houston Press Music Award as the city’s Best Latin Band. As for its alumni, three have won Grammys and percussionist Marcie Chapa toured with Beyonce in the superstar diva’s all-female band. Chapa has since gone on to lay down grooves for both BET’s Black Girls Rock awards show and Latin pop/Contemporary Christian singer and actress Jaci Velazquez. And earlier this year, singer-guitarist Jabari Johnson, another Diaz-trained Caliente alumnus, was named Best New Artist at the Stellar Gospel Music Awards in Las Vegas.
Clearly, Diaz teaches his students more than just how to play Latin jazz. But what better music is there to use as a springboard? It comes from so many sources, as Diaz points out. “Every single Latin culture has a hand in the development of Latin jazz,” Diaz points out. “And Mexico was really strong in its development. Perez Prado loved hiring Mexican brass players, because they were accustomed to playing the really high trumpet parts he loved. He lived there for many years.”
It’s also complex and demanding — a firm grounding in Latin jazz offers young musicians a chance to expand into any corner of the music universe. And beyond: Jazz trumpeter Felix DeLeon Jr., who studied under Diaz at MacArthur and at the Institute, says that lessons learned on the bandstand carry over into all aspects of life. “I’ve met doctors and lawyers, successful people in other industries that were all in a band program or played some kind of instrument. And every one of them has said how important it is, and how much smarter a lot of these kids are if they learn how to multitask at such a young age, how to just approach things differently.”
Jose Antonio Diaz aspires not just to make youngsters into musicians, he also tries to mold boys and girls into successful young men and women. It’s not enough, he says, to teach them to “read both music and contracts,” he says. He also wants to teach them how to navigate life out there in that different world beyond their childhood homes.
As Grammy-winning jazz flautist Nestor Torres puts it: “What is the Diaz Music Institute? To me, it’s hope. It’s vision. It’s opening the way for young people to learn how to be themselves through music, specifically through salsa and Latin and Caribbean music.”
Jose Diaz
PREMIER PERFORMANCE LISTENING
Mónica Fogelquist
Mónica Fogelquist is currently the Assistant Professor of Practice in Mariachi and Ethnomusicology at the University of Texas at Austin. She most recently served as director of mariachi music at the College of Southern Nevada and Chaparral High School in Las Vegas. She received her Master’s degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Texas Río Grande Valley, and is second violinist and first vocalist with Mariachi Aztlán. As an undergraduate at Whittier College, Fogelquist performed with Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, the foremost all-female mariachi in the world.
Mónica Fogelquist
José Hernández
José Hernández is an eight-time Grammy Award nominee and a master of mariachi music. He is a world-renowned musician, composer, arranger, producer and music educator who continues to break new ground in the world of mariachi. He is the founder of the world-famous Mariachi Sol de México and America’s first all-female professional mariachi ensemble Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles.
Maestro Hernandez is a fixth-generation mariachi musician whose passion is to expand the boundaries of the genre while preserving the traditions that mariachi audiences know and love. His musicality and world-class arrangements have opened the doors for his Mariachi groups to play all over the world from Madison Square Garden and The Hollywood Bowl to the World Festival in Pyongyang, North Korea. His gifting and notoriety has put him in front of five USA Presidents from Reagan to Barack Obama and has allowed him to share the stage with icons such as Selena, Vicente Fernandez, The Beach Boys, Luis Miguel and Bryan Adams.
Known for his mastery of the craft and outstanding musical direction, Maestro Hernandez’s groups are excellent and versatile, able to play anything from Tchaikovsky “Nutcracker Suite”, to the Charlie Daniel’s band “Devil Went Down to Georgia”. His passion to fuse mariachi with other genres began in 1982 with his original symphonic arrangements for Mariachi. These arrangements have allowed his groups to share the stage with major symphony orchestras such as the prestigious Los Angeles Philharmonic, The San Francisco Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Jalisco Symphony and many more. In addition to the 24 albums he has produced and recorded for Mariachi Sol De Mexico de Jose Hernandez and Mariachi Reyna De Los Angeles, Maestro has become the “go-to” mariachi arranger in Hollywood; having recorded for movies like “Sea Biscuit “, “American Me”, “Glory Road”, and “Rango”.
At the core of Maestro’s passion, is his belief that music can truly change lives. The outworking of this belief was established in 1991 through the “Mariachi Heritage Society”, his non-profit mariachi education foundation that has equipped thousands of students in various instruments. Each year Maestro hosts The José Hernández’ Mariachi Nationals and Summer Institute, a summer intensive and competition that brings together some of the country’s top student mariachi ensembles and offers them scholarships.
Perhaps his greatest accomplishment of all is being the proud father of five children who have followed in his musical footsteps and husband to his wife Teresa of 40 years.
José Hernández
PREMIER PERFORMANCE LISTENING
Robert Carnochan
Robert M. Carnochan is Director of Wind Ensemble Activities, Music Director/Conductor of the Frost Wind Ensemble and Professor of Conducting at the Frost School of Music. Besides overseeing all aspects of the wind band program, Professor Carnochan also teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in conducting and wind repertoire.
Dr. Carnochan’s multi-faceted career has included numerous high-profile collaborations with a number of esteemed colleagues and composers, including Andy Akiho, Steven Bryant, John Corigliano, Michael Daugherty, Donald Grantham, Daniel Kellogg, Jonathan Leshnoff, John Mackey, David Maslanka, James Mobberly, Carter Pann, Joel Puckett, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Frank Ticheli, and Dan Welcher. He also invests substantial time in commissioning and performing works of the new generation of talented composers, among them, such rising stars as David Biedenbender, Andrew Boss, Viet Cuong, Paul Dooley, Ian Dicke, Aaron Perrine, and Zack Stanton.
In addition, Dr. Carnochan maintains a vibrant career as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator in performances throughout the United States, and has conducted concerts overseas in London, Spain, Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Singapore. He has also produced a number of acclaimed recordings by both The University of Texas Wind Ensemble and the Dallas Wind Symphony and his own recording of Donald Grantham’s Tuba Concerto with soloist Charles Villarrubia and the University of Texas Wind Ensemble were recently released on the Longhorn Music Label and is available for download from iTunes. He has conducted five recordings with the world-renowned University of Texas Longhorn Band and has appeared with them in numerous nationally and internationally televised events, including three Rose Bowl halftime performances, two Rose Parades and three performances at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in Austin Texas.
Before joining the faculty at the Frost School of Music, Dr. Carnochan was Professor of Music and Director of the Longhorn Band at The University of Texas in Austin for 13 years. He also served as Associate Director of Bands at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Director of Bands at Northeastern Oklahoma State University, and Associate Director of Bands at Stephen F. Austin State University. Dr. Carnochan began his professional teaching career as Director of Bands at Dundalk High School in Baltimore, Maryland, a position he still cherishes.
Dr. Carnochan’s efforts have gained him induction into the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Mu. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious service and teaching awards, including The Eyes of Texas Award, The Texas Blazers award, the DeCloux Fellowship, and the Marinus Smith Award. He holds memberships in the American Bandmasters Association, the Band Directors National Association, the Conductors Guild, the Florida Music Educators Association and the Texas Music Educators Association. His degrees include a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Towson University, a Master of Music degree in Wind Conducting from The University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting from The University of Texas. He counts among his teachers of note Allan McMurray, Jerry Junkin, and Dana Rothlisberger.
Robert Carnochan
PREMIER PERFORMANCE LISTENING
Thomas Burritt
There are storied educators, and there are dynamic performers, and then there are those who are destined to be both. Always in search of new music and new ways to share it with others, Thomas Burritt is today’s percussionist. He has received degrees from Ithaca College School of Music (BM – Education and Performance), Kent State University (MM), and Northwestern University (DMA). Active in the creation and performance of new music for percussion Burritt has built a reputation in chamber music, as a percussion soloist and a concert marimbist. He has performed regularly at the Leigh Howard Stevens International Marimba Seminar and was a featured faculty performer at the 2007 and 2009 Zeltsman Marimba Festival. In April 2004 Burritt performed in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as member of the Hammers and Sticks Ensemble. Later the same year the Hammers and Sticks Ensemble released a CD on the Innova label featuring works by Steven Mackey, Zhou Long, Alvin Singleton, Alex Shapiro, Joseph Harchanko and Belinda Reynolds.
As Percussion Soloist Burritt has been active performing percussion concertos by Maki Ishii, Steve Mackey, Joseph Schwantner, Michael Dougherty, David Maslanka, John Mackey, and James MacMillan. Burritt has recorded for guitarist Eric Johnson and recording artist David Byrne. Burritt’s first solo CD recording: “All Times Identical – New American Music for Marimba” was released in November 2006. His 2nd solo marimba recording “Groundlines” is available in iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Rdio and Spotify. In August of 2015, Burritt released his latest recording via YouTube, featuring a video album of J. S. Bach’s 5th Cello Suite performed on the Marimba. In 2009 and 2016, Burritt performed on two Grammy nominated recordings: “Conspirare in Concert” and “Pablo Neruda: The Poet Sings”, both distributed world wide on the harmonia mundi label. In the spring of 2012, Burritt was cited as being one of “The most influential Music Professors on Twitter”. Follow @tburritt
He is currently Professor of Percussion and Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and is a clinician/endorser for Majestic Percussion, Innovative Percussion, Zildjian, Remo, Beetle Percussion and Grover Pro Percussion.
Thomas Burritt
Who can enter?
National Youth Wind Ensemble of Distinction
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- Middle School Concert Band
- High School Concert Band
- University Ensemble
- Youth / Community Ensemble
- International Ensembles in above categories including Elementary and University*
National Youth Choir of Distinction
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- Middle School Treble Choir
- High School Mixed Choir
- Children’s / Boy’s Choir
- Middle School Open – any type of choral ensemble
- High School Open – any type of choral ensemble
- University Choir
- Community Choir
- International Ensembles in above categories*
National Youth Orchestra of Distinction
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- Middle School Full Orchestra
- Middle School String Orchestra
- High School Full Orchestra
- High School String Orchestra
- Youth / Community Orchestra
- University Ensemble
- International Ensembles in above categories*
National Youth Jazz Ensemble of Distinction
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- Middle School Jazz Ensemble
- High School Jazz Ensemble
- International Ensembles in above categories*
National Youth Mariachi of Distinction
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- Middle School Mariachi Ensemble
- High School Mariachi Ensemble
- International Ensembles in above categories*
National Youth Chamber Wind Ensemble of Distinction
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- High School Chamber Winds
- College/University Chamber Winds
- Community Chamber Winds
- International Chamber Winds in above categories*
National Youth Percussion Ensemble of Distinction
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- Middle School Percussion Ensemble
- High School Percussion Ensemble
- International Ensembles in above categories*
*INTERNATIONAL Ensembles if participating can earn recognition in the Encore Circle or as a National Winner in the Maestro’s Circle, but are not eligible for an in person clinic at this time.*