Eugene Migliaro Corporon

2013 Featured Clinician

Eugene Migliaro Corporon is the conductor of the Wind Symphony and Regents Professor of Music at the University of North Texas. As Director of Wind Studies he guides all aspects of the program, including the masters and doctoral degrees in Wind Conducting. Mr. Corporon is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach and Claremont Graduate University. His performances have drawn praise from colleagues, composers and music critics alike. Having recorded over 600 works, including many premieres and commissions, his groups have released over 100 recordings on the Toshiba/EMI, Klavier, Mark, CAFUA, Donemus, Soundmark, GIA, Albany, Naxos, and Centaur labels. These recordings, two of which have appeared on the Grammy nomination ballot, are aired regularly on radio broadcasts throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Professor Corporon is a recipient of the International Grainger Society Distinctive Contribution Medallion, the Kappa Kappa Psi Distinguished Service to Music Award, as well as the Phi Beta Mu International Band Conductor of the Year Award. He has also received the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia National Citation for advancing the cause of music in America, the University of North Texas Student Government Association Honor Professor Award for Teaching Excellence, Student Rapport, and Scholarly Publications, the American School Band Directors Association A. A. Harding Award for making significant and lasting contributions to the school band movement, and the California State University, Long Beach, College of Fine Arts and Department of Music Distinguished Alumni Awards.

Steven Bryant

2013 Featured Composer

Steven Bryant, the son of a professional trumpeter and music educator, composes music across a variety of media and ensembles, ranging from electronic and electro-acoustic works, to chamber music, to works for wind ensembles and orchestras. Steven strongly values music education, and his creative output includes a number of works for young and developing musicians.

Steven's music has been performed by numerous ensembles across North America, Europe, and East Asia. He is a three-time winner of the National Band Association's William D. Revelli Composition Award: in 2010 for Ecstatic Waters, in 2008 for Suite Dreams, and in 2007 for his work Radiant Joy. His first orchestral work, Loose Id for Orchestra, hailed by celebrated composer Samuel Adler as "orchestrated like a virtuoso," was premiered by The Juilliard Symphony and is featured on a CD release by the Bowling Green Philharmonia on Albany Records. Alchemy in Silent Spaces, a large-scale work commissioned by James DePreist and The Juilliard School was premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra in May 2006. Since its 2008 premiere, his seminal work for large ensemble and electronics Ecstatic Waters has become one of the most performed works of its kind in the world, receiving over 175 performances in four seasons.

Steven studied composition with John Corigliano at The Juilliard School, Cindy McTee at the University of North Texas, and Francis McBeth at Ouachita University, trained for one summer in the mid-1980s as a breakdancer, and has a Bacon Number of 1. He resides in Durham, NC.

More Info At: http://www.stevenbryant.com

Salt River Brass

2013 Featured Concert

Picture thirty-six brass and percussion virtuosi crafting the upbeat brilliance of a military band, the full-throated sonorities of a symphony orchestra, and the warm intimate sounds of a chamber group.

This is the Salt River Brass, with the versatility to program everything from light classics and marches to show tunes, folk melodies, and jazz standards.

Founded by its musicians in January 1988, the Salt River Brass has thrilled audiences in the Valley's finest concert venues and received honors in three North American Brass Band Association competitions.

The SRB has presented outstanding guest soloists, ensembles, and conductors to valley audiences.

More Info At: http://www.saltriverbrass.com/

GDYO Wind Symphony

2013 Featured Concert

Since its inception in 1999, the GDYO Wind Symphony has quickly grown to become one of the premier youth wind ensembles in the United States. A rigorous audition process selects the students in the ensemble during the spring prior to each season. The ensemble of 55 to 60 wind, brass and percussion players are high school seniors or younger. Directed by Dr. Nicholas Williams, the GDYO Wind Symphony rehearses three hours each Sunday afternoon throughout the academic year, with eight to nine rehearsals preparing for each of its concerts, which are performed throughout the DFW Metroplex. This year, over 25 area high schools are represented within the GDYO Wind Symphony.

The Wind Symphony has established close ties with America's premier wind band: the Dallas Wind Symphony. Each year they present a joint concert at the Meyerson Symphony Center. DWS principal players also serve as GDYO sectional coaches throughout the year. Every member of the GDYO Wind Symphony receives a complimentary ticket to the entire Meyerson subscription concert series of the Dallas Wind Symphony.

The GDYO Wind Symphony typically performs four annual concerts, all in the area's finest concert halls, including the Meyerson Symphony Center and The Dallas City Performance Hall. In April of 2002, the ensemble was featured on From The Top with host Christopher O'Riley for international radio broadcast, and was a featured ensemble at the 2002 Texas Bandmasters Convention/National Band Association Convention in San Antonio, Texas. The Wind Symphony also conducted an exchange with the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony (AYWS), having traveled to Atlanta and performed at Emory University in March 2006. This exchange concluded with the AYWS traveling to Dallas in March 2007 to participate in a masterclass and a finale concert featuring both ensembles and soloist Jeff Nelsen, horn player with the Canadian Brass. In June 2008, the Wind Symphony embarked on a thirteen-day tour to China. This highly successful tour had concerts in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai.

For more information about the GDYO Wind Symphony's concert schedule or the GDYO organization, please call 214-528-7747 or visit www.gdyo.org.

Dr. Nicholas Williams

GDYO Wind Symphony - Conductor

Dr. Nicholas Enrico Williams is the assistant director of wind studies, conductor of the Concert Band and the director of athletic bands, including the North Texas Green Brigade Marching Band and the Basketball Pep Band at the University of North Texas. He is also the conductor for the GDYO Wind Symphony in Dallas, Texas. In addition, he is a frequent guest conductor for the Dallas Wind Symphony and Dallas Wind Symphony Brass Choir.

Prior to his assignment at the University of North Texas, Dr. Williams, a GRAMMY Foundation Music Educator Award nominee, and a multiple-edition honoree of Who's Who Among America's Educators, was the director of bands at Clark High School in Plano, Texas. In his last year of public school teaching, he was honored as the Clark High School Teacher of the Year, a Finalist for the Plano ISD Teacher of the Year, and was named a "Ross Perot Excellence in Teaching Award" recipient—an award given to only four secondary teachers annually in the Plano ISD. During his tenure at Clark High School, the band program received consistent sweepstakes awards for marching, concert and sight reading; under his baton, the Honors Band was awarded best in class or best in contest in every festival in which the band performed.

Dr. Williams was active in the Drum Corps International activity for over a decade, where he has served as brass instructor, brass caption head, staff coordinator or Senior Brass Consultant for the two-time world champion Madison Scouts (Madison, Wisconsin), the six-time world champion Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, CA), Boston Crusaders (Boston, MA) and Southwind (Lexington, KY).

As an advocate of chamber music, Dr. Williams was the founder and conductor of the East Plano Brass and was the principal guest conductor for the Harmoniemusik chamber ensemble. In the wind band world, he has been a guest conductor with the Dallas Wind Symphony; Lone Star Wind Orchestra; at the annual Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Illinois; the College Band Directors National Association regional conference; and the Texas Music Educators Association Annual Clinic in San Antonio, Texas.

Dr. Williams is active in the United States, Canada, Australia and Asia as a clinician, conductor, adjudicator, consultant and arranger; his arrangements for wind band, marching percussion ensembles, drum corps and marching band are performed by outstanding organizations throughout the world.

Dr. Williams is a sought-after recording producer, associate producer, and editor, having been involved with numerous CDs and DVDs on the Klavier, Mark Records, GIA and UNT labels. In addition to his work in the recording arts, he has written several conductor study guides that are published in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. He is also a primary consultant of Women of Influence in Contemporary Music, and is an honorary member of Sigma Alpha Iota. His professional affiliations include Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, College Band Directors National Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Phi Beta Mu, an international bandmasters fraternity.

The U.S. Air Force Band of the West

2013 Featured Concert

The United States Air Force Band of the West from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas is a musical organization with an outstanding record of achievement. Acclaimed as "great family entertainment...a most versatile group," the band has won the hearts of millions of music lovers throughout the United States. The Concert Band is the largest ensemble in the USAF Band of the West with approximately 45 musicians. Its repertoire consists of music from the Renaissance up to the present day and ranges from serious symphonic band literature to Broadway musicals, from Sousa marches to Top-40 hits. The members of the group are highly skilled professional musicians who come from colleges and universities across the nation to serve their country. The Concert Band is an annual feature in concerts and clinics at the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention, one of the nation's largest music educator gatherings for over 20 years. It has appeared in concert with the San Antonio, San Angelo, and Dallas Symphony Orchestras. The Band regularly performs before high-ranking military and civilian dignitaries. The band travels thousands of miles every year and performs at numerous events on military bases and media-sponsored tours throughout Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Louisiana. It is also active in the San Antonio arts community and is featured in regular presentations of "Fiesta in Blue," for San Antonio's annual "Fiesta" celebration and "Holiday in Blue," during the holiday season. The USAF Band of the West Concert Band has earned a reputation as one of the finest military concert bands in America.

More Info At: http://www.bandofthewest.af.mil/

Cedar Park Winds

2013 Featured Concert

Christopher Yee and Manuel C. San Luis founded the Cedar Park Winds in 2007. The band, made up of mostly band directors, private lesson teachers, and local professional musicians, is committed to sharing quality band music with young musicians in the Austin area.

In its brief history, the Cedar Park Winds has had the pleasure of working with some of the country's finest conductors and soloists. Through these opportunities, the band has grown rapidly in both quality and quantity.

Operating without charging members dues, the Cedar Park Winds provides two free concerts a year for Austin-area music students and their families and survives on audience donations alone.

The Cedar Park Winds is deeply to perform at this summer's 66th annual Texas Bandmasters Association Convention in San Antonio, TX. With this performance, the Cedar Park Winds hopes to inspire music educators to create similar ensembles in communities throughout the state.

More Info At: http://www.cedarparkwinds.com/

Christopher Yee

Cedar Park Winds - Conductor

Born and raised in Klein, Texas, Christopher received his bachelor's degree in music education from the Ithaca College School of Music in Ithaca, New York where he studied trumpet with Frank Campos.

Upon graduation in 2005, Christopher began teaching middle school band Austin, Texas as an associate band director at Canyon Ridge Middle School and is currently the director of bands at Four Points Middle School in Leander ISD.

Chris co-founded the Cedar Park Winds in 2007. His passion for music education and his desire to provide music teachers with an opportunity to continue making music has allowed the ensemble to experience rapid growth in both quantity and quality. Each semester, the Cedar Park Winds performs for audiences of 800+ students and parents in the Austin area.