North Texas Wind Symphony at the Midwest Clinic

James M. Stephenson

James M. Stephenson (b. 1969) has had his music described as “astonishingly inventive” (Musical America). Foremost in his style is the ability to create music that resonates with musicians and audiences alike. His music has premiered in all walks of the musical landscape, including the Chicago Symphony (Muti), San Francisco Ballet, Boston Pops, and “The President’s Own” US Marine Band. The latter premiered his Fanfare for Democracy at the Inauguration of President Joe Biden. His award-winning catalog currently contains five symphonies (the 2nd being performed over 50 times around the world), and concertos and sonatas written for nearly every instrument, with premieres having been presented by renowned musicians across the globe. Using music to tell a story is a foremost and recent passion, fueling his growing catalog in opera and ballet. His educational work for young audiences, Once Upon a Symphony, is also indicative of that, having received nearly 400 performances world-wide.

Stephenson offers the following regarding his work:

I’ve been very fortunate to have had a long-standing relationship with many of the service bands working/performing in our nation’s capital, including “The President’s Own” US Marine Band, the US Air Force Band, the US Navy Band, and the US Army Band. But never did I expect I’d be writing a piece for players from ALL of them combined, as well as the Army Field Band, US Coast Guard Band, and the Japan Self-Defense Ground Forces Band. But such was the occasion when I was asked to write a piece to be the closer for the final concert performed by this group at the American Bandmasters Association annual conference to be held in Washington, D.C.

As is sometimes the case, the title had to be determined before a note was even written. We came up with Declaration, an ode to the statement such a piece might make, while also appropriately referring to something uniquely related to our country, which all of the service bands proudly serve.

The music is therefore, declamatory, exciting, reverent, and of course, American. It is set forth into sections: an Introduction, a lilting lighter theme, development, a lyrical intimate theme, more jazz-tinged development, a return of the initial theme, a return of the slower theme, and the outro, which hearkens back as a resolution to the opening material. Almost all of the music that is developed throughout comes from the opening pages of the score.

As an effort to recognize the message imbued in our Declaration of Independence, I was captivated on how I might create all 12 notes of our musical system equally. Measure 18 reveals a 12-tone pattern (C-G-B♭-F♯-A♭-B-E-E♭-D-F-D♭-A: all chromatic notes used before repeating any of them). This was actually one of my early sketches before even composing a note of this score. Instead of creating a “12-tone piece”, I opted to find a new way (for me) to give weight to these notes. Therefore, as the piece evolves, it works its way through each of those notes, now as keys. The “easier” ones get more activity, while the “harder” ones are reserved for slower sections, or given to instruments for whom the keys work better. Some of the themes are repeated in their relative/parallel minor/majors, as the keys appear respectively in my 12-tone “row.” The key of D gets repeated twice, as does the key of C, first presented in minor, and then resolving at the end in major. This duplication of these two keys is on purpose, as the piece is written for bands who reside in “D.C.” So why not emphasize that?

My sincerest thanks to all of the service bands who supported this new work, and to Colonels Jason Fettig and Michael Colburn, who organized this project, and to whose music-making and collaborative spirit I am forever grateful.

Cindy McTee

Cindy McTee is an American composer and educator. She holds degrees from Pacific Lutheran University, the Yale School of Music, and the University of Iowa. She also completed one year of study in Poland with Krzysztof Penderecki at the Academy of Music in Krakow.

Originally hailed by critics as a composer whose music reflects a “charging, churning celebration of the musical and cultural energy of modern-day America,” Cindy McTee “brings to the world of concert music a fresh and imaginative voice." McTee has received numerous awards for her music, most significantly a “Creative Connections Award” from Meet The Composer, two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Composers Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She was also winner of the 2001 Louisville Orchestra Composition Competition, and in 2002 was selected to participate with the National Symphony Orchestra in “Music Alive,” a residency program sponsored by Meet The Composer and the American Symphony Orchestra League.

McTee has been commissioned by the Houston, Amarillo, Dallas, and National Symphony Orchestras, Bands of America, the American Guild of Organists, the Barlow Endowment, the College Band Directors National Association, and Pi Kappa Lambda.

Her music has been performed by leading orchestras, bands, and chamber ensembles in Japan, South America, Europe, Australia, and the United States in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Sydney Opera House. Among the many ensembles to have performed her music are: the Pacific Symphony, the North Texas and Dallas Wind Symphonies, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo’s NHK Symphony Orchestra, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, the United States Army Field Band, and the symphony orchestras of Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Indianapolis, Rochester, Saint Louis, San Antonio, Seattle, and Sydney.

In May of 2011, she retired from the University of North Texas as Regents Professor Emerita, and in November of 2011 she married conductor Leonard Slatkin. Their principal place of residence is in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Ballet for Band was commissioned by the Revelli Foundation and its affiliate, Bands of America, for first performance by the Honor Band of America Symphonic Band, Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor. The piece emerged out of McTee’s kinesthetic/emotional awareness and renewed interest in dance music. The frequent use of circular patterns, or ostinatos, offers both the possibility of suspended time and the opportunity for continuous forward movement. Carefully pitched systems and thematic manipulations provide a measure of objectivity and reason, while kinetic rhythmic structures inspire bodily motion.

McTee writes the following program notes:

Inspired by the opening theme of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, a 3-note motif outlining the interval of a minor third (C, E♭, C) is developed and expanded to also include the interval of a major third (C, E♭ C). Following an excursion into a musical world informed by jazz rhythms and sounds, the movement concludes with a recapitulation of the opening material.

Luis Serrano Alarcón

with Amy Woody, conductor

Luis Serrano Alarcón is a Spanish composer and conductor. His works have been performed in more than 30 countries and has been invited to conduct his own music in Spain, Italy, Singapore, USA, Colombia and Hong Kong, and has received commissions from important national and international organizations and groups. He has twice won the First Prize of the International Composition Competition for Band of Corciano (Italy), in 2006 with the piece Preludio y Danza del Alba, for brass quintet and symphonic band and in 2009 with La Dama Centinela. He is currently principal conductor of the UMSC Symphonic Band of Villar del Arzobispo (Valencia) and professor at the Conservatorio Superior de Música of Valencia.

Alarcón provides the following program notes:

The term Duende is used in flamenco to refer to this state of inspiration and supreme perceptiveness, almost magic, which is only reached by the performer in few occasions. It’s also used, in extension, to define a person when someone has a special grace, something difficult to define but that makes him different from the rest. The use of the word “Duende” as the title of this collection of symphonic preludes, independently of its poetic significance, is mainly based in the fact that I found my principal inspiration for this composition on the Spanish popular music: listening to Duende, the listener can hear, among other features, the symphonic energy of de Falla’s scores, the intimacy of Iberia by Albeniz, the magic of the guitar played by Tomatito or Paco de Lucía, the festive happiness of Granadian Sacromonte (a popular flamenco neighborhood in Granada), but specifically - and I insist in this one - the obvious presence of winks to other music styles, such as jazz or Latin music. With this style fusion, I want to reflect in a symbolic way where our Spanish society stands nowadays: a society with many traditions, but at the same time a cosmopolitan and modern community, which cannot be different in these modern times we are living.

Michael Daugherty

Multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty is one of the most commissioned, performed, and recorded composers on today's international concert music scene. His music is rich with cultural allusions and bears the stamp of classic modernism, with colliding tonalities and blocks of sound; at the same time, his melodies can be eloquent and stirring.

Hailed by The Times (London) as “a master icon maker” with a “maverick imagination, fearless structural sense, and meticulous ear,” Daugherty’s unique musical style combines elements of American popular culture, art, literature, and history, resulting in a diverse and captivating body of work that is performed by orchestras, wind ensembles and performers around the world.

His music, recorded by Naxos over the last two decades, has received six GRAMMY® Awards, including “Best Contemporary Classical Composition” in 2011 for Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra and Tales of Hemingway for cello and orchestra in 2017.

Michael Daugherty, an alumnus of the University of North Texas, was born in 1954 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He is the son of a dance band drummer and the oldest of five brothers, all professional musicians. As a young man, Daugherty studied composition with many of the preeminent composers of the 20th century, including Jacob Druckman, Earle Brown, Bernard Rands, and Roger Reynolds at Yale (1980-82), Pierre Boulez at IRCAM in Paris and Betsy Jolas at the Paris Conservatory (1979), and György Ligeti in Hamburg (1982-84). Daugherty was also an assistant to jazz arranger Gil Evans in New York (1980-82).

Since 1991, Daugherty has been Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he is a mentor to many of today’s most talented young composers. He is also a frequent guest of professional orchestras, festivals, universities, and conservatories around the world.

Recent recordings by Naxos of Daugherty’s music include the premiere recordings of his harp concerto Harp of Ages (2024), performed by the Colorado Symphony with Courtney Hershey Bress, solo harp, and his violin concerto, Blue Electra (2025), performed by the Albany Symphony with Anne Akiko Meyers, solo violin.

Upcoming commissions for 2025-26 include Dancing in the Streets, a new orchestral work for the Pittsburgh Symphony, Kansas City Confidential for saxophonists Branford Marsalis, Tim McAllister, and piano, and three new works for symphonic winds: Cadillac Ranch for Texas Tech University, Last Dance at the Surf for Lone Star Wind Orchestra, and Dona Nobis Pacem for the ASPIRE consortium.

Daugherty’s music is published by Peermusic Classical/ Faber Music, Boosey & Hawkes, and Michael Daugherty Music. For more information on Michael Daugherty, see his publisher’s websites. www.michaeldaugherty.net

Daugherty offers the following program notes:

Dreams of Dalí (2025) for Symphonic Band was commissioned by the University of Florida to commemorate David Waybright’s 38 years as Director of Bands at the University of Florida School of Music.

The Dalí Museum, located in nearby St. Petersburg, is home to an extraordinary collection of over 2,400 artworks by the legendary Spanish artist Salvador Dalí (1904-1989). Renowned as the leader of the Surrealist movement, Dalí was known for incorporating shocking subject matter in his artwork while exploring eccentric, subconscious imagery from real and imagined dreams. Divided into four movements, my composition is a musical reflection on the unique art and flamboyant life of Salvador Dalí.

Considered Salvador Dalí's last great Surrealist painting, The Hallucinogenic Toreador (1970) depicts death and resurrection in the Spanish bullfighting ring. Regarding death, Dalí declared in a 1958 CBS television interview, “I believe in general in death, but in the death of Dalí, absolutely not!” When Dalí died at the age of 84 alone in his castle in Púbol, it is said that he was listening to a recording of Wagner's opera of tragic opera, Tristan und Isolde.

Paul Dooley

with Andrew Trachsel, conductor

Paul Dooley is one of the most prolific and performance composers of his generation in America today. His path has embraced not only his Western Classical heritage, but also a cross-cultural range of contemporary music, dance, art, technology, and the interactions between the human and natural worlds. His music has been described as “impressive and beautiful” by American composer Steve Reich.

Dooley’s orchestral music has been commissioned and performed by, among many others, the Nashville Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, Macau Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony, and Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, in addition to wind ensembles such as “The President’s Own” Marine Band, the Army Band “Pershing’s Own” and the Navy Band.

In 2013, Dooley joined the music faculty at the University of Michigan where he created and directs the Performing Arts Technology department’s annual Computer Music Showcase. Dooley also co-directed the Midwest Composers Symposium, was coordinator of the “ONCE. MORE.” festival, a celebration of the Research on Learning and Teaching, and was co-awarded a grant from the Gilbert Whitaker Fund for the Improvement of Teaching.

Dooley provides the following program notes:

Fantasy of Colors (2025) was commissioned by a consortium of wind bands in honor of Daniel Belongia’s 10 years of service and dedication to the Arkansas Tech University Department of Music.

Fantasy of Colors is inspired by Baroque artwork and the genre of musical fantasias popularized by Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I admire the massive scale and exuberance found in Lauri and Gagliardi’s epic painting Carousel in Honour of Queen Christina in the Courtyard of the Palazzo Barberini in Rome on 2nd February 1656, and Johann Ulrich Kraus’ Celebrations in St. Peter’s, Rome, for the Jubliee Year of 1700, and the everlasting layers found in baroque musical works like Bach’s Fantasia in C minor and Mozart’s Fantasia in D minor.

In Fantasy of Colors, the timpani provide a festive, rhythmic, and harmonic foundation for two sparring musical character motives, one first stated in the clarinets and saxophones, versus another in the horns and trombones. The match is interrupted with a new character personified as a lyrical waltz, showcasing the oboe, soprano saxophone, and flutes. Droplets of musical color follow, with fugato variation on our characters’ motive, showcasing the low woodwinds, euphonium, and percussion. The piccolo, clarinets, and trumpets push the celebration to a feverish crescendo, as all our characters vie for the musical spotlight.

Jonathan Bates

with David Childs, euphonium

Jonathan Bates is a composer and arranger hailing from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. He first took an interest in composition in 2009 when he began writing tenor horn duets for himself and his teacher at the time, Mark Bentham. He produced his first substantial work for brass band - Within the Paths of Righteousness (2011) - as part of his school studies into serialism. Bates was a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain under artistic director Bramwell Tovey. In 2011, Maestro Tovey gave Bates’s music its first public platform, with the NYBBGB performing this work in full alongside compositions by Arthur Butterworth and Ray Steadman-Allen.

Since then, Bates has gone on to compose for many of the world’s leading bands and soloists to perform and record, with his music featured by Black Dyke Band, Grimethorpe Colliery, Foden’s, Tredegar, Carlton Main, Leyland, Flowers, and Virtuosi GUS. He composed a Euphonium Concerto for globally renowned soloist David Childs (which was the title track of a full album of Bates’s music - Stratos - recorded by the Flowers Band) and Cornet Concerto for Lode Violet, recorded by Brass Band Willebroek in 2018.

Bates’s music has been used at both the UK Regional and National Championships, the New Zealand National Championships, World Championships, North American National Championships, Swedish National Championships, Norwegian National Championships, Dutch National Championships, and French Open, and his works have been performed in halls such as London's Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, The Sage Gateshead, Bergen Grieghallen, and the KKL Luzern.

Bates graduated with First Class Honours after 4 years studying Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Gary Carpenter, Paul Patterson, Emily Howard, Tom Scott, and Adam Gorb, and during that time he had the opportunity to work alongside composers such as Harrison Birtwistle, Oliver Knussen, Mark Simpson, and Simon Bainbridge in masterclass situations. Whilst studying at the RNCM, Bates had the opportunity to write for the BBC Singers and also won the college's prize for Big Band Composition in his 2nd year.

Bates provides the following program notes:

Stratos was composed for the euphonium virtuoso David Childs, and is featured on the Flowers Brass Band CD Stratos, featuring all new works by Jonathan Bates.

A calm and desolate setting forms the core of the second movement. The music aims to capture the view over the Earth from outer space, the silent beauty of the curvature of the planet and the sun beaming from behind.

The rip-roaring finale showcases the soloist's flair and rhythm with a driving pulse from the first note to the last, climaxing in a grand reprise of the first movement. An opening theme played in the solo line, which is then repeated through several instruments, forms the backbone of the movement as it is developed and changed from new ideas and textures.

James M. David

James M. David is an American composer and professor of music theory and composition at Colorado State University. As a native of southern Georgia, David began his musical training under his father Joe A. David, III, a renowned high school band director and professor of music education in the region. This lineage can be heard in his music through the strong influence of jazz and other Southern traditional music mixed with contemporary idioms. David received degrees in music education and music composition from the University of Georgia and the Florida State University College of Music. He studied composition with Guggenheim recipient Ladislav Kubik, Pulitzer recipient Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Lewis Nielson, and Clifton Callender as well as jazz composition and arranging with Sammy Nestico.

His music has been performed at more than sixty national and international conferences including the Midwest Clinic, the College Band Directors National Association Biennial Conference, the American Bandmasters Association Convention, the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference, the International Clarinet Fest, the International Trombone Festival, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the International Horn Symposium, and the World Saxophone Congress. His works are represented on over twenty commercially released recordings on the Naxos, Summit, Mark, Albany, Parma, MSR Classics, Bravo Music, GIA Windworks, and Luminescence labels and are published by Murphy Music Press, C. Alan Publications, Potenza Publishing, and Excelsia Music.

David writes the following program notes:

Pulsing Onward was commissioned by the many people that have had their lives positively impacted by Dr. Gary P. Gilroy and his many years of service to music education. Whether colleagues, friends, or former students, all have been blessed to be a part of his musical journey! Of the former students listed below, there are alumni that represent Moreau Catholic High School, Fred C. Beyer High School, and the Fresno State Bands.

Dr. Gary P. Gilroy is a force of nature. Irrepressible with boundless optimism and energy, his character reminds me of the vibrant and varied California Central Coast and Valley regions where he spent much of his life. A legendary high school and college band conductor, Professor Gilroy has guided generations of students and this composition is a tribute to his spirit and legacy as well as the remarkable place he calls home.

In three short, connected movements, Pulsing Onward draws from specific references within the state as well as contrapuntal techniques from the past and present. “Pacific Coast Canons” represents the famous Pacific Coast Highway near Big Sur and uses techniques drawn from adoptive Californians John Adams and Arnold Schoenberg. A sleek machine rounds the blind corners as the Pacific Ocean glitters in the distance and the road stretches ever onwards. Coming to an abrupt halt, we hear the redwood forest calm of a “Sierra Sarabande.” This lyrical dance form with a repeating minor progression slowly builds to give way to a spectacular mountain view of the High Sierras in the distance.

Finally, we come to the “Golden Gate Toccata,” a technical tour de force as we cross from the tranquil Sonoma Valley to the pulsing heart of San Francisco. Xylophone runs and heavy percussion backbeats accompany power chords from the brass with subtle nods to a few of Gary’s favorite works from the past. The work concludes with that limitless energy and optimism that are so apparent whenever you meet Dr. Gilroy in his native state. This work was commissioned for Dr. Gary P. Gilroy on the occasion of his retirement by a consortium of his friends, colleagues, and former students.

Internationally acknowledged as one of the premier ensembles of its kind, the Latin Grammy Nominated North Texas Wind Symphony is selected from the most outstanding musicians attending the College of Music. Artistically we hope to live and thrive right where Legacy and Tradition meet Innovation and Progress.

David Childs, Distinguished Research Professor of Euphonium

The grandson and son of well-respected euphonium players from the Welsh Valleys, and himself described by The Observer as “a great ambassador for the euphonium, possessing an astonishing technique and an engaging stage presence”, David Childs is regarded as one of the finest brass musicians of his generation, touring extensively throughout Asia, continental Europe, and North America, and recording actively for radio, television, and CD.

He has appeared as soloist with the BBC, Manchester, and RTÉ Concert orchestras, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonie Baden-Baden, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, Welsh National Opera, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and many of the finest brass bands and military bands in both the UK and the United States. He has made solo appearances at the Singapore International Festival, Harrogate International Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Melbourne International Festival, BBC Proms, and New York Festival, given solo recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, and Bridgewater Hall, and performed concertos at the Concertgebouw, Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall (New York).

A keen advocate of new music, Childs has premiered fifteen concertos for euphonium including a Royal Albert Hall BBC Proms broadcast of Alun Hoddinott’s, Sunne Rising - The King Will Ride, a Carnegie Hall U.S. premiere of Sir Karl Jenkins’s Concerto for Euphonium & Orchestra, a UK premiere of Christian Lindberg’s Concerto for Euphonium & Orchestra directed by the composer and a Welsh Proms world premiere of Paul Mealor’s Concerto for Euphonium & Orchestra.

During his career as a euphonium soloist, Childs has received many awards in recognition of his achievements, including: Arts Council Wales Creative Wales Award, Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal Award, Welsh Music Guild’s Leo Abse & Cohen Award, Harry Mortimer Trust Award, RNCM Principal’s Gold Medal Award, Making Music’s Dorothy Green Award, Musicians Benevolent's Sir Charles Leggett Award, Countess of Munster Star Award, and many more. He has also received several accolades as a recording artist, including an ITEA Roger Bobo Excellence in Recording Award, and can be heard on several labels including EMI, Deutsche Gramophone, Chandos, Doyen, and World of Sound.

A proud product of the British brass band tradition, Childs is a former member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, National Youth Brass Band of Wales, Brighouse and Rastrick, and the No.1 ranked band in the World-Cory-with whom he was principal euphonium for ten years winning countless titles under the baton of his father, Robert Childs.

In 2018 David Childs was appointed professor of euphonium at the University of North Texas and continues to enjoy an association with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama as an Honorary Associate and International Visiting Tutor. He is a founding member of Eminence Brass, artistic director of Cardiff Symphonic Winds, principal conductor of Dallas Brass Band and editor of the Brass Band World Magazine. As a Buffet Crampon Besson Artist he continues to showcase the euphonium as a serious solo vehicle within the world of classical music, leading the way for euphonium players worldwide. In 2021 he earned his DMA from the University of Salford in Manchester, England. For further information visit, www.davechilds.com

Andrew Trachsel, Professor of Wind Studies

Andrew Trachsel serves as Professor of Wind Studies and Chair of the Division of Conducting and Ensembles at the University of North Texas College of Music. He is the conductor of the Wind Orchestra and teaches courses in graduate and undergraduate conducting as well as the history and repertoire of the wind band.

Trachsel has collaborated with and received critical acclaim from many leading performers and composers including Tony Baker, Barcelona Clarinet Players, Mason Bates, Denée Benton, David Biedenbender, Bruce Broughton, Canadian Brass, Jung Choi, Viet Cuong, James David, Paul Dooley, Mark Ford, Nancy Galbraith, Julie Giroux, Saül Gómez Soler, Dave Hall, Haven Trio, Sungji Hong, Jennifer Jolley, Lindsay Kesselman, Joseph Klein, Libby Larsen, John Mackey, Dave Malloy, Michael Markowski, Manuel Martínez, Quinn Mason, Stacie Mickens, Robert Moran, Mark Phillips, Joel Puckett, Paul Rennick, Jake Runestad, Raquel Samayoa, Drew Schnurr, Seraph Brass, James Stephenson, Third Coast Percussion, Omar Thomas, Zhou Tian, Bramwell Tovey, Noriko Tsukagoshi, Jess Langston Turner, Dana Wilson, Christoph Wünsch, Chen Yi, Gregory Youtz, and Larry Zalkind. An advocate for new music, Dr. Trachsel has premiered, commissioned, or co-commissioned more than 100 new works over the past two decades. He is interested in developing innovative programming through interdisciplinarity, culminating in the establishment of the Ampersand festival to explore new opportunities for authentic collaboration between the contemporary wind band and other musical genres (including jazz, rock, and electronica), other arts (including dance, film, theater, and visual art), and other disciplines.

In 2019 Trachsel was named series editor of GIA Publications’ landmark Teaching Music through Performance in Band series after serving for fifteen years as the coordinator of research associates and as a contributor to eleven volumes. With Eugene Migliaro Corporon, he is the co-creator of the Teaching Music through Performance in Band Video Rehearsal Series. His transcription of Robert Moran’s Points of Departure is published by Charlotte Benson Music and his critical edition of Gordon Jacob’s William Byrd Suite was recorded by the North Texas Wind Symphony and released on the album Altered States. Trachsel is active internationally as a guest conductor, clinician, advocate, and recording producer, and holds professional or honorary memberships in the Recording Academy (formerly NARAS), National Association for Music Education, Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity of America, Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, Tau Beta Sigma National Honorary Band Sorority, and the College Band Directors National Association, for whom he serves as president of the Southwestern Division. He was appointed Assistant Conductor for the inaugural season of the Lone Star Wind Orchestra and now serves as the music director and conductor of the Lone Star Youth Winds.

Prior to this appointment, Trachsel served as Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Conducting at Ohio University for eleven years. He was the conductor of the Wind Symphony, music director for the “Under the Elms” Summer Concert Series, Division Chair of Conducting and Ensembles, and Assistant Director for Recruitment for the School of Music. Under his artistic direction, the Ohio University Wind Symphony performed at numerous music conferences and venues, including the CBDNA North Central Division, Ireland, Rome, and New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall. The Ohio University Wind Symphony released three commercial albums on the Mark Masters label, with multiple appearances on national syndicated radio and the Grammy Entry List. Trachsel also taught in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia as an assistant director of bands and postdoctoral fellow, and for four years served as a public high school band director in central Iowa. 

A native of Iowa, Trachsel received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Drake University, a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts, both in conducting, from the University of North Texas, where he studied with Eugene Migliaro Corporon and Dennis Fisher.

Amy Woody, Lecturer in Wind Studies

Amy Woody is Lecturer in Wind Studies and Director of Athletic Bands at the University of North Texas and serves as the conductor of the Wind Ensemble. She also teaches courses in Advanced Conducting and Marching Pedagogy. She served as a Teaching Fellow in the Wind Studies Area at UNT, and duties included teaching the Concert Band, University Bands, Fundamentals of Conducting and assisting with all aspects of concert and athletic ensembles. She was named one of four UNT Outstanding Teaching Fellow Award recipients for the 2022–2023 school year. Her teachers include Eugene Migliaro Corporon, Andrew Trachsel and Daniel Cook. Prior to UNT, Ms. Woody served as the Director of Bands (2014–2021) and Associate Director of Bands (2007–2014) at John H. Guyer High School in Denton, TX. The Guyer Wind Ensemble was named a Commended Winner in the 2021 Mark of Excellence New Music Category, a 2018 Mark of Excellence National Winner, and a 2018 Western International Band Conference Invited Ensemble in Seattle, Washington.

Recently, she served as the Chief Programs Officer for the Lone Star Wind Orchestra (LSWO), a professional wind band based in the DFW metroplex. She has performed in the clarinet section of the Lone Star Wind Orchestra since the fall of 2008. In her time with the ensemble she performed at the International Midwest Band and Orchestra Conference, International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC), World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensemble (WASBE), Texas Bandmaster’s Association (TBA), Clarinetfest, the OU Clarinet Symposium as well as other professional engagements in the DFW Area. Ms. Woody’s past performance engagements include the Richardson Symphony Orchestra, Waco Symphony Orchestra, and the Oswego Opera Orchestra.

Ms. Woody is a graduate of the University of North Texas (DMA Wind Conducting), Eastman School of Music (Master of Music in Clarinet Performance), and Baylor University (Bachelor of Music Education). Ms. Woody serves as an active clinician and adjudicator in the greater DFW area, Texas, and across the U.S.

Eugene Migliaro Corporon, Regents Professor of Music

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, connoisseurs and music critics alike. Professor Corporon’s 57-year career, which spans seven decades, began in 1969 as Director of Instrumental Music at Mt. Miguel High School in Spring Valley, California.

He has held collegiate positions since 1971 which include California State University, Fullerton, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Northern Colorado, Michigan State University, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the University of North Texas. His ensembles have performed at the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, Southwestern Music Educators National Conference, Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention, Texas Bandmasters  Association  Convention/Clinic,  National  Trumpet  Competition,  International Trumpet Guild Conference, International Clarinet Society Convention, North American Saxophone Alliance Conference, Percussive Arts Society International Convention, International Horn Society Conference, National Wind Ensemble Conference, College Band Directors National Association Conference, Japan Band Clinic, and the Conference for the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles.

Mr. Corporon maintains an active guest-conducting schedule and is in demand as a conductor and teacher throughout the world. He is past president of the College Band Directors National Association and a past member of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles International Board. He has been honored by the American Bandmasters Association and by Phi Beta Mu with invitations to membership. Mr. Corporon, a frequent guest conductor at the Showa University of Music in Kawasaki City, Japan, has also served as a visiting conductor at the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, Interlochen World Center for Arts Education, and the Aspen Music Festival and School. He is the music director and conductor of the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, a professional group of passionate and committed musicians from the Dallas/Fort Worth/Denton metroplex.

Mr. Corporon is the author of a book entitled: Explorations, Discoveries, Inventions, and Designs in the Know Where published by GIA Publications. Having recorded over 1000 works, including many premieres and commissions, his groups have released 300-plus recordings and videos on the GIA, Toshiba/EMI, Klavier, Mark, CAFUA, Donemus, Soundmark, Albany, Naxos, and Centaur labels. These releases, one of which was nominated for a Latin GRAMMY, are aired regularly on radio broadcasts throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas. They are available on the Eugene Migliaro Corporon YouTube Channel. The collective recordings with the North Texas Wind Symphony, Cincinnati Wind Symphony, Showa Wind Symphony, and Lone Star Wind Orchestra have garnered more than 20 million plays worldwide on various platforms including YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, and Amazon Music. His GIA audio and video digital releases are distributed by NAXOS. They include the WindWorks Series, Composer’s Collection, and Teaching Music Through Performance in Band Resource Recordings. Other initiatives include the CAFUA and BRAVO Showa Residency Sessions, the KLAVIER Recording Project, and the Live at the MPAC Videos from the University of North Texas Recording Services.

He is co-host with Barry Green on The Inner Game of Music video, which focuses on overcoming mental obstacles and achieving one’s full potential as a performer. He also appears with James Jordan on the DVD, The Anatomy of Conducting. He is co-author of the book Teaching Music through Performance in Band, published in twelve volumes by GIA Publications, Inc. This series includes twenty-three sets of Resource Recordings by the North Texas Wind Symphony. The Teaching Music Project emphasizes the importance of comprehensive conceptual learning in the music-making process as well as the value of performing music of artistic significance.

Professor Corporon, who was inducted into the Bands of America Hall of Fame in 2014, is a recipient of the International Grainger Society Distinctive Contribution Medallion, the Kappa Kappa Psi Distinguished Service to Music Award, the Phi Beta Mu International Band Conductor of the Year Award, as well as an Honorary Life Membership granted by the Texas Bandmasters Association. 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. He received the Midwest Clinic Medal of Honor in 2015 to recognize his unique service to music education and continuing influence on the development and improvement of bands and orchestras worldwide. In 2025 he was awarded the College Band Directors National Association Life Time Achievement Award. He is grateful to many people for their guidance and inspiration in his life. Among them are Charles Yates, H. Robert Reynolds, Benton Minor, Don Wilcox, Larry Maxey, Jack Hopkins, Frederick Fennell, Barry Green, James Jordan, and Carolyn Corporon.

The University of North Texas College of Music is the largest public university music program in the United States and one of the most globally respected. Faculty and staff include internationally acclaimed artists and scholars in composition, conducting, ethnomusicology, jazz studies, music education, music business, music history, music theory, commercial music and performance. The college presents more than 700 music events annually. Students perform in more than 70 ensembles in eight campus venues and can be viewed worldwide via free superior quality live streaming. UNT music alumni can be found around the world in impressive, award-winning careers across a wide range of music professions. Our current faculty members include Guggenheim Fellows, Fulbright Fellows, an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, a Charles Ives Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Gold Medalist, Emmy, Grammy, Latin Grammy, Oscar and Tony nominees and Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winners. Our students come from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and more than 40 countries.

The mission of the UNT College of Music is to serve our diverse musical culture with excellence, integrity and imagination. The vision of the UNT College of Music is to provide leadership, artistry and expertise to every facet of the music profession.