PA 64th Annual Intercollegiate Band at Juniata College

Juniata College will be hosting the 64th Annual Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Band Festival on March 4-6, 2011.   The guest conductor will be Dr. Mark Scatterday, music director of the Eastman Wind Ensemble.

Mark Davis Scatterday is Professor of Conducting and Chair of the Conducting and Ensembles Department at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. As only the fourth conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Scatterday joined a prestigious line of conductors in the past fifty-plus years of the famed ensemble – Donald Hunsberger, Clyde Roller, and Frederick Fennell. In 2004, he led the EWE in their return tour to Japan, as well as to Taiwan and Macao. In 2005, Scatterday led the Eastman Wind Ensemble in a highly acclaimed performance at Carnegie Hall and also conducted a concert in Japan as part of the opening ceremonies of a new concert hall in Karuizawa, joined by members of the Tokyo Philharmonic. Recently, the EWE and Scatterday recorded a new CD with the Canadian Brass entitled Manhattan Music featuring music of Bernstein, Bramwell Tovey, Rayburn Wright and Jeff Tyzik — released in 2008 on Opening Day Records with ArchivMusic, nominated for a 2009 Canadian Grammy, the “JUNO”. In December 2009, Scatterday and Hunsberger performed together with the EWE in the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor and at the prestigious Midwest Clinic in Chicago to an audience of over 4,000. Also, in the fall of 2010, Dr. Scatterday conducted a celebrated performance of music by Schwantner, Stravinsky, Dvorak and Husa with the New World Symphony in Miami, Fl.

Having received a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting at the Eastman School of Music in 1989, Professor Scatterday has directed wind ensembles and orchestras throughout North America and Asia. Dr. Scatterday also conducts the Eastman Wind Orchestra, teaches undergraduate conducting classes and supervises doctoral conducting students. Previous to his appointment at Eastman, Dr Scatterday was Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Music at Cornell University. While at Cornell, he was one of the principal conductors of the professional new music group Ensemble X, which performed in Carnegie Hall in 2003, and was also the conductor and music director of the Cayuga Chamber Winds, a professional chamber winds ensemble in Ithaca, New York.

Dr. Scatterday has studied conducting with Donald Hunsberger, David Effron, Sidney Hodkinson, Carl St.Clair, H. Robert Reynolds, and Richard Jackoboice, and trombone with H. Dennis Smith, Edwin Anderson, Milt Stevens, David Langlitz, Hal Janks, and Edward Zadronzny. His previous teaching experiences also includes music directorships in Wooster and Medina, Ohio following a master’s degree in trombone performance at the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in performance and music education from the University of Akron.

Professor Scatterday maintains an active guest conducting schedule as well as researching and writing articles involving score analysis, performance practices, and conducting. His articles on Venetian Renaissance wind music and the wind and percussion music of Karel Husa have been published in editions of Wind Works, College Band Director’s National Association Journal, and Band Director’s Guide. He is also one of the lead clinicians in the Frederick Fennell Conducting Masterclasses held annually by the Conductor’s Guild. An advocate of contemporary music, especially the music of Husa and Roberto Sierra, Scatterday has commissioned and premiered over 25 works including Sierra’s Diferencias (1997), Fanfarria (2000) and Octeto (2003) and transcribed his Fandangos (2004) and Symphonia No. 3 (2009). He conducted the premiere recording of Roberto Sierra’s Cancionero Sefardi with members of the Milwaukee Symphony on Fleur De Son Classics (2001), Judith Weir’s Concerto for Piano and Musicians Wrestling Everywhere with Ensemble X on Albany Records (2005), Danzante with James Thompson and the Eastman Wind Ensemble on Summit Records (2006) and Barcelonazo with the Eastman Musica Nova on Bridge Records (2008) – nominated for a 2008 Latin Grammy.

PCBA 63rd Annual Intercollegiate Band at WestChester University

West Chester University will be hosting the 63rd Annual Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Band Festival in conjunction with the Eastern Division CBDNA Conference on March 11-14, 2010.  The guest conductor will be Dennis Fisher from the University of North Texas

Dennis Fisher is the Conductor of the Symphonic Band, Associate Director of Wind Studies at the University of North Texas, and Professor of Music in Conducting and Ensembles.

Fisher has a wide variety of experience and expertise as a conductor, arranger, clinician, educator, and consultant. Mr. Fisher is very active as an arranger for all wind mediums, including symphonic band, marching band and chamber music. Also, he frequently serves as a clinician, conductor, and adjudicator throughout the United States along with international appearances in Thailand, Japan, Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, Greece, and Russia. He recently served as guest conductor of the Southeast Asian Youth Wind Ensemble in Bangkok, Thailand and as Judge for the All Asian Symphonic Band Competition. In addition, Fisher currently serves as principal guest conductor of the Volga Band, Professional Wind Orchestra in Saratov, Russia.

Mr. Fisher has recorded extensively on the Mark, Klavier, and G.I.A. labels with the University of North Texas Symphonic Band and Wind Symphony. He is Co-Author of Teaching Music Through Performance in Beginning Band, Volume 2. He also is recording and editing producer of the Teaching Music through Performance in Band series compact disc recordings, and editor of the Master Conductor DVD series, published and distributed by G.I.A. Publications.

Mr. Fisher holds professional memberships in the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, the College Band Directors National Association, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He has been honored by being elected to membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and with invited membership in Phi Beta Mu National Band Fraternity. He is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and is Past-President of the Southwest Division of the College Band Directors National Association.

Mr. Fisher has been awarded the Gagarin Medal of Honor from the Society of Cosmonauts of the Russian Federal Space Agency. Other honors include twice being named “Top Prof” by the Mortarboard Society at U.N.T., and recipient of the University of North Texas Community Award.