Dr. Gordon Brock (concert band) is Chair of the Department of Music and Director of Bands at the University of North Florida, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble, performs in the Florida Saxophone Quartet, and instructs courses in conducting and woodwind performance. Prior to his present appointment, he was Director of Bands at the University of North Dakota, conductor of the Greater Forks Youth Symphony, the annual UND Regional Honor Band, and Grand Forks Chamber Ensemble. Under his direction, the UND Wind Ensemble performed at two Ohio Music Education Association/North Central MENC Professional Conferences, and a joint concert series in Great Britain with the Central Band of the White Russian Army. In addition to an annual CD project dedicated to recording the best in traditional and contemporary wind literature, Dr. Brock instituted an annual Conducting Symposium which attracted both regional and international participants. His career as a music educator encompasses elementary through university levels. Honored by the Alberta Government for his nationally recognized ensembles and contributions to music education throughout Canada, he was also included in the fifth edition of Who's Who Among American Teachers. A frequent guest clinician/conductor throughout the US and Canada, Dr. Brock has also been a Rothschild Foundation artist in residence for the Israeli Youth Band Teachers and Directors Association in Zichron Ya'acov, Israel. Most recently, he has served as a guest clinician/lecturer for the American School in Japan. Dr. Brock continues to serve as a Research Associate and author for the instrumental music education series, Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. The series now serves as a primary text in more than 300 universities in the United States and 20 other countries. An active performer as a woodwind specialist and guest conductor, he has performed with internationally recognized organizations within the mediums of chamber music, jazz, band, theater, dance, and orchestra.

Robert Taylor (concert band) is Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Conducting at the University of British Columbia. Prior to his appointment at UBC, Dr. Taylor served as Director of Bands at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA, and Chair of the Performing Arts Department at Eureka High School in northern California. Under his direction, the Eureka High Jazz Ensemble and Symphonic Band earned recognition for excellence by Downbeat Magazine, the Selmer Corporation, and Grammy Signature Schools, placing Eureka High among the finest school music programs in North America.

Dr. Taylor maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor and clinician. Past engagements include performances with the Chicago-based contemporary music group, the MAVerick Ensemble, in addition to collaborations with a wide range of international artists—from Allen Vizzutti, Gail Williams, and Ingrid Jensen, to Manhattan Transfer and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. He has also made frequent appearances with young musicians, serving as principal conductor of the Puget Sound Youth Wind Ensemble and guest conductor of the CODA/ASTA Honour Orchestra, Humboldt Youth Academy Orchestra, and numerous honour groups. As a passionate advocate of music in the schools, Dr. Taylor is in high demand as a rehearsal clinician and festival adjudicator. Recent appearances in western Canada include the Vancouver Heritage Music Festival, New Westminster Hyack Festival, Alberta International Band Festival, Alberta Band Association Festival of Bands, and BCMEA Honour Band, among others.

Dr. Taylor received the Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees in conducting from Northwestern University and the Bachelor of Arts degree in Trumpet and Music Education from Humboldt State University. His research has been published in GIA’s Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series and featured in presentations at several regional and national music conferences. He is a Jacob K. Javits Fellow, and a member of the Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda National Honour Societies, College Band Directors National Association, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, Music Educators National Conference, and British Columbia Music Educators Association.

Don Owens(concert band) - Don Owens, Coordinator Emeritus of the Jazz Studies and Pedagogy Program, Director Emeritus, Contemporary Music Ensemble, and the National High School Music Institute at Northwestern University, began his tenure at Northwestern University in 1979. Before coming to Northwestern, he taught for twelve years at Evanston (Illinois) Township High School where his duties included directing band, brass ensembles, and jazz band, as well as teaching classes in music theory, popular music, and composition. He created the Electronic Music Studio at ETHS in 1971. Many of his ETHS students went on to become music majors at many of the major Schools of Music in the United States and Canada.

Owens received the Bachelor of Music Education degree from North Texas State University, where he also studied Composition and Jazz. His Master of Musical Arts degree is from the University of Illinois, where he majored in Composition. He studied composition with Morgan Powell, Merrill Ellis, Samuel Adler, and Salvatore Martirano. He has won several grants and awards, and is regularly commissioned for new works.

In his first few years at Northwestern, Mr. Owens conducted the Nationally renowned Jazz Ensemble, directed the "Wildcat” Marching Band and Symphonic Band, and taught advanced Method classes for undergraduate Music Education Majors. He eventually was appointed Coordinator of the Jazz Studies and Pedagogy Program, teaching courses in Jazz Writing, Seminar in Jazz Pedagogy, Jazz in the Public Schools, and conducted the Jazz Ensemble. Under his leadership, the Northwestern Jazz Program grew to offer the B.M. in Jazz Studies and the M.M. in Jazz Pedagogy.

In addition to Owens' responsibilities in the Jazz area, he served as Director and Primary Conductor of the internationally acclaimed Contemporary Music Ensemble for over 20 years. This group performed over 200 world premiers, as well as the standard 20th century repertory. In 1991, the Northwestern CME served as the primary chamber music ensemble for the John Cage Now World Festival. In the spring of 1995, the NUCME served as one of two visiting Artist Ensembles for the National Meeting of the Society of Composers at the University of Iowa. In 2002, the CME played a major part in the Stephan Wolpe Festival, sponsored by the School of Music.

During the summers, Owens served as Director of the National High School Music Institute, from 1991 to 2004. Under his leadership, the enrollment increased by 100%. NHSMI continues to thrive as a Pre-Collegiate Music Major Experience for high school-aged students. With a curriculum that requires the attending students to declare a Major - Classical Guitar, Composition, Jazz Studies, Music Education, Piano, Strings, Voice, or Winds and Percussion- NHSMI has consistently attracted students from all 50 states, as well as many foreign countries.

Mr. Owens is an internationally recognized clinician/conductor. He has served as an adjudicator and has conducted Festival and All-State Concert and Jazz Bands in Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Canada, Greece, Germany, and Norway. As a conductor, he has shared in the art of music making with world famous figures from both the Jazz and Contemporary Classical idioms. His compositions have been performed across America, as well as in Canada, England, Greece, Germany, Japan, Norway, and South America.

Mr. Owens is the composer/arranger of over 100 works, including those for band, jazz band, orchestra, choir, and chamber music. His music is available from the composer via Phramus Music Publications. Owens is the author of several articles dealing with contemporary music. He is a member of M.E.N.C, Illinois Music Educators Association, International Association for Jazz Education (Past President for the Illinois State Unit), Pi Kappa Lambda (Past President of Alpha Chapter), and Phi Mu Alpha.

Allan McMurray (concert band) is the Robert and Judy Charles Endowed Professor of Music, Chair of the Conducting Faculty, and Director of Bands at the University of Colorado-Boulder, a position he has held since 1978. Prior to this position, he was on the faculty of the University of Michigan. Considered one of the world’s leading teachers of conducting, Professor McMurray has guest conducted and taught conductors in 45 states and 15 foreign countries. He has been a featured visiting professor at over 200 universities and conservatories nationally. He has authored two groundbreaking DVDs on the art of conducting that have been received with international acclaim. Professor McMurray is the host for the College Band Directors National Association National Conducting Symposium in Boulder. His former conducting students now hold high school, college, and professional conducting positions throughout North America.

Since Professor McMurray’s arrival in 1978, the University of Colorado Bands have distinguished themselves with performances at major conferences and conventions, including The First International Conference for Symphonic Bands in Manchester, England; the All-Japan Band Conference in Nemo Nu Sato, Japan; the College Band Directors National Association Convention (twice); and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Hamamatsu, Japan.
With a strong commitment to new music, Allan McMurray has been a leader in commissioning numerous compositions by American composers. He has won praise for his interpretive and expressive conducting by many composers including Pulitzer Prize winners John Harbison, Joseph Schwanter, Karel Husa, Michael Colgrass and George Crumb. Professor McMurray has performed with the St. Louis Symphony, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Debut Orchestra and has guest conducted the Colorado Symphony in performance at the 50th Anniversary of the Colorado Music Educators Convention in Colorado Springs. He recently completed his third season with the Colorado Ballet Orchestra as principal guest conductor of Dracula.

Allan McMurray is a Past-President of the College Band Directors National Association and a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Bandmasters Association. In addition, he is a recipient of the Bohumil Makovsky Award for Outstanding College Band Directors from the National band fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi, and has been recognized by California State University Long Beach as “Distinguished Artist in Classical Music.”

Professor McMurray’s first DVD on the Art of Conducting, Conducting from the Inside Out: Gesture and Movement, was released in December of 2002 and has received international acclaim. His second DVD, Conducting from the Inside Out: Conductor and Composer with Frank Ticheli, is published by Manhattan Beach and was released in 2004 at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago.

In December 2004, the Board of Regents designated Allan McMurray as “Distinguished Professor.”

Fred Stride (jazz band) finds himself writing many forms of music. Although he is principally known for his many compositions and arrangements for jazz ensemble, he has also written countless arrangements for various entertainers and performers for almost every musical setting, from chamber ensembles to big bands, concert bands, theatre orchestras and symphony orchestras.

Fred is also active as a band leader and guest conductor. He currently leads his own Fred Stride Jazz Orchestra which, besides playing his own work, also performs classic jazz repertoire such as the Stan Kenton/Johnny Richards Cuban Fire Suite, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s arrangement of The Nutcracker Suite, Ron Collier’s arrangement of Oscar Peterson’s Canadiana Suite and Duke Ellington’s major opus Black, Brown and Beige. Several of these performances have been recorded and broadcast on CBC radio.

The Fred Stride Jazz Orchestra has also recently released the CD Forward Motion (Cellar Live) containing 6 compositions by Fred, including the multi-movement Machina: A Concerto for Jazz Orchestra. Fred Stride was also the winner of the 2007 International Jazz Arranging Competition for his arrangement of Michael Brecker's Peep.

Fred also received the 2008 SOCAN/IAJE Phil Nimmons Established Composer Award. The commissioned work for this award, By All Accounts, was premiered in Toronto at the 2008 IAJE Conference. As well as his very busy professional writing career, Fred also finds time to direct a jazz ensemble and teach jazz theory and arranging at the University of British Columbia School of Music. He also works as a clinician, adjudicator and teacher at various music festivals, summer camps and jazz workshops across the Canada and the US. Fred Stride is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers. Many of his jazz compositions are published by Sierra Music Publications.