Andrew D. Pease serves as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Instrumental Music at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, where he directs the Wind Ensemble and Brass Ensemble and teaches conducting, orchestration, composition, and brass methods. He is also co-conductor of the Catskill Valley Wind Ensemble (with Amy Hoxie) and the Oneonta Community Concert Band (with Kerri Hogle). He is committed to bringing the wind band repertoire to life through informed and engaged performance. At Hartwick, he spearheaded the creation of the pathbreaking album, Stravinsky: Alone No More, with the Hartwick Faculty Wind Octet, released by Mark Masters. He has commissioned and premiered several works for Hartwick student ensembles. He created the Hartwick Honor Band, which has become an annual tradition on the campus. His additional guest conducting work has taken him to several states and the United Kingdom, including two appearances at Carnegie Hall with bands from Hartwick College and Columbia University. In the early part of his career, he helped to put the wind band back on the map in New York City. As music director of the Columbia University Wind Ensemble from 2002-2013, he brought wind band standards and new music to New York students and audiences. He also began a student guest conductor program with Columbia’s Teachers College and helped to start the Columbia Festival of Winds, an annual fundraising festival for inner-city music education that brought the wind bands of the New York City area together for a day of concerts. Concurrently, he conducted the community band Columbia Summer Winds, which inaugurated its Outdoor Composition Contest under his watch. He completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting at Arizona State University, where his teachers included Gary Hill, Wayne Bailey, and William Reber. While there, he conducted the Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Wind Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, and various chamber groups, including the professional Sun Valley Chamber Winds, which he founded in 2015. His work with these groups earned him the 2017 American Prize in Wind Band Conducting at the collegiate level. He is committed to bringing composers into contact with his ensembles, and as such he has led rehearsal clinics with David del Tredici, Johan de Meij, John Mackey, Martha Mooke, Alex Shapiro, Michael Markowski, Armando Bayolo, JoAnne Harris, Eric Ewazen, Edward Green, Oliver Caplan, and Chris Lamb, among others. His past teaching positions include South Mountain Community College (Phoenix, AZ), Ironwood High School (Glendale, AZ), and Lakewood Elementary School (Congers, NY).

 

Dr. Pease’s conducting career began at Dartmouth College, where he conducted the Marching Band, Chamber Orchestra, Steel Drum Band, and an honors thesis as an undergraduate. He received Master of Arts degrees in Music Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College and in Wind Conducting from Hofstra University. His past conducting teachers include Max Culpepper, Melinda O’Neal, Dino Anagnost, and Peter Boonshaft, as well as clinics with other leading figures in the conducting world. In 2010 he was a Conducting Fellow at the first ever Juilliard School Conducting Workshop for Music Educators, where he studied with Jim Smith, George Stelluto, and Virginia Allen. Dr. Pease is also in demand as an arranger and orchestrator. His arrangements have been cast in such diverse media as steel band, orchestra, and recorders, and have included styles ranging from Christmas carols to tango to popular movie and video game themes.

 

Dr. Pease runs two websites dedicated to the music of the wind band. Wind Band Literature has grown immensely from its beginnings as Andy Pease's Wind Band Blog, a repertoire resource for members of the Columbia University Wind Ensemble. It now attracts a global audience, and it has been used in classrooms of all levels around the United States.  His doctoral thesis, “An Annotated Bibliography of Symphonies for Wind Band,” inspired the creation of the Wind Band Symphony Archive, which is a living, dynamic record of all known symphonies written for wind band. In addition, his interest in community music led to the creation of Futures in Band, which features testimonials by adult amateur band musicians. His work in these areas has resulted in publications and presentations in regional and international forums. Dr. Pease is a member of CBDNA, WASBE, IGEB, NBA, NYSSMA, and NYSBDA, which he serves as First Vice President.

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