2009 National Wind Band Honors Project

Jerry F. Junkin

Jerry F. Junkin serves as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Dallas Wind Symphony, as well as Director of Bands and the Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also holds the title of University Distinguished Teaching Professor. In 2003 he was appointed Music Director and Conductor of the Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia. The New York Times named the recent release on the Reference Recordings label with Jerry Junkin and The University of Texas Wind Ensemble, Bells for Stokowski, one of the best classical CDs of 2004.

Professor Junkin became conductor of The University of Texas Wind Ensemble in the fall of 1988, following an appointment as Director of Bands at the University of South Florida. From 1978 to 1982, he served as Assistant Director of Bands at UT, after which he held a similar position at The University of Michigan. In addition to his responsibilities as Professor of Music and Conductor and Music Director of the UT Wind Ensemble, he serves as Head of the Conducting Division and teaches courses in conducting and wind band literature. He is a recipient of the Texas Excellence in Teaching awards, presented annually by the Ex-Student’s Association. Additionally, he received the Outstanding Young Texas-Ex Award, also from the same organization. In 2004, he was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers at UT.

Don Wilcox

When Don Wilcox retired as Director of Bands Emeritus from West Virginia University in the summer of 2005, he had guided the growth and development of the University’s band program for 34 years. During this time the WVU Wind Symphony performed numerous special concerts for regional and national conventions of the ABA, CBDNA, MENC, and WASBE, and toured nationally. The Mountaineer Marching Band was the 1997 recipient of the Sudler Trophy, and during the summer of 2001, the Centennial year of the WVU band program, the WVU Alumni Band toured Europe, performing concerts in England, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. In 2005 they made their second European Tour with performances in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, and concluding in Vienna, Austria. Mr. Wilcox is a Past President of the American Bandmasters Association and has served extensively on the Board of Directors of both the John Philip Sousa Foundation and the ABA. He has received WVU’s Outstanding Teacher Award, the 1993 Golden Apple Outstanding Faculty Award, was chosen for the Great Teachers Seminar and is the first teacher ever named Distinguished Fine Arts Alumnus of California State University at Long Beach. Mr. Wilcox is a National Arts Associate by Sigma Alpha Iota and the recipient of the Sudler Order of Merit from the John Philip Sousa Foundation, the Distinguished Service To Music Award from the National Council of Kappa Kappa Psi, and West Virginia University’s Heebink Award for Outstanding Service to the university and the state. He has received special citations from four Governors for his contributions to the state of West Virginia. In a teaching and conducting career spanning forty-eight years Mr. Wilcox has worked with musicians of all ages and abilities, conducting bands from one-room schools in rural Appalachia to several of the major concert halls in the world, and in all 50 states and 18 foreign countries. On four different occasions, he spent a semester teaching in Tokyo, Japan as guest conductor of the Musashino Academia Musicae Wind Ensemble, each culminating in tours of Japan and CD recordings for Sony. Mr. Wilcox has served as guest conductor or visiting lecturer at more than 50 universities in the United States, Europe, Japan, Thailand, and China, and in “retirement” maintains an active international schedule as a clinician and conductor.

James F. Keene

In 2008, Professor James F. Keene retired from the University of Illinois School of Music, where he held the titles of Director of Bands and Brownfield Distinguished Professor of Music. Appointed in 1985, he was only the fourth person to hold the Director of Bands position since 1905. During his 23-year tenure at Illinois, the UI Symphonic Band and Wind Symphony, under his direction, were selected to perform for every major music conference in the U.S., have toured internationally and have performed in many of America’s most prestigious concert halls, including New York’s legendary Carnegie Hall and several performances in Chicago’s Orchestra Hall. The Illinois Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band have produced one of the most extensive bodies of commercial band recordings. These recordings have been broadcast on National Public Radio in the U.S., as well as radio programs in Asia, Australia, and several European countries.

Mr. Keene is a Past-President of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, having also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors. He is a Past-President of the National Band Association, having previously served in several other NBA offices, and is a Past-President of The Big Ten Band Directors Association. For several years he served as chairman of the ABA/Ostwald Composition Contest, and is currently a member of the Editorial Band of The Journal Of Band Research. In addition to membership in several professional and honorary societies, Mr. Keene is an Evans Scholar, Past-President of the Champaign Rotary Club, and a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary International Foundation. In 1993 Professor Keene was named as an honorary member of the Board of Directors of the international Percy Grainger Society in recognition of his devotion to the music of Grainger; he also serves on the Board of Directors of the John Philip Sousa Foundation and the Historic Goldman Memorial Band of New York City. Previous to his appointment at Illinois, Professor Keene taught at all levels, including building nationally recognized programs at East Texas State University (now Texas A&M – Commerce), and at The University of Arizona.

In 2002, Professor Keene was named Honorary Life Member of the Texas Bandmasters Association, becoming only the sixth person to be so honored in the 55-year history of that organization. He is in constant demand as conductor, clinician and adjudicator and has appeared in those capacities in forty-four states and on five continents. In 2008-09, Professor Keene is scheduled to conduct in Australia, China and Europe, in addition to a busy schedule of appearances in the U.S.