December 1, 2022
Concert Band & Wind Symphony
Dr. Alex Wimmer, Conductor
Olivia Bazanos, Graduate Assistant Conductor
Cally Bitterlin, Graduate Assistant Conductor
Tyler Lee, Graduate Assistant Conductor
Preston Thomas, Graduate Assistant Conductor
Travis Turner, Graduate Assistant Conductor
Concert Band
Flourish for Wind Band (1939)…………………………………...…….Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Conducted by Tyler Lee
Seal Lullaby (2004/2011) …………………………………………………………….…Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
Conducted by Preston Thomas
The Cave You Fear (2014) ……………………………………………………….Michael Markowski (b. 1986)
Conducted by Travis Turner
Lullaby from a Distant Star (2011) ………………………………………….………Richard Saucedo (b. 1957)
Conducted by Cally Bitterlin
Adrenaline Engines (2010)…………………………………………………….….Randall Standridge (b. 1976)
Conducted by Olivia Bazanos
Wind Symphony
Dr. Alex Wimmer, Conductor
The Falls (2018)……………………………………………………………………... Rossano Galante (b. 1967)
Riften Wed (2013)………………………………………………………………………… Julie Giroux (b. 1961)
Aurora Awakes (2009)…………………………………………………………………… John Mackey (b. 1973)
Concert Band Program Notes
Flourish for Wind Band (1939)…………………………………...…….Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Conducted by Tyler Lee
This short work (only about 90 seconds long) was scored for military band with numerous clarinets, cornets, saxophones, euphoniums and timpani. Having been written as an overture to a pageant in the Royal Albert Hall, the score was then lost - only to reappear in 1971. Upon its discovery the work was adapted twice by Roy Douglas - first for brass band and then for symphony orchestra. The orchestral version is scored for wind instruments, together with double basses, timpani and percussion. This version had its first performance by the Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra in 1974. The original and the adaptations have all been published by Oxford University Press, although no recordings are known.
- Program Notes by Steve Schwartz
Seal Lullaby (2004/2011) …………………………………………………………….…Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
“In the spring of 2004 I was lucky enough to have my show Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings presented at the ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop. The workshop is the brainchild of legendary composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell), and his insights about the creative process were profoundly helpful. He became a great mentor and friend to the show and, I am honored to say, to me personally.
Soon after the workshop I received a call from a major film studio. Stephen had recommended me to them and they wanted to know if I might be interested in writing music for an animated feature. I was incredibly excited, said yes, and took the meeting.
The creative executives with whom I met explained that the studio heads had always wanted to make an epic adventure, a classic animated film based on Kipling’s The White Seal. I have always loved animation (the early Disney films; Looney Tunes; everything Pixar makes) and I couldn’t believe that I might get a chance to work in that grand tradition on such great material.
The White Seal is a beautiful story, classic Kipling, dark and rich and not at all condescending to kids. Best of all, Kipling begins his tale with the mother seal singing softly to her young pup. (The opening poem is called The Seal Lullaby).
I was struck so deeply by those first beautiful words, and a simple, sweet Disney-esque song just came gushing out of me. I wrote it down as quickly as I could, had my wife record it while I accompanied her at the piano, and then dropped it off at the film studio.
I didn’t hear anything from them for weeks and weeks, and I began to despair. Did they hate it? Was it too melodically complex? Did they even listen to it? Finally, I called them, begging to know the reason that they had rejected my tender little song. “Oh,” said the exec, “we decided to make Kung Fu Panda instead.”
So I didn’t do anything with it, just sang it to my baby son every night to get him to go to sleep. (Success rate: less than 50%.) And a few years later the Towne Singers graciously commissioned this arrangement of it. I’m grateful to them for giving it a new life. And I’m especially grateful to Stephen Schwartz, to whom the piece is dedicated. His friendship and invaluable tutelage has meant more to me than I could ever tell him.
THE TEXT
Oh! Hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, o’er the combers, looks downward to find us,
At rest in the hollows that rustle between.
Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow,
Oh weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!
The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee,
Asleep in the arms of the slow swinging seas!”
-Program notes from composer
Conducted by Preston Thomas
The Cave You Fear (2014) ……………………………………………………….Michael Markowski (b. 1986)
Conducted by Travis Turner
“I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all the opportunities we’re given day-to-day to try something new or to go somewhere we’ve never been before - the opportunity to take a spontaneous road trip, to go see a concert by a band we’ve never heard of at a venue we’ve never been to, to try that new restaurant down the street where the menu is in a language we don’t quite understand. Some people have an innate sense of adventure, who go-with-the-flow, who live life for the unexplored, and I couldn’t be more inspired by them.
For a long time, I was the opposite. I used to prefer to stay at home, working on my computer because it was the safe and responsible thing to be doing, listening to the same albums on my iPod, ordering the same meal at the same, familiar restaurants. And while there’s nothing necessarily wrong with having a routine or knowing what you like, I eventually realized that my life was starting to have a certain predictability to it. It was a few years ago, while I was still living in the same state that I was born and raised in, that I had the most terrifying epiphany that I think I’ve ever had. I was becoming increasingly bored and incredibly boring.
In film schools around the world, Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero With A Thousand Faces is required reading for filmmakers, screenwriters, and storytellers because Campbell has single-handedly identified what we refer to as “The Hero’s Journey” - the series of events and conflicts that arise along a character’s path as he or she fights their way to some ultimate goal. After studying Campbell, it’s easy to question where we are on our own paths. What is our own story? What are fighting for? What does it mean to be a ‘hero’ and how can we be more ‘heroic’ ourselves? When we hear our own call-to-adventure, will we jump up, prepared, or will we ignore it, sit idly and take the easy way out because we would rather life be quiet and comfortable? According to Campbell, each of our adventures are already out there, waiting for us. That’s not the problem. For him, ‘the big question is whether you are going to be able to say hearty ‘yes’ to your adventure.’
So for the next four minutes, let’s take a chance, let’s venture into the dark unknown, let’s fight whatever monsters we find in there. And although we might not always prevail, at least we’ll have a story to tell by the end.”
- Program notes from composer
Lullaby from a Distant Star (2011) ………………………………………….………Richard Saucedo (b. 1957)
Conducted by Cally Bitterlin
“The piece is based on a simple melody that may remind you a bit of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” although the notes are quite different and a bit more haunting in nature. Care should be taken throughout to provide the… listeners with the most musical version of each phrase. I hope this piece will provide… an emotional and reflective moment for the audience…”
-Program notes from composer
Adrenaline Engines (2010)…………………………………………………….….Randall Standridge (b. 1976)
Conducted by Olivia Bazanos
In 2008, Randall wrote a piece entitle Afterburn, which he premiered with his junior high ensemble. His students loved the piece; even more amazing was the response from his high school band students. The next day, he was bombarded with requests from the senior band members that boiled down to 'We want to play something like that!' Randall was happy to oblige, and Adrenaline Engines was born.
Adrenaline Engines is essentially Afterburn part 2. It explores some of the same rhythmic and motivic ideas, but it is written for more advanced players. There are time signature changes, key changes, timpani changes, etc. ... and the rhythmic and melodic challenges are greater.
Adrenaline Engines was also the result of a commission from George Pokorski, band director at Marion Middle School in Marion, Arkansas. He wished to commission a piece to premiere with the Arkansas Small Band Association All-Star Band. He premiered the piece with that ensemble in the Spring of 2009.
I hope you, your students, and your audience will enjoy the thundering percussion, driving rhythms, and kinetic (sometimes frenetic) energy that I tried to imbue in this work.
- Program notes from composer
Wind Symphony Program Notes
The Falls (2018)……………………………………………………………………... Rossano Galante (b. 1967)
Highlighting the falls as it cascades over rocky terrain, sparkling wind and brass fanfares depict the water as it rushes forward before exploding over the edge. Melodic lines transport the audience into the mysterious and rapturous wilderness as this remarkable piece evokes one of nature’s most glorious creations.
Born in Buffalo, New York, Rossano Galante received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Trumpet performance from SUNY Buffalo in 1992. That same year he was one of nineteen people from around the world to be accepted to the University of Southern California’s Film Scoring Program. He studied with the late Jerry Goldsmith, who won an Academy Award for his film score for The Omen. In 1999, Mr. Galante moved to California to pursue a career in film composition and orchestration. Since then, he has worked with two-time Oscar nominated composer Marco Beltrami, Christophe Beck, Brian Tyler and Wolfram de Marco.
Mr. Galante has served as orchestrator for overt sixty studio films including, A Quiet Place, Logan, Wolverine, Charlie's Angels, 3:10 to Yuma, A Good Day to Die Hard, Trouble with the Curve, The Thing, Final Destination 5, Don’t be Afraid of the Dark, Knowing, Max Payne, The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Live Free or Die Hard, Red Eye, The Tuxedo, Tuesdays with Morrie, among many others.
For his large-scale Wind Ensemble compositions, he has been commissioned by the Hofstra University Symphonic Band, Nebraska Wind Symphony, the Amherst Chamber Orchestra, Trenton State College, SUNY Buffalo, Grand Island Middle School, Syracuse Youth Symphony, Point Pleasant Borough High School, North Tonawanda High School, Lockport City School District, Edward Town Middle School, Duxbury High School Wind Ensemble, Allegro: The Chamber Orchestra of Lancaster, Franklin & Marshall College, West Genesee High School Wind Ensemble, East Stroudsburg High School, Grissom High School and the Erie County Wind Ensemble. Many in progress.
Mr. Galante has 49 published compositions for Alfred Publications, G. Schirmer, Hafabra, C.L. Barnhouse and Dehaske/Curnow.
Program notes by – Rossano Galante
Riften Wed (2013)………………………………………………………………………… Julie Giroux (b. 1961)
Riften is a city in Skyrim located in the expansive world of Elder Scrolls, the fifth installment of an action role-playing video game saga developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Skyrim is an open world game that by any video game standard is geographically massive and more closely related to an online mmorpg (massive multiplayer online role-playing game) than to its console and pc competition.
Skyrim is a beautiful world, from mountainous snowy regions to open tundra plains, sea coasts, beaches, thick woods, lakes and hot spring-fed swamps. Large cities, villages, forts, ancient ruins, caves, lone houses, sawmills and abandoned shacks dot the atlas. One can spend hours just walking or riding horseback from one side of the continent to the other doing nothing but experiencing its wondrous environment and lore. It is truly a game worthy of total immersion. Oh, and I should mention that it is also a deadly world, torn apart by civil war and dragons who have resurfaced after thousands of years, not to mention the cult of vampires that are also threatening to take over the world.
Riften is a seedy, crime-filled and nearly lawless city. Located on a waterfront with skooma-addicted dock workers and corrupt guards, it also boasts the headquarters of the Thieve’s Guild. Sadly enough, it is also the location for the worlds orphanage and the Temple of Mara, the place where the good citizens of Skyrim have to go to get married, you included.
Weddings in Skyrim are about survival as much as fondness or imagined love. Courtship can be as simple a dialogue as “Are you interested in me? Why yes, are you interested in me? Yes. It’s settled then.” Sometimes the dialogue is more along the lines of “You are smart and strong. I would be lucky to have you. I would walk the path of life beside you ‘til the end of time if you will have me.” Although this game feels somewhat like the iron age with magic and dragons, it has a progressive, flourishing society.
In Skyrim, if so desired, your spouse can and will fight beside you. They will die for you or with you. For most of them, that death is permanent. You cannot remarry (not without cheating anyway). What was is over and there will be no other. Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I found the whole situation intriguing and heart wrenching especially if related or injected into real world circumstances. In one instance while playing the game, I emerged from the chapel with my brand new husband only to have him killed later that evening in a vicious full-on vampire attack right outside the temple. (Hey! No fair! I knew I should have married a warrior and not a merchant. I restarted the game.) Skyrim weddings are happening in the middle of a world full of violence, disease, war and death. Something Earth is all too familiar with.
Riften Wed is the music for loves and unions, past and present such as this. A love, a wedding, a lifetime shared by two people in the middle of a storm that threatens to tear them apart. Where “‘til death do us part” is not only a reality, it’s a given. Where love is a gift worthy of all the joy and pain it demands. One life, one love, one ending. This music is for those that are truly Riften Wed.
Julie Ann Giroux was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts on December 12, 1961. She graduated from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge LA in 1984. She started playing piano at 3 years of age and began composing at the age of 8 and has been composing ever since. Her first published work for concert band, published by Southern Music Company was composed at the age of 13.
Julie began composing commercially in 1984. She was hired by Oscar winning composer Bill Conti as an orchestrator, her first project with Conti being “North & South” the mini-series. With over 100 film, television and video game credits, Giroux collaborated with dozens of film composers, producers, and celebrities including Samuel Goldwyn, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Madonna, Liza Minnelli, Celene Dion, Paula Abdul, Michael Jackson, Paul Newman, Harry Connick Jr. and many others. Projects she has worked on have been nominated for Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Golden Globe awards. She has won individual Emmy Awards in the field of “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Direction”. When She won her first Emmy Award, she was the first woman and the youngest person to ever win that award. She has won it three times.
Giroux has also published a large category of classical works with emphasis on original compositions for Wind Band which are published by Musica Propria and distributed internationally. She is greatly sought after as a composer and recently completing her 5th Symphony “Sun, Rain & Wind” which premiered in June 2018. Her music has been recorded and reviewed internationally receiving top reviews and her music has been performed at major music festivals the world over.
Giroux has been a true force in a male dominated field and has accrued many previously male only awards. She is a member of ASCAP, The Film Musicians Fund, Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma and a member of the American Bandmasters Association. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Service to Music Medal Award, Emmy Awards and was the first female composer inducted into the American Bandmasters Association in 2009.
All program notes by – Julie Giroux
Aurora Awakes (2009)…………………………………………………………………… John Mackey (b. 1973)
Aurora now had left her saffron bed,
And beams of early light the heav'ns o'erspread,
When, from a tow'r, the queen, with wakeful eyes,
Saw day point upward from the rosy skies.
- Virgil, The Aeneid, Book IV, Lines 584-587
Aurora – the Roman goddess of the dawn – is a mythological figure frequently associated with beauty and light. Also known as Eos (her Greek analogue), Aurora would rise each morning and stream across the sky, heralding the coming of her brother Sol, the sun. Though she is herself among the lesser deities of Roman and Greek mythologies, her cultural influence has persevered, most notably in the naming of the vibrant flashes of light that occur in Arctic and Antarctic regions – the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis.
John Mackey’s Aurora Awakes is, thus, a piece about the heralding of the coming of light. Built in two substantial sections, the piece moves over the course of eleven minutes from a place of remarkable stillness to an unbridled explosion of energy – from darkness to light, placid grey to startling rainbows of color. The work is almost entirely in the key of E-flat major (a choice made to create a unique effect at the work’s conclusion, as mentioned below), although it journeys through G-flat and F as the work progresses. Despite the harmonic shifts, however, the piece always maintains a – pun intended – bright optimism.
All program notes by – Jake Wallace
Kansas State University Concert Band
FLUTE Tia Cole Alora Duran Melissa Fierro* Tegan Stratton Gabby Yager
CLARINET Allie Boell Nathaniel Chaput** Maria Herrera Bustillos Anna Ridgway Shelby Stolzenburg Alexis Sutton**
BASS CLARINET Taton Bennett Andrew Otto
OBOE Sylvia Cunningham Michael Walker*
BASSOON Ethan Karnes |
| ALTO SAX Cooper Carlson Annabelle Hall* Logan Peralez
TENOR SAX Sapphire Davis
BARITONE SAX Mystica Mather TRUMPET Kevin Colle Karson Griffin Chase Keesling Cameron Sadler Trystan Seifried Emmett Williams* HORN Craig Brinkman* Sebastian Gary Seth Higgins Clyde Horinek Kayla Schinkel | TROMBONES Nicci Coots Jacob Daley Jess Hargett Kamryn Sidener (Bass) Malachi Williams Wesley Wurm* EUPHONIUM Stazzi Simmons Kaden Williams* TUBA Margaret Benson* Brendan Lyhane PERCUSSION Devon Autry** Trenton Lowry** Daniel Smith Elliot Thomas |
* Principal/Section Leader
**Co-principal/co-section leaders
Kansas State University Wind Symphony
Dr. Alex Wimmer, Director
FLUTE Reese Byers (Pic) Tabitha Ellwood Ella Greenup* Grace Woydziak Rachel Zimmerman
CLARINET Erin Flax Sarah Jane Kelley* Ella McKeague Abbigail Rakes Alexis White
BASS CLARINET Kellen Broeckelmann Grace Dice
OBOE Alli Gladfelder* Bekah Northam
BASSOON Kenny Davies* |
| ALTO SAX Jasmine Bates Sarah Schieferecke Jordan Somers Abby Vetter*
TENOR SAX Chase Burman
BARITONE SAX Max Contreras
TRUMPET Zak Oster Evelyn Peat** Aaron Peterson Caden Roark Jae Seefeldt** Brett Wyckoff
HORN Alyssa Boden Tim Buehler Andrew Dearinger Kendan Powers* | TROMBONES Reece Beckman Jared Carlton* Zach Elliot Kiera Jeffries Corbin Wood (Bass)
EUPHONIUM Thomas Keller Sydney Smith Drake Thompson*
TUBA Olivia Franco Charles Kelly Isaiah Zinkan*
PERCUSSION Max Barth Noah Dial Ethan Jeffries* Jessi Solorzano Ben Thorne Chris Wells Jessie Whelan |
* Principal/Section Leader
**Co-principal/co-section leaders
Concert Band Conductors
OLIVIA BAZANOS is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is one of the graduate assistants at Kansas State University. She earned her B.M. in Music Education from Slippery Rock University (SRU) in 2021. While at SRU she was extremely involved in marching band and was a section leader, fundamentals of marching chair, and head drum major during her undergraduate career. She has taught instrumental band grades 4-12 in public school teaching. Olivia was also an active performing member with the Slippery Rock University Winter Guard for two years.
Olivia has instructed as visual technician, guard instructor, and woodwind instructor at local high school marching bands and substituted within various Pennsylvania school districts. Olivia is also an active volunteer with Music For All, spending two weeks of every summer as a S.W.A.G. Team Member during her Summer Symposium held in Muncie, Indiana.
Olivia’s professional affiliations include Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, National Association of Music Education, Music For All, Kansas Bandmasters Association, Kansas Music Educators Association, Women Band Directors International, Tau Beta Sigma, and Mu Phi Epsilon.
CALLY BITTERLIN is a PhD Candidate and graduate assistant at Kansas State University. She earned both her B.M.E and M.M. from Kansas State University in 2008 and 2011 respectively. While at Kansas State University, she was extremely involved in marching band and was a section leader and student staff during her undergraduate career. She has taught all grade levels K-12 in her 9 years of public-school teaching. Cally has taught in Kansas, Texas, and Iowa.
In Texas, Cally taught at University High School where she oversaw the concert and symphonic bands and assisted with the marching, jazz, and mariachi bands. She also proposed and received a piano classroom and taught 3 sections of group piano lessons. Cally implemented a leadership program and training at the high school and continued to do the same in Iowa. She was a performing member in the saxophone section in the Waco Community Band and the Temple Symphonic Band. Cally was also a clinician and adjudicator for several schools and events for high schools and middle schools in Texas and continues to do so in Kansas. In Iowa, she oversaw the entire band program including color guard, athletic bands, concert, and jazz bands. The jazz and marching bands traveled in and out of state for several competitions during her tenure. Cally continued to perform on saxophone soloing for different occasions in the district and playing euphonium at Tuba Christmas.
Cally's professional affiliations include Texas Music Educators Association, Iowa Bandmasters Association, Kansas Music Educators Association, Women Band Directors International, Tau Beta Sigma, Kappa Delta Pi.
TYLER LEE is originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is one of the graduate assistants at Kansas State University. Tyler earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Trombone Performance from Kansas State University (2019), and earned his Master’s of Music degree in Trombone Performance as well as his Graduate Certificate in Wind Band Conducting and Instrumental Studies from the University of Central Arkansas (2021,2022).
While at Kansas State University, Tyler participated in the Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Pride of Wildcat Land, Cat Band, CJE, KSU Symphony Orchestra, Brass Ensemble, and Trombone Choir, as well as Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity.
During his time at the University of Central Arkansas, he served as a graduate assistant with the band area. He assisted with the day-to-day operation of the UCA band program and was on staff for the Bear Marching Band as well as the Purple Rage Basketball Band. He was also heavily involved in the trombone studio at UCA, performing with the Natural Slides trombone choir, the top trombone ensemble at UCA.
Tyler’s professional associations include the Arkansas Music Educators Association, Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Kansas Music Educators Association, College Band Director’s National Association, International Trombone Association, the Conductor’s Guild, and Kappa Kappa Psi – National Honorary Band Fraternity.
PRESTON THOMAS is from Lenexa, Kansas. He graduated from Kansas State University in 2019 with a Bachelor’s of Music Education Degree. During his time at Kansas State University, he was involved with the Pride of Wildcat Land Marching Band as section leader of the snare line and president of the percussion studio chapter of Percussive Arts Society. Preston also played in the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Brass Ensemble, Woodwind Ensemble, Volleyball Pep Band, Basketball Pep Band, and Percussion Ensemble.
After graduating Kansas State University, Preston went to Medicine Lodge, Kansas and taught grade 6-12 band and choir. During his time at Medicine Lodge, he was able to receive Superior ratings at both regional and state level competitions with all of his groups which had not been done in recent memory. He was also fortunate to be able to assist in acquiring new technology to the music department with a new digital sound and lighting system which helped bring a new energy to the concerts and performances.
TRAVIS TURNER is currently an M.M. candidate at Kansas State University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Missouri Southern State University (MSSU) in 2020, where he was involved in the marching band, taking on the role of drum captain for the drumline and later a student staff position. He also performed with the MSSU Wind Ensemble, acting as principal trombonist, and the MSSU Jazz Orchestra. He also performed with Resistance Indoor Percussion, an independent open class ensemble based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. While performing with Resistance, Travis took on leadership roles within the ensemble and earned the “Member of the Year” award in 2018 and 2019.
Travis has worked with several high schools in Southwest Missouri, as well as the Wichita and Tulsa areas, teaching drumline and visual fundamentals. In his most recent endeavor, he was the Assistant Percussion Coordinator for the Joplin High School Winter Drumline, where he helped lead the ensemble to their highest-scoring season in five years. He also worked with Resistance Indoor Percussion in the 2020 season, working with the bass drums and teaching visual fundamentals. Travis has also started a small design business with his brother, writing and arranging shows for marching bands.
Wind Symphony Conductor
ALEX WIMMER is currently serving as the Assistant Director of Bands at Kansas State University. His duties include directing the Wind Symphony, Cat Band (basketball pep band), Volleyball Band, Pub Crawl Band, Assistant Marching Band Director for the Pride of Wildcat Land (KSUMB), arranger and drill designer for the KSUMB, and instructor of undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting, arranging, and marching band techniques. During the summer he coordinates the K-State Summer Music Camp and K-State Leadership and Auxiliary Camp, and serves as one of the Assistant Directors of the Manhattan Municipal Band. Prior to his appointment at Kansas State University, Dr. Wimmer was a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Kansas State University Bands. He assisted with all concert and athletic ensembles, undergraduate conducting courses, and Percussion Ensembles. His research interests include undergraduates conducting with expressivity and qualitative research.
Originally from Gretna, Nebraska, Dr. Wimmer received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2007, his Master of Music degree in Education with an emphasis in Wind Conducting from Kansas State University in 2014, and his Doctorate in Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction from Kansas State University in 2017. Dr. Wimmer was the Director of Bands at Gretna High School and the Assistant Director of Bands at Gretna Middle School from 2007-2012. Under his direction his concert, jazz, and marching bands received consistent superior ratings. He was a recipient of the Jack R. Snider Young Band Director Award in 2011 and served on the Nebraska Music Educators Association Leadership Academy from 2011-2012.
Dr. Wimmer is in demand as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator as well as a percussion specialist. His professional affiliations include the Kansas Music Educators Association, the Kansas Bandmasters Association, the National Association for Music Education, the College Band Directors National Association, the Percussive Arts Society, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Phi Kappa Lambda.
