Prof. Gary Hill Arizona State University
Gary W. Hill is Professor of Music and Director of Ensembles at Arizona State University where he conducts the Wind Symphony and the Chamber Winds, teaches graduate conducting, and is founder of the Digital Conducting Laboratory.
Prior to Hill's appointment at ASU, he was Director of Bands at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where he also served as Music Director for the Kansas City Youth Wind Ensemble, and conducted two professional groups: the Kansas City Symphony Brass Ensemble and newEar, a chamber ensemble devoted to contemporary music. Previously, he held a similar post at East Texas State University and was Associate Director of Bands at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Hill began his teaching career in Michigan where he served as Director of Bands for the West Bloomfield and Traverse City public schools.
High school, university, and professional ensembles under Hill's direction have given performances for the National Band Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the College Band Directors National Association, the American Bandmasters Association, the International Horn Symposium, the National Flute Association, at many state conventions, and throughout North America, and Europe. Performances conducted by him have consistently drawn praise from composers, performing musicians, and critics alike for their insightful, inspired, and cohesive realizations, and for their imaginative programming.
As a guest conductor and clinician, appearances in more than a dozen countries and throughout most of the United States have included performances with myriad high school honor bands, numerous college and university wind bands and orchestras, at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, and at World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles' conferences. Additionally, he is in constant demand as a conducting teacher and as a clinician for bands and orchestras.
Hill's current research is two-fold: he is engaged in an ongoing investigation of digital technologies applicable to the conducting classroom; and he is writing a book on the past, present, and future of wind band.
Gary W. Hill is a member of numerous professional organizations including the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, the Music Educators National Conference, The Society for American Music, The American Bandmasters Association, and the College Band Directors National Association, for which he hosted the Fiftieth Anniversary National Conference (1991) as well as the joint conferences of the North Central and Southwestern Divisions in conjunction with The Society for American Music (1998), served as president of the Southwestern Division (1989-91), and as national president (2003-05).
Dr. Travis Cross – Virginia Tech University
Travis J. Cross is an assistant professor of music at Virginia Tech, where he conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and teaches courses in conducting. He completed doctoral coursework at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where he studied with Mallory Thompson. He previously earned the bachelor of music degree cum laude in vocal and instrumental music education from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., and the master of music degree in conducting from Northwestern.
Cross taught for four years at Edina (Minn.) High School, where he conducted two concert bands and oversaw the marching band program. In 2004, he was selected to participate in the inaugural Young Conductor/Mentor Project sponsored by the National Band Association. The same year he received the Distinguished Young Band Director Award from the American School Band Directors Association of Minnesota. From 2001–2003, Cross served a two-year term as the recent graduate on the St. Olaf College Board of Regents. In 2006, he was named a Jacob K. Javits Fellow by the United States Department of Education.
Cross contributed a chapter to volume four of Composers on Composing for Band, available from GIA Publications. His original works and arrangements for band, choir, and orchestra are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Daehn Publications, and Theodore Music. Current commissions include works for bands in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Virginia. He has appeared as a guest conductor, composer, and clinician in several states and at the Midwest Clinic and leads honor bands in Massachusetts, Virginia, and West Virginia during the 2011-2012 season.
