Wesleyan Honors Bands
The 2024 Nebraska Wesleyan University Honors Bands will bring together students from across the region to form two bands that will rehearse and perform with NWU’s band director, Joshua Roach, DMA and guest conductor, Giovanni Santos, DMA. One band will be an audition-based group, and the other will be nomination-based. Students in both groups will rehearse and perform with Santos and Roach.
Selected students are responsible for completing a registration form, including a $50 participation fee (which covers music rental, three meals, and a t-shirt). Students are expected to prepare the music in advance of the festival.
Audition and nomination submissions will be accepted until Friday, December 1, 2023 at 11:59 p.m.
Audition-based “Wind Ensemble”
Students who wish to participate in this band should submit representative audio or video files of their playing.
- What to submit: Students can use any audition package of material (scales and etudes) they’ve recently created for other honor ensembles, all-state band/orchestra or solo competitions. If no recent material exists and a student needs guidance for repertoire, they are encouraged to ask for guidance from their school director.
- Where to submit:
- Students submitting materials themselves should use the student wind ensemble audition form.
- Directors submitting audition materials for multiple students at one time should use the director wind ensemble auditions upload form.
Nomination-based “Symphonic Band”
We encourage teachers to nominate as many students as they desire.
- Directors who are nominating multiple students should use the director symphonic band multiple-nomination form.
- Non-directors, or directors submitting single-nominations should use the symphonic band single nomination form.
Our Conductors
Giovanni Santos serves as director of wind and percussion studies and associate professor of music at La Sierra University, where he directs the University Wind Ensemble, Chamber Winds and Big Band. He teaches courses in graduate and undergraduate instrumental music education, popular music, conducting and composition. Santos has implemented workshops, clinics and conversations with the country’s leading conductors and composers. He also frequently presents at music conferences in the U.S., Mexico and Europe. Santos’ ever-growing catalog of wind ensemble compositions has been performed by many of the country’s large universities.
Joshua Roach is director of instrumental activities at Nebraska Wesleyan University. He has also taught at Peru State College, the Crane School of Music in New York, the College of New Jersey, California Lutheran University and Southwestern Michigan College. Before teaching full-time in higher education, Roach lived in Los Angeles, where he was the music director of the Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble and instrumental coach for Diamond Bar High School. For 11 years, he worked with middle school and high school students at the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program. From 2015-2017, he also taught trumpet for the Phantom Regiment drum and bugle corps.
Schedule
Thursday February 15
- 1 p.m. NWU Music Scholarship auditions (optional for seniors considering NWU) begin
- 2:30pm Check-in begins
- 4 p.m. Rehearsals and activities begin
- 6:15/6:45 p.m. Pizza party (included)
- 9:15 p.m. Adjourn
Friday February 16
- 9 a.m. Rehearsals and activities begin (lunch included)
- 5:30 p.m. Adjourn
Saturday February 17
- 9:30 a.m. Rehearsals and activities begin (brunch included)
- 2:30 p.m. Performance
- 3:45 p.m. Farewell
Repertoire
To be announced.