Conductors
Mark Scatterday
Donald Hunsberger
A. Clyde Roller
Frederick Fennell
Mark Scatterday
Mark Davis Scatterday is Professor of Conducting and Chair of the Conducting and Ensembles Department at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music. As only the fourth conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Scatterday joined a prestigious line of conductors in the past fifty-plus years of the famed ensemble — Donald Hunsberger, Clyde Roller, and Frederick Fennell. In 2004, he led the EWE in their return tour to Japan, as well as to Taiwan and Macao. In 2005, Scatterday led the Eastman Wind Ensemble in a highly acclaimed performance at Carnegie Hall and also conducted a concert in Japan as part of the opening ceremonies of a new concert hall in Karuizawa, joined by members of the Tokyo Philharmonic. Recently, the EWE and Scatterday recorded a new CD with the Canadian Brass entitled Manhattan Music featuring music of Bernstein, Bramwell Tovey, Rayburn Wright and Jeff Tyzik — released in 2008 on Opening Day Records with ArchivMusic, nominated for a 2009 Canadian Grammy, the "JUNO". In December 2009, Scatterday and Hunsberger performed together with the EWE in the University of Michigan's Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor and at the prestigious Midwest Clinic in Chicago to an audience of over 4,000. Also, in the fall of 2010, Dr. Scatterday conducted a celebrated performance with the New World Symphony in Miami, Florida. He returned there in 2011 to present a concert in the orchestra's new Frank Gehry designed Symphony Hall.
Having received a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting at the Eastman School of Music in 1989, Professor Scatterday has directed wind ensembles and orchestras throughout North America and Asia. Dr. Scatterday also conducts the Eastman Wind Orchestra, teaches undergraduate conducting classes and supervises doctoral conducting students. Previous to his appointment at Eastman, Dr Scatterday was Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Music at Cornell University. While at Cornell, he was one of the principal conductors of the professional new music group Ensemble X, which performed in Carnegie Hall in 2003, and was also the conductor and music director of the Cayuga Chamber Winds, a professional chamber winds ensemble in Ithaca, New York.
Dr. Scatterday has studied conducting with Donald Hunsberger, David Effron, Sidney Hodkinson, Carl St.Clair, H. Robert Reynolds, Gustav Mier and Richard Jackoboice, and trombone with H. Dennis Smith, Edwin Anderson, Edward Zadronzny, Milt Stevens, David Langlitz, and Hal Janks. His previous teaching experiences also include music directorships in Wooster and Medina, Ohio following a master's degree at the University of Michigan and a bachelor's degree from the University of Akron.
Professor Scatterday maintains an active guest conducting schedule as well as researching and writing articles involving score analysis, performance practices, and conducting. His articles on Venetian Renaissance wind music and the wind and percussion music of Karel Husa have been published in editions of Wind Works, College Band Director's National Association Journal, and Band Director's Guide. He is also one of the lead clinicians in the Frederick Fennell Conducting Masterclasses held annually by the Conductor's Guild. An advocate of contemporary music, especially the music of Husa and Roberto Sierra, Scatterday has commissioned and premiered over 25 works including Sierra's Diferencias (1997), Fanfarria (2000) and Octeto (2003) and transcribed his Fandangos (2004) Alegira (2009), Symphonia No. 3 (2009) and Carnaval (2011). He conducted the premiere recording of Roberto Sierra's Cancionero Sefardi with members of the Milwaukee Symphony on Fleur De Son Classics (2001), Judith Weir's Concerto for Piano and Musicians Wrestling Everywhere with Ensemble X on Albany Records (2005), Danzante with James Thompson and the Eastman Wind Ensemble on Summit Records (2006) and Barcelonazo with the Eastman Musica Nova on Bridge Records (2008) — nominated for a 2008 Latin Grammy.
An active arranger, especially with the music of Sierra and Gabrieli, Mark Scatterday is a member of ASCAP, CBDNA, WASBE and the Conductor's Guild. He is published by Subito Music, Alfred Music (formerly Warner Bros.), and Hal Leonard Music.
Donald Hunsberger
Donald Hunsberger is one of the world’s foremost authorities on conducting, orchestration, and music literature. He has been conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble at the Eastman School of Music since 1965. Originally from Pennsylvania, he studied trombone with Emory Remington at Eastman, where he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees (BM ’54, MM ’59, DMA ’63). From 1954-58 he was a trombone soloist and chief arranger with the United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C. He is best known for championing the work of contemporary composers, invoking a higher standard of conducting practice, advocating for the full use of the possibilities of the wind ensemble, and setting the standard for wind ensemble performance through numerous publications, recordings and tours of the Eastman Wind Ensemble. As an orchestrator and arranger, Dr. Hunsberger’s additions to the wind ensemble repertoire are unique in their resourceful effectiveness. He also has arranged the orchestral accompaniments for 18 silent films, which he has conducted around the world. He currently is editor and primary contributor to the Donald Hunsberger Wind Library (Warner Brothers Music Publishing), and is publishing a series of historical and analytical articles on “Defining the Wind Band Sound” for its journal WindWorks.
A. Clyde Roller
Conductor A. Clyde Roller (1914-2005) had an impressive career in both professional and academic music fields. Roller followed Frederick Fennell as conductor and music director of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, serving from 1962 to 1964. His 1962 Mercury recording of Alan Hovhaness' Symphony No. 3 with the wind ensemble was chosen by High Fidelity as one of the top 10 recordings of the year.
In addition to his position as ensembles professor at Eastman, Roller also served as a professor of ensembles at the universities of Houston, Texas-Austin, Wisconsin at Madison, and Michigan, and was a conductor and faculty member at the Interlochen Center for the Arts for 50 years. He made numerous conducting appearances with the Boston, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Inland-Empire (CA) symphonies; the Texas orchestras of Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, and San Antonio; the Arkansas Opera Company; and at the Alaskan Festival, among others. For many years he was resident conductor of the Houston Symphony, musical director and conductor of the Lansing (MI) and Amarillo symphonies, and made international guest-conducting appearances with orchestras from Portugal to New Zealand. He also led many All-State, MENC, and regional orchestras, and the Congress of strings on both the East and West coasts.
Frederick Fennell
Frederick Fennell (1914-2004) began his career as a conductor almost as soon as he arrived at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music in the fall of 1933 when, to his amazement, he discovered that no wind band of any kind existed at either campus. He then devoted a considerable portion of the next 30 years of his life to the amicable amelioration of this condition, organizing and conducting outdoor and indoor groups, which led him to establish the Eastman Wind Ensemble in 1952. He conducted the group for its first decade, and spread wide its simple message through the Eastman/Mercury Records American music recording project at the invitation of composer and Eastman Director Howard Hanson. The Wind Ensemble's original 23 LPs, now in crossover to CDs, caused reconsideration of the wind medium as a serious artistic pursuit. Dr. Fennell later joined the Minneapolis Symphony as associate music director, and then moved to the University of Miami as conductor in residence. He was principal guest conductor of the Interlochen Arts Academy, and other guest conducting appearances include the Boston Pops Orchestra as well as performances with the Carnegie Hall Pops Concerts and the Boston Esplanade concerts. He also conducted the Denver, San Diego, National, Hartford, St. Louis and London Symphonies; the Buffalo, Calgary and Greater Miami Philharmonic Orchestras, the Cleveland Orchestra and the New Orleans Philharmonic. In 1984, at the invitation of its players he became the initial principal conductor of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra of Japan and later, conductor laureate.
Dr. Fennell was also part of pioneering recordings with the Cleveland Symphonic Winds and Dallas Wind Symphony. A legion of additional honors include an honorary doctorate from the University of Rochester; the Honor Medal of Interlochen, the Midwest Clinic, and the John Philip Sousa Society; a concert hall built in his name in Kofu, Japan; and the 1994 Theodore Thomas Award of the Conductor's Guild. The 1993 Roger Rickson bio-discography, Fortissimo, (Ludwig Music, Inc., publisher) covers in a fat format the past 40 years of the Fennell story as well as Robert Simon's new book, Fennell: A Tribute to Frederick Fennell, which includes the following quote:
For over seven decades, Frederick Fennell has been America's Ambassador of music around the world. I have loved his editions and recordings since I first played them in high school. It was an honor to have him conduct the Marine Band as President and I congratulate him on this richly deserved lifetime achievement tribute and award.
– The Hon. William J. Clinton
42nd President of the United States