Biography
The University of Florida Wind Symphony is the premiere performing ensemble of the University of Florida Band Program, which includes four concert bands, three athletic bands (including the famed Pride of Sunshine Fightin' Gator Marching Band), and several jazz bands. Consisting of 50 to 60 graduate and undergraduate music majors, the Wind Symphony has performed invited concerts at numerous conferences, including those of the American Bandmasters Association, WASBE, College Band Directors National Association, Music Educators National Conference, and the Florida Music Educators Conference. In March 2005, the Wind Symphony will be a featured performer at the American Bandmasters Association Conference, which will be hosted by the University of Florida. The ensemble is active in commissioning and performing new works and has won the acclaim of composers world wide. It also records regularly. Seven CDs have been released since 1996. One of these, Mountain Music (2002), was in the top 100 finalist for a Grammy nomination, the foremost American award for excellence in the recording industry.
The Wind Symphony performs four full concerts on campus each year, but also presents repertoire concerts for graduate conducting students and appears regularly at high-level university functions. Its repertoire includes traditional and new works for full ensemble as well as numerous works for chamber winds. Unlike many similar ensembles, the University of Florida Wind Symphony maintains a practice of rotating principal parts through all players in each section, thus ensuring the best possible musical experience for every member of the group. At the WASBE Conference in Singapore, the Wind Symphony will perform the Asian premiere of John Corigliano's Symphony No. 3 for Winds, Brass and Percussion-Circus Maximus, a major new work for wind ensemble.
Dr. David Waybright is currently Director of Bands and Head of Conducting at the University of Florida. He conducts the Wind Symphony and directs all aspects of the band program and the graduate and undergraduate conducting curricula. Dr. Waybright studied at Marshall University and received the Doctor of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Prior to his appointment at Florida, he taught at Ferrum College, Plymouth State College, and McNeese State University. Much in demand as a guest conductor and clinician, he has appeared in both capacities in more than 30 of the United States, throughout Europe, and in Australia. He has held residencies at many leading music schools in the United States. His interpretative conducting has won the praise of many composers, including Dana Wilson, Michael Torke, Donald Grantham and Leslie Bassett. Dr Waybright is an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association and a lifetime member of WASBE.
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