Wheaton Municipal Band

Performer Details

Performer Bio Synopsis

Founded in 1930 with only 19 musicians, the Wheaton Municipal Band, with the financial support of the City of Wheaton, Illinois, has grown into one of the finest organizations of its type in existence today. The dynamic leadership and vision of Music Director Bruce Moss, coupled with the tremendous support from the City of Wheaton, the Municipal Band Commission, the Board of Directors and the Friends of the Wheaton Municipal Band, has brought the band national and international recognition. The band has often been featured in newspapers and magazines, including the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Herald, and the Instrumentalist. The ensemble has also been highlighted in several television programs, including “Two on Two”, produced by WBBM-TV, and several cable vision programs. The band was featured with the U.S. Marine Band, The Blossom Festival Band, and the Allentown (Pa.) Band in a documentary on the life of John Philip Sousa. “If You Knew Sousa” was produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, for the PBS series, The American Experience,” and has been distributed internationally. In December 2012, the band performed at the prestigious Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. The high honor of being invited to perform at the Midwest Clinic followed a rigorous application and audition process. In addition, the band has performed at the Petrillo Music Shell in Chicago’s Grant Park and at the national convention of the American School Band Director’s Association. Prominent guests performing with the ensemble have included members of the Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Toledo, and Honolulu symphony orchestras as well as conductors and soloists from the Washington, D.C. military bands and major universities throughout the country. The Wheaton Municipal Band performs a series of Thursday night concerts for thousands each summer in Wheaton’s beautiful downtown Memorial Park. These band concerts have become treasured events for families in communities reaching throughout the Chicago suburbs.

Wheaton Municipal Band

Conductor's Bio

Bruce Moss is professor and Director of Bands at Bowling Green State University. Prior to his appointment at BGSU in 1994, he held similar positions at Eastern Illinois University and St. Cloud State University. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from University of Illinois and his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. His conducting teachers were Harry Begian, Craig Kirchhoff and John P. Paynter. At age 26, while on the faculty of York Community High School in Illinois, Moss was selected to conduct a concert with the Wheaton Municipal Band. This was the beginning of an unprecedented 33-year tenure with this ensemble. During his leadership, the Wheaton Band was selected to be featured with the United States Marine Band in the PBS-TV documentary, “If You Knew Sousa.” In 2012, the Wheaton Band received the high honor of selection to perform at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago. During Moss’ long tenure with the band, the ensemble also has performed at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, and for the American School Band Directors Association. In addition, the band has attracted many of the nation’s most distinguished guest conductors, soloists and composers. Dr. Moss’s teaching career began at York Community High School in Elmhurst, IL where for eleven years he led an exemplary program as director of bands and music department chair. His public school teaching career was honored by an appearance including his students with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During his high school teaching career, the York Band and Orchestra were the first two large instrumental ensembles from the same school music program to be independently chosen for an appearance at the MENC national conference. Dr. Moss was elected to membership in the American Bandmasters Association in 1993, and currently serves on its board of directors. He has also served on the boards of College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, and Kappa Kappa Psi, and holds honorary memberships in numerous professional organizations. He is a published author and new music reviewer for The Instrumentalist magazine, as well as for the series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band by GIA Publications. He serves as a clinician, conductor and adjudicator throughout the United States and abroad.