Candidate Andrew Hunter

The University of Texas at El Paso
Director of Bands

Biographical Statement

Andrew Hunter serves as the Director of Bands at The University of Texas at El Paso, America’s leading Hispanic-serving institution and the nation’s only R1 open access institution. In his duties at UTEP, Dr. Hunter serves as Conductor of the UTEP Wind Symphony, teaches courses in graduate conducting, and provides oversight to the band area, which consists of three concert bands, two jazz bands, and a full complement of athletic bands. He is passionate about community engagement, regularly providing professional development and performance clinics to bands and their directors throughout the borderland and the state of Texas. Following this commitment, he also serves as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the El Paso Winds, an auditioned community music ensemble whose membership is largely comprised of working music educators. He previously served at UTEP as the Director of Athletic Bands from 2018-2022, where he led the Marching Miners to invited performances at the 2019 and 2021 UIL State Marching Band Championships, designed and wrote a new pregame show for the band, and innovated the programming and engagement of the athletic bands at the university and in the community. 

Prior to his appointment at UTEP, he served on the faculties of the University of Southern Mississippi, where he received the Thomas V. Fraschillo Award for Outstanding Musicianship among faculty, Louisiana College, where he was named Professor of the Year in 2012, and public schools in Louisiana and Georgia. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi, where his doctoral dissertation focused on the wind band and chamber winds compositions of Pulitzer Prize-winning composers. He also holds the Master of Music degree from Northwestern State University, and the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Tennessee. 

Dr. Hunter’s research and creative activities are centered around professional presentations, conducting, and recording. He has presented at The Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic (2024), the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) National Convention (2023), Athletic Band Symposium (2022, 2025), and Southwestern Division Convention (2024), the Conn Selmer Institute (2025), and state conventions in Texas (2021, 2022, 2024, 2025), New Mexico (2022), and Louisiana (2018, 2022). Under his direction, the UTEP Wind Symphony performed at the 2025 Texas Music Educators Association Convention and will perform at the 2026 CBDNA Southwestern Division Convention in 2026. The ensemble has released two commercial albums on the Klavier Records label: Without Borders (2023) and Stages (2024), both of which feature exclusively works recorded commercially for the first time. The UTEP Wind Symphony has three albums upcoming: The Symphonies of Robert Jager to be released in Fall 2025, Cumbia Moderna – featuring exclusively Mexican and Mexican-diaspora composers – to be released in Spring 2026, and From the Beginning – which is part of a larger project created by Dr. Hunter to highlight artistry in performance of works written for young band – in Spring 2027. 

Dr. Hunter serves on the Board of Directors for the John Philip Sousa Foundation and the National Advisory Board for United Sound, and he holds professional memberships in the College Band Directors National Association, the Texas Music Educators Association, and the Texas Bandmasters Association, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, and he is an elected member of the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity. He lives in El Paso, Texas with his incredible wife, Victoria Price Hunter, and their four amazing children: Allie, Anna Grace, Mercy, and Stephen, as well as two all-too-spoiled dogs: Cash and Dolly.

Vision for the Future of CBDNA

 As directors of college and university ensembles, we are faced with challenges daily that would distract from our calling to be artist-leader-educators. CBDNA is, at its essence, a network of colleagues who can support one another through resources and relationships. I have a particular heart for our colleagues who are, by themselves, the entirety of their band faculty and staff. These colleagues – whose amazing work is often unsung outside of their communities, should feel welcomed into our organization with open arms. Having served at the beginning of my career at a small liberal arts institution, I know all too well the feeling of professional loneliness. The CBDNA members in my state and my region were a lifeline for me! It took time for me to gather the courage to take the step to ask for help. It has since been my mission to take that critical first step toward my colleagues at partner institutions. In doing so, I seek to support them and help them realize that our organization offers wonderful resources that are both practical (helping us succeed where we are) and aspirational (helping us to grow into who we hope to be). 

CBDNA has carried the banners of innovation, leadership in new music, and strategic initiatives in our field, and it is imperative that we continue to do so. We are also uniquely positioned to lead our communities to go beyond that which has always been and help us all to see what can be. Our universities can have incredible influence in guiding music education at the local level through instilling meaningful musical values in our pre-service teachers and actively serving our school music programs and their directors. My vision for CBDNA includes empowering our membership to deepen our impact locally, regionally, and nationally. 

As budgets across the country continue to be strained in present economic realities, CBDNA must work together to make our professional development opportunities affordable and useful. I have heard from colleagues that a multi-thousand-dollar expenditure (travel, lodging, meals, and registration) places a nearly impossible strain on their budget. I intend to work with my colleagues across the region to minimize expense for our division convention, and to ensure the opportunities for professional growth at the convention are applicable to all constituencies. The solution to this problem is not “this…or;” rather, we must be an organization that whose mantra is “this…AND!” 

Any leadership role must hold at its core the principle of sacrifice. It is not the responsibility of a leader to align the principles and practice of an organization to their own ideology; rather it is the call to lead the organization to better implement the core ideals agreed upon by its membership. For over two decades, I have dedicated myself to the growth and success of students in all facets of their lives through music. I care deeply, lead passionately, and serve humbly. I encourage you to reach out to the CBDNA members who have lent me their support in my candidacy and ask for their honest impressions of my work – and more importantly of my character. I humbly ask for your support as I seek to serve our Southwestern Division.