University of North Texas
Chair, Conducting & Ensembles
Professor of Wind Studies
Conductor, Wind Orchestra
Biographical Statement
Andrew Trachsel serves as Professor of Wind Studies and Chair of the Division of Conducting and Ensembles at the University of North Texas College of Music. He is the conductor of the Wind Orchestra and teaches courses in graduate and undergraduate conducting as well as the history and repertoire of the wind band. An advocate for new music, Trachsel has premiered, commissioned, or co-commissioned more than ninety new works over the past two decades. He is interested in developing innovative programming through interdisciplinarity, culminating in the establishment of the Ampersand festival to explore new opportunities for authentic collaboration between the contemporary wind band and creatives across a wide artistic spectrum.
Prior to this appointment, Trachsel served as Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Conducting at Ohio University for eleven years. He was the conductor of the Wind Symphony, music director for the “Under the Elms” Summer Concert Series, Division Chair of Conducting and Ensembles, and Assistant Director for Recruitment for the School of Music. Under his artistic direction, the Ohio University Wind Symphony performed at numerous music conferences and venues, including the College Band Directors National Association, Ireland and Rome, and New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall. The Ohio University Wind Symphony released three commercial albums on the Mark Masters label, with multiple appearances on national syndicated radio and the Grammy Entry List.
In 2019 Trachsel was named series editor of GIA Publications’ landmark Teaching Music through Performance in Band series after serving for fifteen years as the coordinator of research associates and as a contributor to eleven volumes. Trachsel is active internationally as a guest conductor, clinician, advocate, and recording producer, and holds professional or honorary memberships in a variety of music organizations at the state, national, and international levels, including the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), and the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA). Notable service to CBDNA includes a joint presentation on a new version of Beethoven’s Op. 103 at the Southwestern Division Conference at UMKC (2023), membership on the Committee for Advancement of Wind Music in our Culture (2014–2015), performances of the Ohio University Wind Symphony at the North Central Division Conference at Central Michigan (2012) and the UNT Wind Orchestra at the Southwestern Division Conference at Baylor (2022), and as guest conductor of the UNT Wind Symphony at the upcoming National Conference at TCU (2025).
A native of Iowa, Trachsel received a bachelor of music education degree from Drake University, a master of music and doctor of musical arts, both in conducting, from the University of North Texas, where he studied with Eugene Migliaro Corporon and Dennis Fisher. Prior to his appointment at Ohio University, Trachsel taught in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia as an assistant director of bands and postdoctoral fellow, and for four years served as a public high school band director in central Iowa.
CBDNA Southwestern Division Vision Statement
The College Band Directors National Association continues to grow and evolve to meet the challenges and opportunities of the present day, while charting the course for the future of the profession and medium. Since its founding CBDNA has sought higher standards for performance, pedagogy, repertoire, and artistry in the concert hall and the athletic arena, and as a result the members have raised the bar for their students, their ensembles, and themselves. The myriad achievements of the past eighty years are evidence that the organization has indeed accomplished so much; rather than being content just celebrating its past, CBDNA honors its legacy by striving to be forward-looking and evermore forward-leaning. In just the past half decade there has been tremendous progress toward promoting the principles, purpose, and now the vision of CBDNA to necessarily and wonderfully consider a wider array of people—composers, conductors, students, audiences—and to provide access to a greater community of institutions.
The members of the Southwestern Division of CBDNA proactively embody the national model. An astounding collection of master conductor-teachers, you represent the very best attributes of the polymath artist-leader-educator and continue to push the boundaries between what is, what can, and what should be possible in our profession. Just as there is a need to expand access to our medium by a wider diversity of creatives, there also exist opportunities to bridge and strengthen the relationship with our music education colleagues in the academy and in primary and secondary schools. We are uniquely poised to imagine ways we can increase our ability to be impactful advocates for the present and future educators of our seven member states, as well as throughout
the nation.
As someone who finds themselves at that point in their career where they have as many years to look back upon as they do to look forward, I realize how much I have benefitted from the work of the members and institution of CBDNA. Each step of my own journey—from high school and undergraduate student, to secondary teacher, to graduate student, to university teacher—has been indelibly impacted by the vision, inspiration, and leadership of the membership of CBDNA: I seek to gratefully give back by humbly giving forward.