2007 International Conducting Symposium Winners Announced

Eric Melley is in his second year as a Graduate Assistant with the LSU Bands. He is pursuing a Master of Music in Wind Conducting degree, where he serves as a Graduate Associate Conductor with all of the concert groups, assists with the Tiger Marching Band and Bengal Brass Basketball Bands, assists with undergraduate conducting, and also performs in the LSU Wind Ensemble. Prior to coming to LSU, Mr. Melley served as Director of Bands at Belmont High School (Massachusetts). Mr. Melley attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he received a Bachelor of Music degree concentrating in Trumpet Performance and Education in the spring of 2000. While at UMass, Mr. Melley studied trumpet with Professor Walter Chesnut and conducting with Professor Malcolm Rowell and Dr. Benedict Smar. Mr. Melley has served as the Assistant Director of the Maudslay Arts Center Community Concert Band in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and as guest conductor for the Charles River Wind Ensemble in Boston. In the fall of 2000, he began teaching music at the Chenery Middle School in the Belmont Public School System, where he taught instrumental lessons and the 7th and 8th grade Concert Band. In 2002, he accepted a position as Director of Bands at Belmont High School where his ensembles performed for audiences in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Prague, Budapest, Vienna, and Salzburg and have consistently earned superior ratings at regional and national festivals. Active as a freelance trumpet player in Boston and throughout New England, Mr. Melley's performance credits include a performance for Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto, Canada and membership in the Massachusetts Wind Orchestra, under the direction of Malcolm Rowell. He is a 3-time Downbeat Award winner, and a 1995 Grammy All-American.


Matt Brunner, a graduate student at Indiana University, is a native of Dover, OH. He graduated cum laude in 1995 with his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Ohio University. From 1995-2002, he was a band director in the Carrollton School District in Carrollton, OH. His duties included conducting the Symphonic Wind Band, Concert Band, Marching Band, Junior High Bands and assisting with elementary bands. While there, he raised the performance expectations of the bands, helping them to their first superior ratings in years. His musical versatility was frequently showcased as he could be heard on trumpet in several area concert bands, orchestras, funk and jazz bands. From 2002-2005, Mr. Brunner returned to Ohio University and completed his Master of Music in Instrumental Conducting with minor area studies in trumpet. While there, he conducted the Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, University Band, Marching 110, Varsity Band and also taught classes in music theory, orchestration, and conducting. Mr. Brunner also became one of the staff arrangers for the Ohio University Marching 110. He is credited with nearly a hundred marching band arrangements for several university and high school marching bands around the country. Mr. Brunner continues to serve as an adjudicator for the Ohio Music Education Association. His professional affiliations have included Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Kappa Kappa Psi, CBDNA, NBA, MENC, OMEA, and the International Trumpet Guild. In his spare time, Mr. Brunner enjoys running, weight lifting and is an avid volleyball player. He and his wife Janice reside in Bloomington with their two sons, Kyler and Kaden