Presenter(s)

Bio(s)

Michael Mapp

Dr. Mapp is an Associate Professor of music and Director of Bands at New Mexico State University. He comes to NMSU from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas where he also served as Director of Bands. In addition, he has served as the conductor for the Kansas City Civc Orchestra and as Guest Conductor for the Medical Arts Symphony of Kansas City.

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Darrell Brown

Darrell Brown is the Director of Bands at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where he also teaches courses in conducting and music education. Dr. Brown is a member of the National Band Association(NBA), International Society for Research and Promotion of Wind Music(IGEB), Windjammers Unlimited(The Circus Music Historical Society), NAfME, CBDNA, and is an executive board member for the international wind band organization the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles(WASBE).

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Catherine Likhuta

Catherine Likhuta is a Ukrainian-Australian composer, pianist and recording artist. She holds a bachelor's degree in jazz piano from Kyiv Glière Music College, a five-year post-graduate degree in composition from the National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv Conservatory) and a PhD in composition from the University of Queensland. She is a two-time winner of the International Horn Society Composition Contest (virtuoso division) and a recipient of several awards, including two grants from the Australia Council for the Arts.

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Tom Davoren

Tom Davoren (b.1986) is a conductor and composer with a growing international reputation.

He began his conducting career with the BTM Band from South Wales and has since held positions with Britain's famous Desford Colliery and Fairey Bands, as well as Bristol’s Filton Concert Brass, with whom he won a National Brass Band Championship in 2014. He directed Maidstone Wind Symphony to British National Concert Band Championship honours in 2015, served as conductor to the National Youth Brass Band of Wales in 2016, and has appeared as a guest conductor in Austria, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. He taught the conducting course and directed bands at the University of Salford from 2015 - 2019.
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Tom's music for band has been premiered, recorded, and commissioned by artists including ‘The President’s Own’ United States Marine Band, Central Band of the Royal Air Force, Brass Band of Battle Creek, Cory Band, Jens Lindemann, Steven Mead, Hiram Diaz, and Glenn Van Looy. Memorable performances include New York's Carnegie Hall, the Midwest Clinic, the College Band Directors National Association National Conference, Royal Northern College of Music Festival of Brass, World Music Contest (Kerkrade, The Netherlands), Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival (South Korea), International Tuba Euphonium Association Conferences, International Trumpet Guild Conferences, and the solo and band sections of the National Championships of New Zealand, Australia, and Great Britain. In 2015 / 16 he was Associate Composer to the Belgian ensemble Brassband Buizingen and became Composer in Residence with the Band of the Welsh Guards, of the Household Division of the Royal Corps of Army Music, in 2019.

​Away from traditional band repertoire Tom composed a fanfare for the Royal opening  of the fifth National Assembly for Wales in 2016 whilst his work 'Legacy', commissioned by Tredegar Town Band and the Aneurin Bevan Society, celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the British National Health Service through a performance at Westminster Palace, the House of the British Parliament. His first work for orchestra, 'Tourbillon', was premiered by Denmark's Aalborg Symfoniorkester in 2017.

Tom studied tuba with Nigel Seaman at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in composition from Cardiff University School of Music, where in 2009/10 he was awarded a research scholarship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Welsh Livery Guild Composition Award. He was a BASCA British Composer Award nominee in 2011, a prizewinner at the EBBA European Composers Competition 2012, recipient of the Harvey Phillips Award for excellence in composition, presented by the International Tuba Euphonium Association, in 2014, and winner of the American National Band Association 'Merrill Jones' Composition Contest in 2020 for his work, 'A Midwestern Suite'.

In 2022 Tom completed a Doctoral degree in Wind Conducting, working at the University of Kansas, USA, with Dr. Paul Popiel. In 2021 he was appointed Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at Benedictine College, a private liberal arts college in central Kansas. He currently lives in Lawrence Kansas, where he also directs the Free State Brass Band.

Tom currently serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Benedictine College, Kansas, and Professional Conductor to Tokyo City Concert Brass.

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Melissa Sawyer

Melissa Sawyer is a native of Edmond, Oklahoma and has taught middle school, high school, and collegiate band programs in Oklahoma, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, and Kansas. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from the University of Oklahoma and a Master of Arts in Wind Conducting from New Mexico State University. Sawyer served as the Inerim Assistant Director of Bands at New Mexico State University where she was Assistant Director of esteemed Pride of New Mexico Marching Band and Symphonic Band. Completing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting at the University of Kansas, she currently serves as Director of Athletic Bands/Assistant Professor of Music at Benedictine College where she directs all athletic bands, conducts the Symphonic Band, and serves as Music Education Coordinator for the Music Department.