ӰƵ Wind Band Conducting Workshop
Conductors of all levels are invited and encouraged to participate in this transformative workshop November 20-21, 2026!
Conductors of all levels are invited and encouraged to participate in this transformative workshop November 20-21, 2026!
Dr. Damon Talley serves as Director of Bands and Paula G. Manship Professor of Conducting at the Louisiana ӰƵ University School of Music, where he oversees all aspects of the LSU Department of Bands, conducts the Wind Ensemble and teaches graduate conducting. The nationally recognized Band Department at LSU serves as an integral component of the thriving School of Music. Under his leadership, the Department has established an annual conducting symposium, high school and middle school camps that serve hundreds of students annually and numerous outreach events for public school educators. The Golden Band from Tigerland marching band has been featured at national conferences on multiple occasions, and most recently, the LSU Wind Ensemble performed at the College Band Directors National Association national convention. Dr. Talley is a strong supporter and advocate of music in the public schools. He regularly serves as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator throughout the United ӰƵs and abroad, including engagements in Germany, Switzerland, England and Spain, among others.
The LSU Wind Ensemble has released multiple recordings on the Equilibrium Label and continues to commission and record new compositions regularly. Dr. Talley has recorded on Best Classical Records and received favorable reviews from publications including Gramophone magazine and the American Record Guide. He has served as producer or associate producer on commercial recordings by the Naxos, Klavier and Equilibrium record labels, and is published in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series, distributed by GIA Publications.
As an avid supporter of new music for the wind medium, Dr. Talley has conducted numerous world premier performances and has commissioned composers to write for the wind band. He has won praise for his work by composers such as William Bolcom, Steven Mackey, Kevin Puts, Joseph Schwantner, David Maslanka, Donald Grantham and Michael Daugherty, among others. He regularly hosts visiting composers of national and international status on the campus of LSU, and is a strong advocate for young composers, often premiering pieces by student composers.
Dr. Talley is currently the National Chair for the New Works Committee of CBDNA as well as the Chair for the Commissioning Committee for the SEC Band Directors Association.
Prior to his appointment at LSU, Dr. Talley held the position of Director of Bands at Shenandoah Conservatory, where he was responsible for guiding the wind band program, conducting the EDGE New Music Ensemble, and teaching graduate conducting. He has also taught on the faculties at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan. Prior to teaching at the university level, Dr. Talley taught in the public schools in Texas at both the middle school and high school levels. He earned the Master of Music degree in Wind Conducting from the University of Michigan, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting from The University of Texas. His principal conducting teachers are Jerry Junkin, Michael Haithcock and H. Robert Reynolds. Dr. Talley is an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association, Phi Beta Mu, an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma and holds professional memberships in the College Band Directors National Association, the Louisiana Music Educators Association and the Texas Music Educators Association. He is also an Educational Consultant and Clinician for the Conn-Selmer Corporation.
Dr. Benjamin Lorenzo is an associate professor of music and the Director of Bands at ӰƵ's Glauser School of Music where he conducts the Wind Ensemble, teaches conducting and provides leadership for university bands. Previously, he served as Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Arkansas where he led the Razorback Marching Band and Wind Symphony. Before this appointment, Lorenzo held positions at Oklahoma ӰƵ and Texas Tech University. His teaching experience also includes high schools in Florida and Texas.
Passionate about wind bands in Latin America, Dr. Lorenzo has worked with musicians in Mexico, Panama, Peru, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. He has also conducted bands in Kuala Lumpur and was a clinician for the Malaysian Band Directors Association Conducting Workshop. Additional experience abroad includes guest conducting the World Youth Wind Orchestra Project (WYWOP) in Schladming, Austria. Lorenzo remains active as an adjudicator, conductor and clinician throughout the United ӰƵs and has conducted professional ensembles such as the West Point Academy Band.
As an orchestrator, Lorenzo’s transcription of John Corigliano’s The Red Violin Chaconne, published by Boosey & Hawkes, received the composer’s praise and numerous performances from university and professional ensembles to date. In addition, he has arranged works for marching bands, wind ensembles and the Dallas Winds. His writings on music are found in the Journal of Band Research, the WASBE Journal and he has contributed to several volumes of the Teaching Music through Performance in Band series. He has presented sessions at the Texas Bandmasters Association, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, College Band Directors National Association conferences and several state music education conventions.
Committed to amplifying diverse voices, Lorenzo serves on the advisory board of the Music Education Alliance, which sponsors the William P. Foster project, an initiative of CBDNA, Music For All and the National Band Association, focused on supporting bands in historically underserved and under-resourced communities. Additionally, he chairs the Diversity Committee for CBDNA and is a member of Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity, Tau Beta Sigma National Honorary Band Service Sorority and Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity.
Lorenzo holds the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in Wind Conducting from The University of Texas at Austin under the tutelage of Jerry Junkin. He received a Bachelor of Music degree in Trombone Performance from Florida International University, studying with Mark Hetzler. A native of Havana, Cuba, he is a proud alumnus of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, where he began his teaching career.
Dr. Darin Olson is the director of athletic bands at ӰƵ. A native of South Dakota, he received a Bachelor of Music Education from South Dakota ӰƵ University, a Master of Music from the University of Missouri, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Ohio ӰƵ University.
From 2013-2020, Olson served as assistant director of bands at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW). In this role, he designed drill and wrote musical arrangements for the UW Marching Band, directed athletic bands at events for basketball, hockey and volleyball, conducted a concert band and taught courses on conducting and marching band techniques within the Mead Witter School of Music. Prior to his appointment at UW, he served as assistant director of bands at Rider High School in Wichita Falls, Texas, which was highlighted by an appearance in the New Year’s Day Parade in London, England.
Olson is active as a conductor, clinician and adjudicator in both the marching and concert mediums. He is an active member of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). His achievements in academic settings have been recognized by induction into both the Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Societies.
Dr. Sarah Labovitz is currently serving as the Special Assistant to the Director of the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at ӰƵ. Previously, Dr. Labovitz was the Chairmen, Associate Director of Bands and Coordinator of Music Education at Arkansas ӰƵ University. She directed the Symphonic Winds, taught undergraduate and graduate music education and conducting and supervised student interns. Prior to her appointment at A-ӰƵ, Dr. Labovitz served as the Assistant Director of Bands/Director of Athletic Bands at Washburn University. She earned a B.M.E. from Bowling Green ӰƵ University, an M.M.E. from Indiana University and a D.M.A. in Wind Conducting from the University of Kansas where she studied with Dr. Paul Popiel.
Dr. Labovitz is an active guest conductor having had the pleasure of working with numerous ensembles throughout the United ӰƵs and abroad. While in Arkansas in addition to her work with the A-ӰƵ Symphonic Winds, guest conducting the A-ӰƵ Wind Ensemble and visiting band rooms across the Mid-South, she served as the music director for the Diamond Brass Band. In addition to guest conducting, Dr. Labovitz is a sought-after clinician who has given multiple presentations at the National Association for Music Education’s National In-Service Conference, the College Band Director National Association’s (CBDNA) National and Regional Conferences and numerous state music educator conventions. She has had the honor of presenting at the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference three times since 2013.
Building bridges between instrumental music education at the collegiate and secondary level is a lifelong pursuit of Dr. Labovitz. She was a contributing author to the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series and has served as a Music Education Consultant for the NAMM sponsored Music Achievement Council and a member of the National Band Association’s Merrill Jones Memorial Young Band Composition Contest Committee. Past service to the profession includes time as an Arkansas Bandmasters Association Board Member, the Collegiate Chair for the Arkansas Music Educators Association and President of the Arkansas Chapter of CBDNA. She was recognized for her service to the profession, community and her university as the 2021 recipient of A-ӰƵ’s Faculty Achievement Professional Service Award and is currently the chair of the CBDNA Music Education Committee.
Dr. Labovitz has served as a production assistant on the NAXOS recordings “Landscapes” and “In the Shadow of No Towers,” “Michael Torke’s album Concerto for Orchestra” and the Klavier recording “Of Shadow and Light.” She is in demand as a marching band adjudicator and drill writer and she served as Arkansas ӰƵ’s Director of Athletic Bands for five years, leading the Howlers Pep Bands and the Sound of the Natural ӰƵ Marching Band. She has stayed active on her primary instrument, the clarinet, by performing as principal clarinetist with the Jonesboro Community Wind Ensemble and subbing with the Delta Symphony Orchestra, a regional symphony based out of Jonesboro, AR.
Her public-school experience includes serving as Director of Bands at Athens High School in Athens, OH and Director of Instrumental Music at Admiral King High School in Lorain, OH. Having grown up in Akron, she is excited to be back home in Northeast Ohio with her husband Dr. Charles Page, who currently serves as the High School Band Director for Alliance City School Distirct, and her two rescue pups, Rosie and Koko.
