Summer Institutes - Instrumental

Steven D. Davis has inspired ensembles around the world and is celebrated as a conductor of wind ensembles, orchestras, opera, ballet, and new music ensembles. In addition to conducting symphonic repertoire of significant composers, Davis is fervently committed to initiating and performing new repertoire written by both emerging and acclaimed living composers, with intentional focus placed on collaborating with diverse artists. Praise stems from Chen Yi, John Corigliano, Michael Daugherty, Roshanne Etezady, Jennifer Higdon, Narong Prangcharoen, Ingrid Stölzel, and Zhou Long, amongst countless others. 

Davis currently serves as the Rose Ann Carr Millsap Missouri Distinguished Professor of Music and Professor of Conducting at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory. He leads the Symphony Orchestra of the Youth Symphony of Kansas City, and spends his summers conducting at the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, where he serves as director of the wind ensemble program. Recent and upcoming events include leading performances at Carnegie Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna. Davis also leads the annual Kansas City Conducting Symposium, which draws nationally acclaimed clinicians, speakers, and participants from around the country. He also serves as the artistic director and coordinator for the Interlochen Band Director Institute that will debut in the summer of 2023 during the Interlochen Arts Camp.

Dr. Rebecca Phillips is Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Colorado State University, where she conducts the CSU Wind Symphony and guides all aspects of the band and graduate wind conducting programs. Before this appointment, she served as the Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at the University of South Carolina, where she was responsible for directing the Symphonic Winds Concert Band, “The Mighty Sound of the Southeast” Carolina Marching Band, “Concocktion” Pep Bands, teaching undergraduate instrumental conducting, and directing the Carolina Summer Drum Major Clinic. 

Dr. Phillips has served as a guest-conductor, clinician, and performer throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Most recently, she was invited to conduct the Department of Defense All-Europe High School Honor Band (Frankfurt, Germany). Other guest invitations include conducting the wind band and symphony orchestra for the “2019 Prague Multicultural Music Project” and conducting members of the Prague National Symphony at the inaugural "2017 American Spring Festival" (Prague, Czech Republic) In 2018, she conducted members of the Des Moines Symphony in a chamber concert for the Iowa Bandmasters Association annual conference. Dr. Phillips regularly conducts collegiate honor bands, all-state bands, and festival bands across the United States, Canada, and Europe, and she has been a rehearsal clinician at the Midwest Clinic: An International Band and Orchestra Conference. Ensembles under her direction have been featured at the 2020 Colorado Music Educators Association Convention, the 2019 American Bandmasters Association National Convention, the 2012 College Band Directors’ National Association Southern Division Conference, the 2010 Society of Composers International Conference, and the 2008 North American Saxophone Alliance International Convention. 

Dr. Phillips believes in treasuring the traditional wind music of the past as well as promoting cutting-edge works of today’s finest composers. She has commissioned and conducted world and consortium premieres of works by several leading composers, including William Bolcom, James David, John Mackey, John Fitz Rogers, Adam Silverman, Frank Ticheli, and Dana Wilson, to name a few. Her conducting performances of David del Tredici’s In Wartime and John Mackey’s Redline Tango are both featured on the nationally distributed Louisiana State University Wind Ensemble compact disc project, and the world premiere of John Fitz Rogers Narragansett is featured on the Compact Disc, And I Await, featuring Dr. Phillips as guest conductor of the University of South Carolina Wind Ensemble. 

As a trombonist, Dr. Phillips’ performances can be found on several internationally distributed recordings. She has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, U.S. Army Band (Pershing’s Own), the Tallahassee Symphony, and the Tampa Bay Opera Orchestra. She has also performed internationally in England, Mexico, the Caribbean, Russia, and Sweden, and has toured as a trombonist with Johnny Mathis and Barry Manilow. A native of the Washington, D.C. area, Dr. Phillips earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from The Florida State University, Master of Music degrees in conducting and trombone performance from the University of South Florida, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in conducting at Louisiana State University. She served as a secondary school band director for seven years in Florida, including Director of Bands at Howard W. Blake Performing Arts High School in Tampa, Florida, where she developed an award-winning concert band program. Currently, she is the President of the National Band Association, chair of the Music Education Committee for the College Band Directors National Association, and co-chair of the American Bandmasters Association Commissioning Committee.