Dr. Robert Grechesky, music education, conductor,
euphonium
Dr. Robert Grechesky is Director of Bands and Professor of Music
in the Jordan College of Fine Arts at Butler University. In
addition to his duties with the band, he teaches conducting, music
education courses, euphonium, and band history and literature. He
holds a B.A. degree from Rutgers University, and M.M. and Ph.D.
degrees in Music Education and Conducting from the University of
Wisconsin. He holds memberships and offices in the American
Bandmasters Association (ABA), the College Band Directors National
Association (CBDNA), the National Band Association (NBA), the Music
Educators National Conference (MENC), the International Society for
the Investigation and Promotion of Wind Music (IGEB), the World
Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), the Vaughan
Williams Society, the Percy Grainger Society, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi
Beta Mu, and many others.
He is an accomplished conductor, performer, and scholar. In
addition to his duties at Butler, he is Artistic Director and
Conductor of both the Indianapolis Symphonic Winds, a professional
wind ensemble, and the Indianapolis Brass Choir. He has an
international reputation as both a conductor and a scholar; he has
conducted All State bands and honor bands in several states, China,
Canada, Newfoundland, England, Jamaica, and Panama. He has
conducted the Butler Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble on four
European tours; the first in 2000, with concerts in Vienna, Prague,
and Budapest, culminating with a performance at the prestigious Mid
Europe Conference for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Schladming,
Austria. The second tour, in 2005, took the Symphonic Band and the
Butler Chamber Orchestra to St. Petersburg, Russia, where they
represented the United States in the first International Spring
Music Festival. The ensembles celebrated the 60th
anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Russia by giving
concerts to wildly enthusiastic audiences in three of the great
halls of St. Petersburg, including the Great Philharmonic Hall
(after Shostakovich). The third tour in March of 2008 visited
Prague, Vienna, central Austria, Amsterdam, and culminated, under
the patronage of the U. S. Embassy, in the first performance ever
by an American ensemble at the Soirees Musicale de Bissen, an
international music festival held in Bissen, Luxembourg. In March
of 2011, the Wind Ensemble toured Greece and Italy, culminating
with a performance at the Musicateneo 2011 International Music
Festival in Bologna, Italy.
He has conducted the Indianapolis Brass Choir on two European
tours, with concerts in Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, Slovakia,
Vienna, and Prague, Czech Republic, including a concert for the
Conference of the International Society for the Promotion and
Investigation of Wind Music in Lana, Italy. He has guest conducted
the United States Army Band "Pershing's Own" on three occasions,
the United States Army Field Band at Clowes Memorial Hall, and has
collaborated with internationally known artists, including Allen
Vizzutti, the American Brass Quintet, the Empire Brass Quintet, the
Childs brothers, Andrea Gullickson, Andrew Russo, Zach De Pue,
William Grubb, and many others. He has given many papers and
presentations at state, regional, national and international
conferences, including the CBDNA, WASBE, IMEA, the Music Library
Association, and the IGEB.
Dr. Grechesky is very active in the artistic community of
Indianapolis, having served as Music Director for the opening of
Union Station, the bands and herald trumpets of the Pan Am Games,
the Opening Ceremonies of the World Gymnastics Championships, two
NCAA Final Fours, the Olympic Swimming and Diving Trials, the
Opening Ceremonies of the World Police and Fire Games, and many
other Downtown events.
As a euphoniumist, he commissioned and premiered the Concerto
for Euphonium and Wind Ensemble by Eric Ewazen and Victimae
Paschali by Bradley Nelson, as well as Waiting for Gounod by Frank
Felice. He has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra,
the Harvey Phillips TubaCompany and TubaSantas, the Kokomo Park
Band, the Indiana Wind Symphony, and the Philharmonia à Vent, with
whom he has recorded four compact disks on the Klavier label.
He has authored two books, liner notes, and several magazine and
journal articles on wind band repertoire, and his research on band
music has led to editions of the wind music of Vaughan Williams,
Holst, and Gliere, His edition of the Gliere Overture Solenelle has
been recorded on the Chandos label by the Wind Orchestra of the
Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, England, and his
Vaughan Williams editions appear on the GIA label, recorded by the
University of North Texas Wind Symphony. He also serves on the
Editorial Board of the "Journal of the World Association of
Symphonic Bands and Ensembles," is an American reader for the Fritz
Thelen Prize, given biannually by the IGEB for the best
dissertation on the wind band, and is a contributing author to the
series of textbooks,Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. He
was named 2010 "Outstanding University Music Educator" by the
Indiana Music Educators Association and we selected as the
2010-2011 recipient of the James B. Calvert Lifetime Achievement
Award by the Indiana Wind Symphony.
Learn about Butler's annual All-Star Band Weekend for Indiana high
school students.
(317) 940-9641
rgreches@butler.edu