Music Department
University of Wisconsin Whitewater
welcome admission academics faculty facilities ensembles Student Information events contact usDr. Robert Grechesky - 2011 Guest Conductor
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 Indiana Bandmasters Association (IBA), the Indiana College Band Directions Association (founder), the Vaughan Williams Society, the Percy Grainger Society, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Beta Mu, and 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 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, Canada, Newfoundland, England, Jamaica, Panama, and Shanghai, China. He has conducted the Butler Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble on three 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 Soireés Musicale de Bissen, an international music festival held in Bissen, Luxembourg.
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 International 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, Andrea Gullickson, Andrew Russo, Zachary 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, 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 Opening Ceremonies of the World Police and Fire Games, Indianapolis Civic Theater, 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 commissioning Waiting for Gounod by Frank Felice. He has performed with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Harvey Phillips TubaCompany and TubaSantas, the Kokomo Park Band, the Indiana Wind Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphonic Band, and the Philharmonia à Vent, with whom he has recorded three compact disks on the Klavier label.
He has been responsible for the commissioning and premieres of over two dozen works for band and wind ensemble. He has authored two books, 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, and is a contributing author to the series of textbooks, Teaching Music Through Performance in Band.