Role(s):
Specialties:
Affiliations:
Stephen Peterson was appointed director of bands at the University of Illinois in the fall of 2015. He conducts the Illinois Wind Symphony, leads the graduate wind conducting program, teaches courses in wind literature, and guides all aspects of one of the nation’s oldest, largest, and most storied band programs. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Illinois, he served as director of bands at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York for seventeen years. From 1988–1998, he served as associate director of bands at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Dr. Peterson was also conductor of the renowned Northshore Concert Band. He held positions as associate and interim director of bands at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas and has several years of successful teaching experience in the public schools in Arizona. Peterson maintains a busy schedule as a conductor and clinician, and, as such, has appeared on four continents and in forty-five states. He is past president of the College Band Directors National Association. Peterson’s ensembles have appeared before national conventions of the American Bandmasters Association (twice), the College Band Directors National Association (twice), the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, the American School Band Directors Association, at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall and Lincoln Center in New York City.