About the Director
Kevin J. Stees, Director
Kevin Stees, now in his 39th year as Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at James Madison University, leads an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, conductor and music educator. He has studied with tuba artists Daniel Perantoni (Indiana University), Charles Daellenbach (Canadian Brass) and Jack Tilbury (U.S. Army Brass Quintet, ret.) and holds music degrees from the University of Illinois and Arizona State University.
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Stees has presented solo and chamber music performances at numerous universities, conferences, music festivals and workshops, including the U.S. Army Band Tuba-Euphonium Conference, Southeast Regional
Tuba-Euphonium Conference, International Tuba-Euphonium Conference and the Keystone Brass Institute. He has performed with a number of orchestras including the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Canadian Chamber Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic, and was a member of the Southwest Brass Quintet and the Skyline Brass. Stees currently performs with the Madison Brass (quintet-in-residence at James Madison University), Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Orchestra, Staunton Music Festival Orchestra and the Waynesboro Symphony Orchestra. In addition to performances on tuba, he is very active as the conductor of the internationally recognized James Madison University Brass Band, having led the ensemble in performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and the Brucknerhaus Concert Hall in Linz, Austria, as well as music venues in England, Wales, Austria, and The Netherlands. Stees is also the conductor of the award winning Massanutten Brass Band. Additionally, he has served on the Board of Directors of the North American Brass Band Association and is a member of the International Tuba Euphonium Association.