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John Boyd, one of the most dynamic wind conductors in the United States today, is equally at home with educational and professional organizations. He has guest conducted The U.S. Army Band twice, United States Army Field Band, and conducted/lectured three times at the Royal Northern College of Music at Manchester in the United Kingdom and at the 9th, 10th and 13th WASBE International Conferences. Boyd has also conducted at state and regional College Band Directors National Association and National Association for Music Education performances, and the Western Collegiate Wind Festival in Fresno, California, in addition to receiving invitations to appear at four National Music Educators Conferences. Additional conducting and judging has been done in Tajimi, Japan, and with the China Youth Corps Band in Taipei, Taiwan. He has recorded two critically acclaimed albums with the Kent State University Wind Ensemble that were released on ELF as John Boyd Conducts American. In 1995, he released, to rave reviews, the compact disc Capriccio with the Indiana State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Faculty Winds. Four additional compact discs were released: Tapestries, Wind Songs, Symphonies and Such, and Collage featuring the Indiana State University Faculty Winds; and Russian Rhapsodies, Basically British, Masterworks for Wind Band, and Fantastic Dances with the Philharmonia à Vent.
As an active arranger and composer of all forms of wind band music, Boyd has published works in the catalogs of C. Allen, Ludwig, G. Schirmer, Cole, Associated Music, and Warner Brothers. Recent reviews of compact disc releases in the American Record Guide and Fanfare include such descriptions of Boyd’s conducting, as “phrases are well articulated and finely etched”; the performance has a “keen sense of ensemble as well as fine intonation. Sound is rich and clean, with the expected bite in the brass”; and “the conducting is all authoritative, vigorous, and evokes playing that is spirited and expressive.” He released his first compact disk Ghosts with the Philharmonia à Vent on Klavier Recordings in the spring of 2005, released Laude, the music of Howard Hanson in 2006, and released Reflections in October 2007.
In May of 2008 he conducted the wind orchestra at the Central Conservatory of Beijing, and was a judge at Guangzhou for the China Trumpet Guild. He has also been a clinician at the Guangzhou Conservatory where he worked with the Wind Orchestra in April 2007.
Dr. Boyd is Director of Bands, professor of music, and Coordinator of the Wind/Percussion Division at Indiana State University where he conducts the ISU Wind Orchestra and also conducts the professional wind orchestra Philharmonia à Vent. During the 2006/2007 academic year, he was visiting professor and the first conductor of the Conservatory Winds at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, National University of Singapore. He also conducted, to rave reviews, the Philharmonic Winds of Singapore at the Esplandé Concert Hall. He received the Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music degrees from Northwestern University and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Advanced study in conducting was done with John Paynter, Bernard Ruberstein, and Crawford Gates. Prior to joining the Indiana State University faculty in 1989, Dr. Boyd taught at Northern Illinois University, Wichita State University, Kent State University, and the University of Arizona.
Dr. Boyd is a member of the American Bandmasters Association, Indiana Bandmasters Association, MENC/IMEA, College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, WASBE, Phi Kappa Lambda, Phi Beta Mu. He previously served on the board of directors for the Conductors Guild and was Vice President (President Elect) of the Indiana Bandmasters Association.
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