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The Concord Band, Music Director Emeritus
Dr. William McManus was Music Director of The Concord Band from 1995 to 2009.
A graduate of the Boston Conservatory, with advanced degrees from Boston
University, Dr. McManus was, until his retirement in 2008, Chairman of the
Music Education Department at Boston University.
He was appointed Associate Professor of Music Education at the College of
Fine Arts at Boston University in 2004.
The Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) awarded Dr. McManus
the Lowell Mason Award and the Distinguished Service Award, the MMEA’s
most prestigious award.
He was also given the Conductor of the Year Award by the Massachusetts
Instrumental Conductors Association.
He was awarded the Visionary Leadership Award by Administrators in Music
Education (AIME) and the Boston University College of Fine Arts Distinguished
Faculty Award.
Dr. McManus served as President of the MMEA from 1991 to 1993 and President
of the Eastern Division of MENC: The National Association for Music Education
from 1999 to 2001.
He has been Conductor of the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, the Framingham
Concert Band, the 250th Army Band in Waltham, and the United States Youth Wind
Ensemble, and has been a guest conductor throughout the eastern United States
and Europe.
Dr. McManus administered public school music programs in Belmont (MA),
Westborough (MA) and Leicester (MA).
While he was MMEA President, he was also the state representative to the
Coalition for Music Education, lobbying to include music in the core
curriculum of public schools.
In addition, he has taught music education classes at the New England
Conservatory and at Fitchburg State College.
He continues to write and arrange music for The Concord Band, which has
premiered a number of his works.
After a 2006 concert by The Concord Band, a reviewer wrote in
The Concord Journal,
“The Concord Band is fortunate to have a wonderful musician and educator,
Dr. William McManus, as their leader.
Clearly, he is a man who possesses the very finest professional qualities of
musical and personal integrity as well as his distinguished reputation as a
gifted educator, community leader, and music conductor.
The environment that Bill McManus has created is very special, one where
members want to play quality literature, and attempt to play it well.
That only happens when the person at the top demands those types of
standards.”
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