Benjamin Lorenzo is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Kent State University’s Glauser School of Music. He conducts the Wind Ensemble and Youth Winds, teaches conducting courses, and oversees a band program that includes over 400 musicians across six ensembles.

An advocate for wind bands throughout Latin America, Lorenzo has collaborated with students and teachers in Mexico, Panama, Peru, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. His international engagements include serving as a clinician for the Malaysian Band Directors Association Conducting Workshop in Kuala Lumpur and guest conducting the World Youth Wind Orchestra Project in Schladming, Austria, where he also worked as a section coach. In the United States, he is active as a conductor, adjudicator, and clinician, with notable appearances conducting the United States Military Academy Band and the W. D. Packard Concert Band.

As an orchestrator and arranger, Lorenzo brings orchestral repertoire to new audiences through wind band adaptations. His transcription of The Red Violin Chaconne, published by Boosey & Hawkes, received praise from John Corigliano and has been performed by university and professional ensembles. He has also arranged works for marching bands, wind ensembles, and the Dallas Winds. His research and writing have appeared in the Journal of Band Research, the WASBE Journal, and several volumes of the Teaching Music through Performance in Band series. He has presented at The Midwest Clinic, the College Band Directors National Association national conference, the Texas Bandmasters Association convention, and music education conferences throughout the United States.

Lorenzo is committed to expanding access and representation in music education. He coordinated the Mike Moss Conducting Study Grant program through the College Band Directors National Association, supporting conductors from historically underrepresented populations in the profession. He also served on the advisory board of the Music Education Alliance in support of the William P. Foster Project, a national initiative led by CBDNA, Music for All, and the National Band Association to support bands in historically underserved communities. He currently serves as President-Elect of the North Central Division of CBDNA and President of the Mid-American Conference Band Directors Association. His professional affiliations include Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity, Tau Beta Sigma, and Kappa Kappa Psi.

Before joining Kent State, Lorenzo taught at the University of Arkansas, Oklahoma State University, and Texas Tech University, following earlier work as a public school band director in Florida and Texas. He earned graduate degrees in wind conducting from The University of Texas at Austin, where he studied with Jerry Junkin, and completed undergraduate studies in trombone performance at Florida International University with Mark Hetzler.

A native of Havana, Lorenzo began his musical and teaching career in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools system.

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