Dr. Damon Talley

Damon S. Talley serves as Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at Louisiana State University School of Music, where he oversees all aspects of the University Band Department, conducts the Wind Ensemble and teaches graduate conducting. Prior to his appointment at LSU, he held the position of Director of Bands at Shenandoah Conservatory, where he was responsible for guiding the wind band program, conducting the EDGE New Music Ensemble, and teaching graduate conducting. While at Shenandoah, he established the Mid-Atlantic Invitational for high school students as well as the summer Conducting Symposium.

Talley was previously on the faculties at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan. While in Michigan, he also served as Music Director and Conductor of the Dodworth Brass Band, a professional brass ensemble based in Ann Arbor, MI. Their recording, released on Best Classical Records, received favorable reviews from publications including Gramophone magazine and the American Record Guide. He has also served as producer or associate producer on several commercial recordings by the Naxos, Klavier, Equilibrium, and Longhorn record labels, and is published in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series, distributed by GIA Publications.

As an avid supporter of new music for the wind medium, Talley has conducted numerous world premier performances and commissioned composers to write for the wind band. He has won praise for his work by composers such as William Bolcom, Kevin Puts, Donald Grantham, John Mackey, Carter Pann, and Dan Welcher. While at Shenandoah Conservatory, along with faculty colleague David T. Little, he hosted a visiting composer series that brought composers of national and international status to the campus. He is a strong advocate for young composers, and regularly premiers works by student composers.

Prior to teaching at the university level, Talley taught in the public schools in Texas at both the middle school and high school levels. He is a strong supporter and advocate of music in the public schools, and has served as guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator for festivals throughout the United States and abroad. He earned the Master of Music degree in Wind Conducting from the University of Michigan and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting from The University of Texas. His principal conducting teachers are Jerry Junkin, Michael Haithcock, and H. Robert Reynolds. Talley is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, and holds professional memberships in the College Band Directors National Association, the Texas Music Educators Association, the Virginia Music Educators Association, and the Louisiana Music Educators Association.