Illinois Brass Band has announced the appointment of Stephen Squires to the post of Music Director.

Following the resignation of Ryan Nelson as Music Director last May Stephen will begin conducting the band at a summer concert in late July.

10 year relationship

The Band has a ten year relationship with Steve as a clinician and guest conductor, and whilst his duties officially begin in September, he will be overseeing auditions at the end of July and a concert or two this summer as well.

Stephen Squires received his musical training at the Preparatory School of the Eastman School of Music and the Crane School of Music, in his home state of New York. He earned his Master's degree in Instrumental Conducting/Trumpet Performance at California State University, Northridge.

The Band has a ten year relationship with Steve as a clinician and guest conductor, and whilst his duties officially begin in September, he will be overseeing auditions at the end of July and a concert or two this summer as well4BR

Conducting

He continued conducting study in seminars with Helmuth Rilling, Maurice Abravanel, Daniel Lewis, Tsung Yeh, and the Aspen School

As a professional conductor, he has worked with Janos Starker, Pinchas Zukerman and Shmuel Ashkenasi and most of the principal players of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera Orchestra. Stephen is the Principal Conductor and Professor of Conducting in the Music Conservatory at Chicago College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University.

Chicago debut

He recently made his debut conducting the famed Chicago Symphony Orchestra and is the former Music Director of the Illinois Chamber Symphony. In addition, he is an accomplished recital accompanist and freelance trumpeter.