2025 George R. Boulden Honor Band Festival
George R. Boulden Honor Band Weekend features two fantastic bands and lots of opportunities to learn, grow, and share in a once-in-a-lifetime experience with giants of the wind band world and other band students.
Entrance into the Honors Concert Band is based on high school director recommendation and all names must be submitted by director and not by student.
Entrance into the Honors Wind Ensemble will be based on a personal application and audition recording submitted by each student musician.
Wind Ensemble
This elite ensemble of 50-60 musicians is open to all high school band members grades 9-12 and will be selected through application and recorded audition. The Honors Wind Ensemble conductor will be Frank Ticheli, world-renown composer and Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California.
- Learn More About Frank Ticheli
Frank Ticheli's music has been described as being "optimistic and thoughtful" (Los Angeles Times), "lean and muscular" (New York Times), "brilliantly effective" (Miami Herald) and "powerful, deeply felt crafted with impressive flair and an ear for striking instrumental colors" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel). Ticheli is Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, where he taught for 32 years (1991-2023). From 1991 to 1998, Ticheli was Composer in Residence of the Pacific Symphony and composed numerous works for that orchestra.
Frank Ticheli's orchestral works have received considerable recognition in the U.S. and Europe. Orchestral performances have come from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Dallas Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, the radio orchestras of Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Saarbruecken, and Austria, and the orchestras of Austin, Bridgeport, Charlotte, Colorado, Haddonfield, Harrisburg, Hong Kong, Jacksonville, Lansing, Long Island, Louisville, Lubbock, Memphis, Nashville, Omaha, Phoenix, Portland, Richmond, San Antonio, San Jose, Wichita Falls, and others.
Ticheli is well known for his works for concert band, many of which have become standards in the repertoire. In addition to composing, he has appeared as guest conductor of his music at Carnegie Hall, at many American universities and music festivals, and in cities throughout the world, including Schladming (Austria), Beijing and Shanghai, London and Manchester, Singapore, Rome, Sydney, and numerous cities in Korea and Japan.
Frank Ticheli is the recipient of a 2012 Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, his third award from that prestigious organization. He is a two-time winner of the William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition and a recipient of the 2023 Academy of Wind and Percussive Arts Award from the National Band Association. Other awards include the Walter Beeler Memorial Prize and First Prize awards in the Texas Sesquicentennial Orchestral Composition Competition, Britten-on-the-Bay Choral Composition Contest, and Virginia CBDNA Symposium for New Band Music.
In 2018, Ticheli received the University of Michigan Alumni Society’s highest honor, the Hall of Fame Award, in recognition for his career as a composer. He was also awarded national honorary membership to Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, "bestowed to individuals who have significantly contributed to the cause of music in America," and the A. Austin Harding Award by the American School Band Directors Association, "given to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the school band movement in America." At USC, he has received the Dean's Award for Professional Achievement, and the Virginia Ramo Award "in recognition of outstanding contribution to music and education, to the USC Thornton School of Music and University of Southern California, and to Humanity."
Frank Ticheli’s works are published by Manhattan Beach, Southern, Hinshaw, and Encore Music, and are recorded on the labels of Albany, Chandos, Clarion, Equilibrium, Klavier, Koch International, Mark, Naxos, Reference, and Decca Classics. For more information, please visit the composer’s website: www.FrankTicheli.com
Concert Band
This is our non-audition group for freshmen and sophomores by director recommendation only. Please limit your recommendations to 9th and 10th graders, and select juniors and seniors, up to 20% of your ensemble's size. Rank your student recommendations from top to bottom. Part assignments will be made to properly balance the ensemble. The Honors Concert Band conductor will be Amy M. Knopps, University of Missouri Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands.
- Learn More About Amy M. Knopps
Amy M. Knopps is the Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Missouri where she directs Marching Mizzou, Mini Mizzou, Symphonic Band, and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the School of Music. Under her direction Marching Mizzou has grown in size from 245 members in 2017 to a current capacity 350 members in 2022, which stands today. In 2022 Marching Mizzou performed in the 96th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, where they led the parade, and was in the Opening Number alongside Lea Michele and the Cast of Funny Girl. In 2024 traveled to Dublin, Ireland to perform in the St. Patrick's Festival Parade, where they earned the distinction of "Best Overall Band."
Prior to her appointment in the fall of 2017, Dr. Knopps served for seven years as Associate Professor of Music, Associate Director of Bands, and Director of Athletic Bands in the School of Music and Dance at Eastern Michigan University. While at Eastern Michigan she was a Faculty Spotlight Recipient, the Eastern Michigan University Thank-A-Teacher Inaugural Recipient, and featured in a historic exhibition titled, "In Her Shoes: Forging Paths at EMU" as she was the first woman to direct the Eastern Michigan University Marching Band and serve as Associate Director of Bands. In fact in 2010, her and her colleague, Dr. Mary Schneider, Director of Bands, became the first woman team of Director of Bands and Associate Director of Bands not only at EMU, but nationwide at the collegiate level.
Dr. Knopps earned degrees from The University of Georgia (DMA), the University of Kansas (MM), and the University of Missouri (BS, Ed.) where her principal conducting teachers were Dr. John P. Lynch and Dr. Dale J. Lonis. While at Georgia and Kansas she held conducting associate positions that involved conducting both concert and athletic bands as well as teaching courses in the music curriculum. During her time at The University of Georgia, Dr. Knopps earned the Hugh Hodgson School of Music Director’s Excellence Award and at the University of Kansas she earned the Russell L. Wiley Graduate Conducting Award.
Additional teaching experience includes numerous years as Director of Bands at Center High School and Center Middle School in her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri where she guided all aspects of the diverse and award-winning band program, as well as served as the Fine Arts Coordinator. While in the Center School District, Dr. Knopps received the 2003 Missouri Fine Arts Outstanding Teacher Award and the 2004 You Make the Difference Award for her dedication and commitment to excellence in education. As an advocate for new wind music, she solely commissioned and premiered Jonathan Newman’s 1861 for concert band in 2003 and continues her commitment to contributing to the wind band repertoire through additional and diverse commissions for Symphonic Band at the University of Missouri.
Dr. Knopps continues to be a very active conductor, clinician, and adjudicator across the United States and internationally having worked and performed throughout Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, and South America. For ten years she has served as a head clinician/instructor at the Smith-Walbridge Clinics held in Charleston, Illinois each summer working with high school and collegiate drum majors from across the country. Dr. Knopps is also known for her published contributions as she has authored several articles for School Band and Orchestra Magazine, and has contributed to eight volumes of the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. Dr. Knopps was also featured in Women in Wind Band, a 2023 book that thoughtfully looks at why female-identifying band directors are still a minority in the field. In addition to her published articles and podcasts, she has completed extensive research on American-Sponsored overseas secondary band programs.
Dr. Knopps maintains professional affiliations with the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), currently serving as Chair of the CBDNA Athletic Bands Committee, the first woman to ever serve in this position, and as Missouri State Chair, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), National Band Association (NBA), Missouri Women's Band Directors Association (MWBD), Phi Beta Mu, Tau Beta Sigma, Kappa Kappa Psi, currently serving as the sponsor for the Eta Upsilon chapter, the Griffiths Leadership Society for Women, currently serving on the Executive Committee as Past Chair, and QEBH, the oldest of six secret honor societies at the University of Missouri when she was Honor Tapped in 2018.
In 2021, Dr. Knopps was named Associate Professor of the Year and earned a Purple Chalk Teaching Award from the College of Arts and Science. In 2022, Dr. Knopps was named to the 2022-2023 University of Missouri Provost Leadership Program Cohort. In 2023, Dr. Knopps earned a Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Arts and Science, the Faculty and Alumni Award from the Mizzou Alumni Association, and was inducted into the Marching Mizzou Hall of Fame. In 2024, Dr. Knopps earned the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence, the highest award offered at Mizzou.
Housing/Transportation
Housing and transportation is not provided. Families and band programs are welcome to book their own rooms at any hotel they choose. We have reserved a block at:
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Hotel Downtown
1000 Export Street, Lexington, KY 40504
Phone 859.389.6800
$131 per room per night (2 double beds)
A limited shuttle service will be provided to students for transportation from the Holiday Inn Express to the University of Kentucky campus.
Honor Band Weekend Includes:
- The chance to perform a fantastic set of concert music with other band students from Kentucky and many other states.
- Work with our fabulous guest directors.
- Clinics/Masterclasses with the world-class UK music faculty.
- Director’s Conducting Clinic
- Attend a concert featuring the UK Wind Symphony and perform a combined piece with these musicians on the Honors concert.