CONDUCTORS

Dr. Matthew Westgate

mwestgate@music.umass.edu
271 Bromery Center for the Arts
(413) 545-0839

Conductor Matthew Westgate “leads with a combination of expressivity and crispness” (San Francisco Chronicle). His performances are praised as “dramatic, incisive, and passionate” (Audiophile Audition) and full of “verve and swagger” (MusicWeb International). Dr. Westgate has appeared on major concert stages throughout the U.S., Europe, South America, and Asia and has guest conducted some of the top wind bands and chamber ensembles, including multiple engagements with “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band and the U.S. Coast Guard Band. He has a particular interest in Latin American music and cultures, and in 2019 and 2022 he was the featured guest conductor with the professional band La Banda Sinfonica Metropolitana de Quito (Ecuador) at La Casa de la Musica. In 2023 he was invited to conduct the Banda del Centre Artístic Musical de Bétera (Spain), and in 2024 he led the UMass Wind Ensemble and the Banda Sinfonica Metropolitana de Quito together in a side-by-side performance at the first ever Festival Juntos en La Mitad del Mundo. During the summer months, he teaches and conducts at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, MI. In 2026, he will conduct the Festival Band for a live radio broadcast on WBLU Public Radio. In the past, he has conducted the Blue Lake Wind Ensemble and Symphony Bands, and in 2019 he led the Blue Lake International Band on a European concert tour of France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, and Denmark.

University of Massachusetts ensembles under his direction have been invited to perform at multiple College Band Director National Association (CBDNA) Conferences (Yale University, 2018; U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 2016) and on concert tours of Ecuador (Quito, Otavalo) in May 2024, and Ireland (Dublin, Galway, Cork, Killarney) in 2017.

The Massachusetts Chamber Players, a professional chamber ensemble under his baton, released a critically-acclaimed recording of chamber wind music by Swiss composer Frank Martin [Frank Martin: Music for Winds} on MSR Classics in 2016, and he has since led two other commissioning/recording projects with the UMass Wind Ensemble and faculty (Quicksilver: MSR Classics, 2020, and Synchronous – New Works for Trombone and Wind Ensemble: MSR Classics 2022). All three albums have included UMass students, UMass applied faculty, and other professional musicians and showcased music never recorded before. The two most recent albums were comprised of all brand-new commissioned works including pieces by UMass composers.

Dr. Westgate is very active in his profession; he was elected by his peers to serve as the President of the Eastern Division of the College Band Director’s National Association and he also serves on the national CBDNA board. He is hosting the CBDNA Eastern Division Conference on our campus in March 2026. Wind bands from all over the east coast and scholars from around the world will present concerts and sessions related to Latin American Music and cultures. He is also a champion of new music. Dr. Westgate has been involved in over 40 commissions of new music compositions throughout his career.

In addition to his creative activity, Dr. Westgate has also been the Department Chair for Music and Dance for the past four years. Music and Dance is a large, complex department of 300+ students, 50 full-time faculty, and 11 full-time staff that includes robust programs in Choral studies, Orchestral studies, Wind studies, Jazz, Music Education, Music History, Music Theory, Athletic Bands, and Dance.

A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Matthew began his musical career as a jazz/classical trombonist and public-school educator in southwest Michigan. He graduated with a Music Education degree from Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI), then eventually went on to earn his Master’s Degree in instrumental conducting from WMU in 2006. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (Cincinnati, OH) in 2009.

In his spare time, Matthew is an avid marathon runner and hiker. He completed his 25th marathon in spring of 2024 in Boston and hiked the 55-km Laugavagur Trail in Iceland this past summer.

Dr. Timothy T. Anderson

George N. Parks Minuteman Marching Band Building, Rm. 207
tanderson@music.umass.edu
(413) 545-6061

Dr. Timothy Todd Anderson became director of the Minuteman Marching Band in the summer of 2011. He had previously served as the Associate Director of Bands at California State University, Fresno. In addition to his UMMB responsibilities, Dr. Anderson also directs the UMass Hoop Band, the Concert Band, teaches Marching Band Techniques and works with student teachers. In the summer of 2014, Dr. Anderson became conductor of the Amherst Community Band. He is a frequent clinician and guest conductor with school band programs throughout New England. Dr. Anderson holds the Bachelor of Music from the University of Iowa, the Master of Music in Wind Conducting from the University of Florida, and the Doctorate of Education in Music Education from the University of Illinois. His career began as an instrumental music teacher in the West Marshall Community School District of State Center, Iowa. Dr. Anderson resides in Amherst with his wife Jennifer and their cat Gatsby.

DR. LINDSAY BRONNENKANT

lbronnenkant@music.umass.edu
257 Bromery Center for the Arts
(413) 545-6056

At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Dr. Lindsay Bronnenkant directs the Symphony Band, teaches conducting classes, and leads a graduate conducting seminar.

Prior to her appointment at UMass Amherst, Bronnenkant taught basic conducting at Nazareth College and led the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Community Wind Ensemble as she completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting degree at the Eastman School of Music. In her time at Eastman, she served as Assistant/Associate Conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensembles, Assistant Conductor and Teaching Assistant for the University of Rochester Wind Symphony, and Teaching Assistant for basic conducting classes. She was a Frederick Fennell Conducting Fellow and a finalist for the Eastman School of Music Teaching Assistant Prize.

Prior to her graduate studies, Bronnenkant was the Director of Bands at the Aquinas Institute of Rochester, Director of the University of Rochester Pep Band, Director of the Newark High School Parade Band, and Interim Conductor of the Brighton Symphony Orchestra. She has additionally assistant directed the Eastman Community Music School Summer High School Wind Ensemble Workshop each summer since 2010.

Bronnenkant has had the opportunity to conduct premier ensembles such as the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the University of Michigan Symphony Band, and the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” at their 2017 Conductor Showcase Concert. A recipient of the American Prize Career Encouragement Certificate in wind conducting, she has also been invited to work with school, youth, and community ensembles on original and classic works.

As a composer, Bronnenkant wrote her first work for wind ensemble, Symphony for Singer, self-taught at 18 years old. Her first published work, Tarot (2021), was designated the runner-up to the 2021 National Band Association/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. The piece is based on original research on Gustav Holst and was presented as part of Bronnenkant’s doctoral conducting recital and lecture presentation.

Bronnenkant holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (D.M.A. Wind Conducting, ’22), the University of Michigan (M.M. Wind Conducting, ‘19), Nazareth College (B.M. Music Education, ’14), and the University of Rochester (B.S. Brain and Cognitive Sciences, ’10). Her conducting mentors include Mark Scatterday, Michael Haithcock, Jared Chase, and Nancy Strelau, and she has taken composition lessons with Keane Southard, Nancy Strelau, Christopher Winders, David Liptak, and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez. Bronnenkant is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi, and she is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. Additional professional affiliations include the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), the National Band Association (NBA), the College Music Society (CMS), and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).