All UMass and Five College students (not just Music majors) are welcome to play in UMass bands!

Link to UMass Wind Studies website => 

2023–24 Ensemble audition information

Orchestra/Wind Ensemble/Symphony Band placement auditions for Winds/Brass/Percussion will take place at the beginning of the semester.
(For Concert Band, see below.)

Wind/Brass/Percussion Orch/WE/SB (Feb. 1, 2, 3, 5)
Please fill out this Audition form => (Google form)
Please sign up for an audition time here => (Google Sheets; make sure to click on the correct tab for your instrument at the bottom of the form)
Large ensembles are Wind Ensemble, Symphony Band, Concert Band, UMass Symphony Orchestra, & All-University Orchestra. Additional spring ensembles are Opera Orchestra and Studio Orchestra (jazz). You will have the opportunity to express your ensemble preferences on the Audition form.

See below for Wind/Brass/Percussion audition excerpts (Orch/WE/SB).

The UMass Amherst Bands are open to all students, subject to auditions held at the beginning of each semester, and appear in concert on campus several times a year. The Bands have represented UMass Amherst at conferences and festivals that have included Symphony Hall in Springfield, MA; the Washington, DC home of the Marine Band; and the Capitol Building in Boston.

Band descriptions

Matthew Westgate sitting with hands clasped.
Conductor of the Wind Ensemble
Matthew Westgate

Chair and Associate Professor; Director of Wind Studies

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).
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A headshot of Lindsay Bronnenkant.
Conductor of the Symphony Band
Lindsay Bronnenkant

Lecturer, Wind Studies

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.
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Timothy Anderson directing in front of a basketball game.
Conductor of the Minuteman Marching Band & Concert Band
Timothy T. Anderson

Senior Lecturer, Director of the Minuteman Marching Band

Timothy Todd Anderson has been at the University of Massachusetts Amherst since 2011. He is the director of the over-370-member, award-winning Minuteman Marching Band. Under Anderson's direction, the Minuteman Band has performed in both the 2013 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City and the 2018 Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, CA. Both performances were televised internationally.
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