In his 31st season as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Dallas Winds, Jerry Junkin is recognized as one of the world’s most highly regarded wind conductors. He has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia since 2003, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music Wind Symphony in Tokyo since 2007. Additionally, 2024-2025 marks his 36th year on the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Vincent R. and Jane D. DiNino Chair for the Director of Bands. There, he also holds the title of University Distinguished Teaching Professor. Previously, he served on the faculties of both the University of Michigan and the University of South Florida. In addition to his responsibilities as Professor of Music and Conductor of the Texas Wind Ensemble, he serves as Head of the Division of Conducting and Ensembles and teaches courses in conducting and wind band literature. He is a recipient of multiple teaching awards, and students of Mr. Junkin hold major positions throughout the world.

Mr. Junkin is an enthusiastic advocate of public school music education, having conducted All-State bands and festivals in forty-eight states and on five continents. He spends his summers in residence at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, as well as appearing at major music festivals throughout the world.

Mr. Junkin has served as President of the Big XII Band Director’s Association and is a member of the Board of Directors of The John Philip Sousa Foundation, is Past-President of the American Bandmasters Association, and is Past President of the College Band Directors National Association. Regularly making guest appearances with ensembles such as the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and the Taipei Symphonic Winds, he continues to conduct throughout the United States in addition to multiple appearances in Japan, China, and Europe. In 2005, he was presented the Grainger Medallion by the International Percy Grainger Society in recognition of his championing of Grainger’s works, and he has received numerous career awards from Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Beta Mu, and the Midwest Clinic, among others. Mr. Junkin is a Yamaha Master Educator.

Violinist Maria Schleuning has been a member of the Voices of Change Modern Music Ensemble since 1996 and was Artistic Director from 2009-2024. An advocate of new music, she has worked with many of the leading composers of our day, including the legendary Witold Lutoslawski, George Crumb, Aaron Jay Kernis, John Corigliano, Sam Adler, Sebastian Currier, Bright Sheng, Augusta Read Thomas, and Pierre Jalbert. She has premiered many new works; among them, the world premiere of Dream Catcher (2009), a solo violin work written for her as a gift from Augusta Read Thomas, and Partners (2018), a double concerto by David Amram, written for her and cellist Jolyon Pegis.

An active chamber musician, Ms. Schleuning has performed in venues such as New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as at numerous festivals throughout the United States and Europe. From 1993-2012 she was a faculty member and performer at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine, and has served in the same capacity at Idyllwild Arts in CA and the Bennington Music Festival in VT. She has recorded with Continuum modern music ensemble in NYC, as well as in Dallas with Grammy-nominated Voices of Change and the Walden Piano Quartet. In addition, she has served as Principal Second Violin of the New York Women’s Ensemble, and currently is Principal Second Violin of Classical Tahoe, where she was a guest concertmaster in 2014.

A member of the Dallas Symphony since 1994, she has been a featured soloist on multiple occasions, most recently in 2023. Other solo highlights include appearances with the Oregon Symphony, Seattle Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Abilene Symphony, Laredo Symphony, Bozeman Symphony and with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra on a tour of Eastern Europe, including concerts at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and the Rudolfinum in Prague. In 2015 she returned as guest soloist on their China tour. She studied with Josef Gingold at Indiana University, where she was awarded a Performer’s certificate; with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School in London as a recipient of a grant by the Myra Hess Foundation; and with Joel Smirnoff at the Julliard School, where she received her Master’s Degree.

“Brian Shaw epitomizes the versatile twenty-first century trumpeter.” – Elisa Koehler, Fanfares and Finesse

A native of Southern Illinois, Brian Shaw is Co-Principal Trumpet of the Dallas Winds and Principal Trumpet of Santa Fe Pro Musica (NM), Spire Baroque Orchestra (Kansas City), and is a core member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra. He is noted for his versatility, performing and recording regularly as a classical and jazz trumpeter on modern instruments and period instruments as well. He has released three recordings as a soloist, including Virtuoso Concertos for Clarino (2008) on Baroque trumpet, redshift (2014) with the Dallas Winds, and Sonatas and Fantasies (2021) with pianist Jan Grimes. A fourth album with pianist Willis Delony will be released in 2025. Brian is very active as a jazz arranger and has just co-written a biography of jazz legend Kenny Wheeler, to be published by Equinox Books (UK) in March 2025. As a teacher, Dr. Shaw continues as guest instructor of Baroque trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and leads a robust private studio after leaving his position as Professor of Trumpet and Jazz Studies at Louisiana State University, which he held for 15 years. He is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University (B.Mus), Eastman (M.Mus), and UT Austin (D.M.A.). Brian lives near Seattle with his wife, Lana, their sons, Thomas and Elliot, and their dog, Ernie.