All Star High School Concert Band - 2024
Dr. Reader is actively engaged as a guest conductor and clinician throughout the East Coast and Mid-West. Previously director of percussion studies and conductor of the Preparatory Orchestra at Shepherd University Shepherdstown, West Virginia, Dr. Reader assisted with the instrumental music education program and bands. Prior to that he was Professor of Music, responsible for percussion education classes, applied percussion lessons, and was the director of the Percussion Ensemble and Symphonic Bandat the College of Saint Rose in Albany NY. He received his doctoral degree in Wind Conducting with a cognate in Music Education at Ball State University and both his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music Education from the Crane School of Music, State University of New York - Potsdam.
Dr. Reader has studied conducting further at conducting workshops and clinics across the country receiving guidance from conductors such as Mr. Steve Davis, Mr. Eugene Corporon, Col. Arnold Gabriel, Dr. Paula Holcomb, Dr. Thomas Lee, Dr. John Lynch, Dr. Sarah McKoin, Dr. Stephen Peterson, and Prof. Frank Wickes. His primary conducting mentors are Dr. Thomas Caneva; Director of Bands at Ball State University and Prof. Anthony J. Maiello; George Mason University Department of Music in Fairfax, Virginia.
Prior to his employment at the collegiate level, Dr. Reader was a High School Band Director for ten years in New York State. His bands participated in NYSSMA Music Festivals, The Music Festivals competition in Washington, and performed for the President and Mrs. Clinton at the New York State Democratic Convention.
Great American Community Band Conductor - 2024
Ronald Demkee joined The Allentown Band in 1964 as the featured tuba soloist and was elected conductor in 1977. Under his direction, the band has recorded thirty volumes of the highly acclaimed "Our Band Heritage" series, which have reached listeners in all fifty states and twenty-three foreign countries. These recordings are now available in CD and digital format from Naxos, i-Tunes and Amazon. Mr. Demkee has served as guest conductor for the Army Band, Army Field Band, Military Academy Band at West Point, Navy Band, Coast Guard Band, Marine Band, Air Force Heritage of America Band, and the Air Force Band. Furthermore, he served as Assistant Conductor for Leonard B. Smith’s famous Detroit Concert Band where he conducted the band for Mr. Smith’s cornet solos in live performances as well as the highly praised “Gems of the Concert Band” recordings.
Mr. Demkee earned his Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Music Education at West Chester (Pennsylvania) University. In 1991 Muhlenberg College awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Music. After teaching in the public schools for thirty-two years, Demkee continued to teach in the music departments of both Muhlenberg and Moravian Colleges for another eighteen years, culminating with fifty years of teaching from the elementary to collegiate levels.
Mr. Demkee is the recipient of several awards including:
- The 2024 Association of Concert Bands Outstanding Conductor Award acknowledging “conducting skills, musicality, community contributions and educational foresight,”
- The National Band Association's "Citation of Excellence,"
- The John Philip Sousa Foundation's "Sudler Legion of Honor," and
- The Allentown (Pennsylvania) “Arts Ovation Award” for Outstanding Achievements in the Performing Arts.
In 2005 the Allentown Arts Council presented its first Lifetime Achievement Award to Demkee. He is an inductee of the “National High School Band Directors’ Hall of Fame” and has been a member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association since 1986. He serves on the Advisory Boards of both the National High School Band Directors’ Hall of Fame and the Association of Concert Bands.
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