.: the band :. | .: director :. | .: aacb board :. | .: contact :. |
The Ann Arbor Concert Band – founded in 1978 as the Ann Arbor Symphony Band by Victor Bordo and David Juillet – has served as an ensemble for amateur musicians
desiring to perform wind band literature. The band has its roots in the Ann Arbor School System's music program and continues a close relationship with it today.
The band is a non-profit ensemble of musicians from the community. While it maintains an amateur status, the standards of
performance and organization are strictly professional.
Concerts are usually presented four times during the concert season between September and May, typically at the Michigan Theater and Hill Auditorium.
The ensemble has premiered several new works for concert band, including the award-winning composition "Heroes Lost and Fallen" by Dr. David
Gillingham, Professor of Composition at Central Michigan University.
The Ann Arbor Concert Band fosters young wind and percussion musicians through the Andrew J. Lum Young Artist Scholarship Competition.
Previous conductors of the Ann Arbor Concert Band have included James Nissen, Lloyd Whitehead, David Woike, Donald Schleicher, Jeffrey Campbell, Max Plank, H. Robert Reynolds,
William D. Revelli and Victor Bordo.
David A. Leach has been Director of Bands at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School since 2002. He received his
bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education at Eastern Michigan University. He began his teaching
career at Ypsilanti High School in 1988 and spent fourteen years there before coming to Ann Arbor. He was
appointed Chair of the Pioneer High School Performing Arts Department in 2006, and Fine Arts Department
Chair in 2013.
David sustains the long tradition of quality performance and repertoire in the Pioneer Bands. During his 17
years at Pioneer, his Concert and Jazz Bands have received consistent top ratings at district, state, and national
festivals. His Symphony, Concert, and Jazz Bands have won overall festival championships at every national
event entered. Under his baton, the Pioneer Symphony Band has performed three times at Carnegie Hall, twice
at the Mid-Europe Music Conference in Schladming, Austria and performed on tour in China. In 2014 and
2016 the Pioneer Symphony was selected a New Music National Winner in the Mark of Excellence National
Wind Band Honors project.
David is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the National Band Association, and The
American School Band Director’s Association. He has been included five times in Who’s Who Among
America’s Teachers. The University of Michigan chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia honored David in 2000
with the Pendleton Memorial Award for outstanding achievement in music education. He has been nominated
four times for Disney’s American Teacher Award, and has received honors from the United States Marine
Corps for sending his students to the Marine bands, including two to the Commandant’s Own Marine Band in
Washington, D.C. He was the 2006, 2010 and 2022 MSBOA District XII Band Teacher of the Year, and in
2014 and 2017 was a GRAMMY Foundation Music Educator of the Year quarter-finalists. In 2016 the
Michigan Chapter of the ASBDA presented Pioneer High School Bands the Award of Excellence award for its
continued commitment to excellence.
David has won the praise of international composers such as Michael Daugherty, John Mackey, Thomas
Duffy, Alfred Reed, Jan Van der Roost and others for his insightful conducting of their compositions. Mr.
Leach has attended the Wind Conducting Symposium with John L. Whitwell and studied conducting with the
University of Michigan Director of Bands Michael Haithcock and Maestro Michael Adleson; former conductor
with the New York Philharmonic. In 2019 Mr. Leach was named Fellow for the H. Robert Reynolds
Conducting Institute at the Midwest Clinic.
David is a proud member of the Pioneer High School Music Department, which has earned GRAMMY
Signature School honors during his tenure there. In 2004, 2005, 2010, and 2015 the department achieved
GRAMMY Signature School Gold status as one of the top two public high school music programs in the
nation. In 2006 and 2011 the Pioneer Music Department was named the National GRAMMY Signature
School as the top public high school music program in the nation, making it the first program ever honored
twice by the GRAMMY Foundation. Currently, David is a member of the GRAMMY Museum Music
Educator Award screening panel tasked with selecting candidates for the GRAMMY Teacher of the Year
finalists.
The Ann Arbor Concert Band is governed by a Board of Directors, made up of nine performing members of the Band. Board members are elected by the Band.
Board responsibilities are divided into seven committees, each headed by one of a Board member. The committees and a brief summary of their duties are:
The Board meets regularly throughout the year to assure smooth operation of the Band.
contactus@aaband.org
Ann Arbor Concert Band
P.O. Box 1843
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
(P) 734.478.7515