Join us for the next USA by the Bay Speaker Series event to be held Thursday, April 9, at 5:30 p.m. at the University of South Alabama Baldwin County Campus in downtown Fairhope. This special talk will feature Dr. Will Petersen, director of bands at the University of South Alabama, and Dr. Rob Abend, director of the Jaguar Marching Band and associate director of bands.
The two will present "The Rise of the Jaguar Marching Band" and discuss the University's dynamic music and performing arts programs alongside student musicians and alumni. The evening will conclude with a courtyard reception featuring musical entertainment by current JMB members and the USA Jazz Ensemble Combo.
USA by the Bay events are free and open to the public. Seating is limited and online registration is required.
Petersen leads all facets of the University's band program. He conducts the USA Wind Ensemble, the premier instrumental ensemble at USA, and serves on the teaching staff of the 260-member, nationally recognized Jaguar Marching Band, a group he directed for more than a decade. In addition, Petersen teaches courses in graduate music education, instrumental/band methods, and conducting. From 2012-2021, he taught applied tuba and euphonium and served as the tubist in the USA Faculty Brass Quintet.Under Petersen's direction, the USA Wind Ensemble has developed a reputation for excellence in performance and was the featured guest ensemble for the 2015, 2016 and 2022 Alabama All-State Band Festivals. In addition, Petersen has been active in promoting new music for the wind band medium with recent consortium commissions from composers Katahj Copley and James Barnes. Petersen was inducted into the Alabama chapter of Phi Beta Mu, International Bandmaster Fraternity. He was also recognized in 2024 as a Top Prof by the South Alabama Chapter of the Mortar Board Society.
Prior to his appointment to South, Petersen was assistant director of athletic bands and instructor of music at Virginia Tech, where he also served as assistant director of the Marching Virginians, director of the Hokies Pep Band, and conducted concert bands. Petersen earned a bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree from Indiana University and taught music in public schools across Texas. Petersen has served as guest conductor and adjudicator for concert and marching bands throughout the United States.
Abend is in his third year South, and his responsibilities include director of the Symphony Band, director of the athletic bands, and teaching courses in conducting, music education and marching band techniques. Abend completed his graduate studies in wind conducting at Michigan State University and Western Michigan University. He received the All-University Graduate Teaching Effectiveness Award at Western Michigan, an honor given to only three master's teaching assistants across the university.
Prior to his graduate studies, Abend taught instrumental music in Michigan for eight years. He served as the director of bands at Dakota High School in Macomb, Michigan, from 2013 to 2018. Under his direction, the Dakota High School band program featured more than 200 students, including four concert bands, marching band, jazz band, winter drumline, and winterguard. In 2015, the Dakota High School Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the Michigan Music Conference.
Abend earned a Bachelor of Music in Education from Eastern Michigan University, where he studied percussion with John Dorsey and conducted with John Zastoupil and Mary Schneider. His professional affiliations include American School Band Directors Association, College Band Directors National Association, Kappa Kappa Psi, and the National Association for Music Education.
USA by the Bay events are free and open to the public. Seating is limited and online registration is required.
Please register at SouthAlabama.edu/SpeakerSeries