Everything Band: Episode 121 - Thomas Leslie

Thomas Leslie has been the Director of Bands at the University of Nevada Las Vegas since 1985. He has enjoyed tremendous success as a band director at each stop of his career and is a past president of the American Bandmasters Association.

Topics:

• Tom’s background growing up in Iowa and the story of his high school music teacher Charles Kreeb through his musical education at the University of Iowa.
• Stories from his teaching career and a funny anecdote about being interviewed for his current position at UNLV.
• Some thoughts about leadership and how we can foster this skill in our students.
• The program at UNLV, commissioning composers, and the benefit of being located in Las Vegas.

Links:

• Tom Leslie at UNLV
• Bruce Broughton
• Schoenberg: Theme and Variations Op. 43a

Biography:
As Director of the Division of Wind Band Studies and Professor of Conducting, Thomas Leslie has earned recognition for high quality performances of the UNLV Bands receiving critical acclaim from members of the international music world including composers, conductors and several Grammy Award winning artists.  Recognized for a fresh, interpretative style, Thomas Leslie and the UNLV Wind Orchestra continue to excel in their commitment to commission new works, many by the world’s finest young composers. Professor Leslie has also conducted and recorded twenty critically acclaimed compact disc recordings with the UNLV Wind Orchestra.

An adjudicator and conductor, Professor Leslie has been invited to conduct in eleven counties across three continents.  Under his direction, the UNLV Wind Orchestra has been invited to perform for the College Band Directors National Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the American Bandmasters Association, and numerous state music educator conferences. Internationally, the UNLV Wind Orchestra was the featured ensemble at the Hokkaido Band Association Clinic in Japan and the La Croix Valmer International Music Festival in France.  The UNLV College of Fine Arts awarded Professor Leslie the CFA Teacher of the Year Award in 2006.

Inducted as a member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association in 1997, he was elected as the 75th President of the of this organization, and currently serves on Past President’s Ad Hoc Committee.  He continues to be a long-standing member of the College Band Directors National Association and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the John Philip Sousa Foundation.