Wind Ensemble
The CSB and SJU Wind Ensemble is the premiere wind band on campus and is comprised of approximately fifty select instrumentalists. Membership includes music majors and minors, as well as many students from a wide variety of other disciplines who excel and enjoy performing on their instrument. The ensemble rehearses three times a week, performs four to five concerts per year in the magnificent 1000-seat Benedicta Arts Center on the CSB campus, and tours regularly. Wind Ensemble concerts feature repertoire that includes masterworks for band from composers including Percy Grainger, Gustav Holst, Vincent Persichetti, and David Maslanka, as well as recent compositions from today’s leading composers such as Alex Shapiro, Joel Puckett, Jodie Blackshaw, and Omar Thomas.
Recent highlights include a featured performances at the 2017, 2021, and 2023 Minnesota Music Educators Association (MMEA) Midwinter Clinic, clinics with composers Viet Cuong, Aaron Perrine, Steven Bryant, Joni Greene, Steve Danyew, and Andrew David Perkins, and being featured as one of fourteen ensembles nationwide selected to participate in the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Small Band Program Showcase at the 2019 National Convention.
The Wind Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Justin Zanchuk. Interested students may enroll in Wind Ensemble by registering for MUSC 231 for 0 or 1 credit.