The show must go on for the University’s top band, even though a permanent replacement for Frank Wickes, former director of bands, has yet to be found.
 
The University’s Wind Ensemble performed Wednesday night under the direction of a guest director as a search committee continues to look for Wickes’ replacement.
 
Wickes retired this summer after a 30-year career at LSU, leaving the University’s top concert band without a director.
 
The potential candidate list isn’t long because the College of Music and Dramatic Arts is selective, said James Byo, chair of the director of bands search committee and music education professor.
 
The widespread search began last fall, and the job was offered to a candidate who declined, Byo said.
 
The committee will accept applications until the end of the month, Byo said.
 
“Ultimately, we want to bring three candidates to campus,” Byo said.
 
Charles Taylor, a visiting associate professor from the University of New Orleans, is serving as the interim director in a limited role preparing the band for guest conductors.
 
The Wind Ensemble will perform six times this year — three in the fall and three in the spring. The first concert will be directed by a guest from the University of New Mexico, and the second by a guest from the University of Michigan, Byo said. Byo didn’t say specifically who those guest directors would be.
 
The third concert, which will be played around Thanksgiving, will be a showcase for a candidate. The next several concerts will also be directed by candidates, Byo said.
 
Willis Delony, associate dean of the College of Music and Dramatic Arts and interim director of the School of Music, said the school is “not going to fill those shoes” when trying to find a replacement for Wickes.
 
“By Christmas time we should know who the finalists are. We will have a director probably in early spring,” Delony said.
 
Byo said Wickes was a man of “fantastic versatility.”
 
“He did the marching band by himself and worked with the artistic ensembles,” Byo said. “He was the chief guy in our graduate conducting program.”
 
 
 
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Contact Andrew Cavazos at [email protected]