David A. Leach served for 22 years as Director of Bands at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School beginning in 2002 until his retirement in June of 2024. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education at Eastern Michigan University, and begun his teaching career at Ypsilanti High School in 1988 spending fourteen years there before moving to Ann Arbor. He was appointed Chair of the Pioneer High School Performing Arts Department in 2006, and Fine Arts Department Chair in 2013, serving in that position until 2021.

Mr. Leach sustained the long tradition of quality performance and repertoire in the Pioneer Bands. During his 22-year tenure at Pioneer, his Concert and Jazz Bands all received consistent top ratings at district, state, and national festivals. His Symphony, Concert, and Jazz Bands won overall festival championships at every national event entered. Mr. Leach has had nine ensembles perform at the Michigan state music conference; twice with Ypsilanti Wind Symphony (Midwestern Conference in Ann Arbor), four times with the Symphony Band from Pioneer, and the Pioneer Jazz Band (Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids). Additionally, Mr. Leach has had three ensembles featured at the Western Michigan University Spring Conference on Wind & Percussion Music (Ypsilanti Wind Symphony and Pioneer Symphony Band twice). Under his baton, the Pioneer Symphony Band has performed five 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.

Mr. Leach served on the executive board of MSBOA’s District XII as Secretary, Vice-President of Adjudication, Vice-President of Band & Orchestra, and President. During his entire tenure as educator, Mr. Leach was the host chair of MSBOA sponsored festivals including District XII; Marching Band  Festival, Band & Orchestra Festival, Solo & Ensemble Festival, and STATE Band and Orchestra Festivals. He is still a member of the National Band Association; serving as state representative in 2024-25, 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 him 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 a 2014, 2017, and 2022 GRAMMY Museum’s Music Educator of the Year quarter-finalists. In 2015 School Band & Orchestra Magazine named Leach one of the “50 Directors Who Make A Difference”. In 2016 the Michigan Chapter of the ASBDA presented Pioneer High School Bands the Award of Excellence award for its continued commitment to excellence. Mr. Leach served as the winds and percussion coach for the Michigan Youth Symphony Orchestra for over 12 years. Mr. Leach was also the Conductor of the Festival (faculty) Winds at the Southampton (Canada) Summer Music Camp, a position he held beginning in 2013, retiring in the summer of 2023. Mr. Leach is a current member of the conducting faculty, a clinician, and a scholarship representative for Blue Lakes Fine Arts Camp. Additionally, Mr. Leach was named Conductor and Director of the Blue Lake International Symphony Band and will lead their European tour in the summer of 2026. In the Fall of 2022, Mr. Leach was named the Artistic Director and Conductor of the famed Ann Arbor Concert Band.

Mr. Leach 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.

Mr. Leach was 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. Mr. Leach is a past member of the GRAMMY Museums Music Educator Award screening panel; tasked with selecting candidates for the GRAMMY Teacher of the Year finalists. In the spring of 2022 Mr. Leach was selected as a featured clinician (along with the Pioneer Symphony Band) in the GRAMMY Museum's initiative GRAMMY In the Schools Fest - a four-day virtual festival celebrating music and music education broadcast online the week leading up to Music's Biggest Night - the 2022 GRAMMY awards.

 

Paul W. Popiel is Dean and Professor of Conducting at the University of Kansas School of Music, where he previously served as Director of Bands for thirteen years. A distinguished conductor and educator, he has led  performances across North America, Europe, and Asia, including a recent residency with the Osaka Shion Wind Orchestra resulting in a globally released five-CD box set of James Barnes’ symphonies.

Popiel’s work has been featured on major labels such as Naxos, Klavier, and Summit, and his Carnegie Hall debut was praised by the New York Times. Under his direction, the KU Wind Ensemble received The American Prize in 2023. He is a member of the American Bandmasters Association and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

In addition to his leadership role, Popiel conducts the KU Wind Ensemble, the Lawrence City Band, and the Crossroads Wind Symphony. His previous appointments include Indiana University, Oklahoma State University, and public schools in Texas and Michigan.

 

Staci Rosbury is the conductor of the Melbourne Municipal Band (MMB), a position she has held since 2010. She started out playing flute in the band, acted as Secretary on the board of trustees, and later became the Associate Conductor. Rosbury graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and a Masters in Instrumental Conducting. After serving as the Director of Admissions and Undergraduate Advising for the School of Music at UF, she taught middle school band and elementary music in the Florida Public Schools and became increasingly involved in the community music and theater scene in central Florida. Rosbury served as music director for shows at the Henegar Center and has played flute with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra, Central Florida Winds & Chamber Winds, Space Coast Flute Orchestra, and the MMB. She is currently the Managing Director for the Indian River Symphonic Association which hosts a concert series of national and international orchestras each year in Vero Beach, Florida.

Ms. Stephanie Sugano has been the musical director and conductor of the Roseville Community Concert Band since 2007. She is also the Director of Bands at Chilton Middle School in the Roseville City School District. In 2017 she was named the Roseville City School District and Placer County "Teacher of the Year" and in 2006 she received Placer County's "Teachers who Make a Difference" award. In 2024, she was awarded the CMEA Capitol Section Outstanding Music Educator Award. Ms. Sugano previously served as President and Vice President of the California Music Educator's Association (CMEA) Capitol Section and is currently the CMEA Capitol Section Middle School Honor Band Representative. She is a member of CMEA, California Band Director's Association and the College Band Director's Association.

Ms. Sugano received her Master's Degree in Instrumental Conducting from CSU Sacramento. While there she acted as assistant conductor of the Sacramento State Concert Band. She earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees in music and sociology from the University of California, Davis. While studying clarinet under Professor Deborah Pittman, she was concertmaster of the UC Davis Concert Band for three seasons, Principal Clarinet of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, member of the UC Davis Chorus, and participant of many chamber ensembles. In 1998 she won the Olga Brose Valente Memorial Prize in Wind Playing.

Ms. Sugano studied conducting with Dr. Robert Halseth, Johnathan Elkus, D. Kern Holoman and Paul Hillier.