Our Conductors

Andrew Pease has a B.A. degree from Dartmouth College, M.A. degrees from Columbia and Hofstra Universities, and the D.M.A. from Arizona State University.  He has played trumpet in many ensembles and taught at several schools and colleges.  Currently, he is director of instrumental music at Hartwick College, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble.

Amy Hoxie received her bachelor's and master's degrees from Ithaca College. She has been teaching elementary band in the public schools for 30 years and is now at Sherburne-Earlville Elementary School. Amy currently performs with the Catskill Valley Wind Ensemble, the Well-Tempered Brass Quintet and is the conductor of the Sidney Community Band.

Danny Reynolds (Guest Conductor Fall 2024) is the Director of Bands at Chenango Forks High School in Binghamton, NY where he teaches Concert Band, Marching Band, Music Theory, and Guitar. He has a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Frostburg State University and a Masters in Music Education through the American Band College at Central Washington University. He has been heavily involved in the marching arts working with high school age students to Drum Corps. He also works as the Instrumental Coordinator at the Upper Chesapeake Summer Center for the Arts and is a performing member of the Catskill Valley Wind Ensemble. 

Luke Payne (Guest Conductor Winter 2025) is a long time member of the Catskill Valley Wind Ensemble, playing tenor saxophone. Luke graduated from Sidney High School. While there he attended the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival and studied with Al Gallodoro. He has performed with the Sidney Community Band and the Bainbridge Old Time Band. Luke has a Bachelor's degree in Software development and works as a Database Developer with AECOM. 

Guest Composer: JP Dewey

Hailing from Sidney, New York, JP Dewey is a versatile producer, keyboardist, composer, and songwriter with music spanning across a wide variety of genres and work experience within many facets of the music industry. Dewey studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, graduating summa cum laude with a B.M. in Contemporary Writing and Production and a minor in Writing for Television and New Media.

Since graduating in 2022, Dewey relocated to Los Angeles where he has worked as a producer, composer, songwriter, and gigging keyboardist. Performance credits include Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras (touring), Zevia, Ben Mallare Events & Entertainment, Mackenzie Day, Trinity Reyes, Sam Marke, Lorena LaTorre, and many more.

Currently, Dewey continues to perform, write, and produce, as well as teach piano, songwriting, and production.

Members (click here to view current personnel)
Music teachers, experienced adults and outstanding students make up the group. All are volunteers who commit their time to the group by attending our weekly rehearsals and practicing at home to master the selected repertoire.

Repertoire (click here to view concert programs)
Outstanding works written originally for band, old and new, Holst to Holsinger. The best transcriptions of orchestral music, Bach to Bernstein. Broadway, film and popular music well arranged. And, of course, the great tradition of marches for band. We strive to present new and recent works by young composers of diverse backgrounds.

In fall 2024, we were honored performed the world premiere of Songs of Childhood by Andrew Pease. Recently, we commissioned JP Dewey to compose a march featuring our talented French horn section. The world premiere of that piece, Catskill March, will be performed at our spring concert on May 4, 2025 at 3pm at Oneonta High School.

Outreach
Demonstrations of band music and band instruments for elementary students in Oxford and Sidney. Sectionals, rehearsals and performances with senior bands in the Milford, Cooperstown, Unatego, Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton, Afton, Delhi, Downsville, and Richfield Springs school districts, and with the Hartwick College Wind Ensemble.