The UNCG Wind Ensemble is a highly select concert band of fifty performers majoring in music at the UNCG School of Music. Performers range from freshmen through master's and doctoral students in music performance and music education. Membership in the organization is highly competitive. Former members of the Wind Ensemble hold teaching positions in music at all levels including college, as well as professional performing credentials in orchestras, premier military bands, and professional chamber ensembles.

Since 1982, Dr. John R. Locke has served on the UNCG School of Music faculty as Director of Bands, Director of Summer Music Camps, conductor of the Wind Ensemble, and conducting teacher. He holds the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from West Virginia University and the Doctor of Education degree from the University of Illinois. Prior to his arrival in North Carolina, Dr. Locke held teaching positions in music at West Virginia University, Southeast Missouri State University, and the University of Illinois. He has conducted band performances throughout the world including National Conventions of the MENC, CBDNA, ABA, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Strathmore Center in Washington, DC, Lincoln Center in New York City, Dvořák Hall in Prague, Innsbruck, Bologna, and Rome, Italy. Twice, the UNCG Wind Ensemble earned critical acclaim from The Washington Post newspaper following concert performances in the nation’s capital. Under Locke’s leadership, the UNCG Wind Ensemble has released 21 commercially available compact discs including fireworks! which was a Grammy Entry List 2011 CD in two categories, “Classical Album of the Year” and “Best Orchestral Performance.” In addition, he has guest conducted the U.S. Air Force Band, U.S. Army Field Band, U.S. Navy Band, “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band, the Dallas Wind Symphony, as well as numerous university bands including University of Illinois, Iowa, LSU, Alabama, Florida, West Virginia, Idaho, Georgia, Nebraska – Omaha, Long Beach State, Troy, Bowling Green, South Florida, Furman, Youngstown State, Boise State, Morehead State, Eastern New Mexico, Washburn, Kennesaw State and numerous all-state honor bands and intercollegiate bands. Dr. Locke has served as Editor of The North Carolina Music Educator and has published articles on band and wind ensemble literature in the Journal of Band Research and in Winds Quarterly. He is Past-President of the North Carolina Music Educators Association representing 2,200 members. Dr. Locke is a recipient of Phi Mu Alpha’s Orpheus Award and has received the National Band Association Citation of Excellence on three occasions. He is a National Arts Associate of Sigma Alpha Iota. In 1989, Dr. Locke was among the youngest conductors ever to be elected to membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. In 1994, he received the Phi Beta Mu International Fraternity Outstanding Bandmaster of the Year Award, presented at the Mid-West International Band Clinic in Chicago. Dr. Locke is Past-President of the Southern Division of College Band Directors National Association and hosted the Southern Division Convention at UNCG in February 2000. In 2002, Dr. Locke was nominated for the O. Max Gardner Award, the highest award in the 16-campus UNC System. He also received the “Outstanding Music Teacher Award” in the UNCG School of Music in 2003. In 2005, Dr. Locke was elected President of the American Bandmasters Association and received the Albert Austin Harding Award from the American School Band Directors Association. In 2007, he received The Old North State Award from NC Governor Mike Easley “for dedication and service beyond excellence to the state of North Carolina.” In 2009, Locke became Editor of the Journal of Band Research, the premiere scholarly band publication in the world begun in 1962. In July 2012, Locke was honored by NC Governor Beverly Perdue with The Order of the Longleaf Pine Award, the highest civilian honor in North Carolina. In 2014, Locke was named the Marion Stedman Covington Stedman Distinguished Professor of Music at UNCG. At UNCG, Dr. Locke is the founder and director of the Summer Music Camp program, now the largest university music camp in America, enrolling over 2,000 students annually and served by a staff of 170 professionals. He is also the founder of the Carolina Band Festival and Conductors Conference. Since 1977, he has administered summer music camps for over 65,000 students. He is in constant demand as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator for band festivals throughout the United States and Canada.

Kevin M. Geraldi is Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Conducting at the University of Illinois, where he conducts the Illinois Wind Symphony and leads the graduate program in wind conducting. Before joining the Illinois faculty in 2022, he served for seventeen years at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as Director of Instrumental Ensembles and Professor of Conducting.

Geraldi has conducted performances throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and is active as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. Ensembles under his direction have appeared at national and state conferences and have released recordings on the Equilibrium, Centaur Records, and JustinTime labels. He has collaborated with numerous composers and performers and is committed to commissioning and presenting new works for wind band and chamber ensemble.

He is co-author of The Elements of Expressive Conducting, a textbook used in undergraduate conducting courses across the United States. His articles on conducting, rehearsal techniques, and repertoire have appeared in leading professional publications, and he has contributed conductor’s guides to the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series.

A native of Elmhurst, Illinois, Geraldi holds degrees from Illinois Wesleyan University and the University of Michigan, where he studied conducting with Michael Haithcock and H. Robert Reynolds. He is a member of the American Bandmasters Association and other leading professional organizations dedicated to conducting and music education.

The McIver String Quartet, made up of UNCG’s string faculty, performs recitals on campus and around the region, as well as participating in outreach activities for schools in the area.