Gustavus Honor Band FestivalNovember 5 and 6, 2023

Welcome back to a new and exciting school year. We are excited for our Gustavus High School Honor Band in November, the featured fall festival of the Bjorling Music Festivals.

This year’s festival will take place from Sunday, November 5, to Monday, November 6 and will feature special guest conductorMaestro Óscar Navarro from Spain. Students will also work with Dr. Heidi Johanna Miller, Dr. Karrin Meffert-Nelson, and myself throughout the festival.

Because of Maestro Navarro's international popularity as a composer and conductor, we anticipate a large number of nominations. Make sure to submit nominations well in advance of the deadline (as soon as possible).

Selected high school participants will be treated to concert performances by the Gustavus Wind Orchestra and Gustavus Wind Symphony, master classes with Gustavus faculty, and rehearsals and performances in beautiful Christ Chapel.

Directors and teachers must nominate 9th to 12th grade students for the festival using this form. The fee for the festival is $40.00 per application and the nomination deadline is Friday, September 29th. Nomination form opens on September 1.

Whether you have participated in the Gustavus High School Honor Band for decades or this is your first time, I sincerely look forward to collaborating with you and your students! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at jpmgwo@gustavus.edu.

Maestro Óscar Navarro

To this day, Óscar Navarro has numerous national and international composition awards, and his music is performed and premiered in large concert halls around the world. Among the orchestras and bands that have performed his music it is worth highlighting groups such as The Cleveland Orchestra (USA), BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (UK), Louisville Symphony (USA), Lancaster Symphony Orchestra (USA) , Princeton Symphony (USA), The Hollywood Studio Orchestra (USA), Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio (Russia), Orquesta Sinfónica de Caldas (Colombia), The Royal School of Music Symphony Orchestra (UK) , Paraguayan Symphony Orchestra, Kiev Radio Orchestra (Ukraine), Downey Symphony Orchestra (USA), Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra ( USA), Nordwestdeutsche Philarmonie (Germany), Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra (Spain), Symphony Orchestra of Medellín (Colombia), Symphony Orchestra of the Region of Murcia (Spain), Young National Orchestra of Spain (JONDE), Symphony Orchestra of Galicia, Young Orchestra of the Generalitat Valenciana (JOGV) (Spain), University of British Columbia (UBC) Symphony Orchestra (Canada), Royal Band of the Belgian Guides (Belgium), University of Minnesota Duluth Concert Band (USA), North Texas Wind Ensemble (USA), University of Boston Concert Band (USA), Banda Municipal de Madrid (Spain), Banda Municipal de Valencia (Spain), Banda Municipal de Barcelona (Spain) and the Banda Primitiva de Llíria (Spain), among others.

In the realm of symphonic bands, he has conducted the Madrid Municipal Symphonic Band, the Alicante Municipal Band, the Palmas de Gran Canaria Municipal Symphonic Band, the Llíria Primitive Band, the CIM La Harmonica Band of Buñol, the Royal Band of the Belgian Guides (the Band of the Belgian Kings), the University of Minnesota, Duluth Wind Band (USA), the Fanfare de Romont (Switzerland), the Friborg Wind Band (Switzerland), the Symphonic band of the Medellín School Network (Colombia), the Symphonic Band from the University of the Americas Puebla (Mexico) and the Banda Musicale Giovanile del Piemonte (Italy), among others.

His music has received recognition in excess of twenty times among awards and nominations from Spain, the United States, Holland, Singapore, Italy, India, France and South Africa. Highlights of the awards are the “Hollywood Music in Media Awards” (Los Angeles), “Premio BUMA” (Holland) for best international composer, the “X Awards of Film Music Critics”, “Mundo BSO Awards” [World Best Original Soundtrack Award] , “XIII Goldspirit Awards”, “Accolade Music Awards”, “Track Music Awards”, “Global Music Awards”, “Jerry Godsmith Awards”, and the nomination for the Goya Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Spain for the Best Original Soundtrack for the film “La Mula”.

Dr. James Patrick Miller

James Patrick Miller is the Douglas Nimmo Professor of the Gustavus Wind Orchestra at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. In wide demand as a guest conductor, Miller has appeared throughout the United States with professional, festival, and public school ensembles, engaging with more than 65,000 high school students since 2009. A strong advocate for composers, Dr. Miller has been involved in the commissioning of more than 30 works for a wide variety of vocal and instrumental ensembles.

Performances under his leadership have been noted by such composers as Shawn Brogan Allison, Katherine Bergman, David Maslanka, Stephen Paulus, Joel Puckett, James Stephenson, Judith Weir, Dana Wilson, and Pulitzer Prize winning composers Karel Husa, Gunther Schuller, and Steven Stucky. Originally from Winona, MN, Dr. Miller holds the DMA in conducting from the University of Minnesota where he was named a College of Liberal Arts and School of Music Graduate Research Fellow, the MM degree in conducting from Ithaca College, and a BM in music education magna cum laude from St. Olaf College.

Originally from Winona, MN, Dr. Miller holds the DMA in conducting from the University of Minnesota where he was named a College of Liberal Arts and School of Music Graduate Research Fellow, the MM degree in conducting from Ithaca College, and a BM in music education magna cum laude from St. Olaf College. Professor Miller has been affiliated professionally with the College Band Directors National Association, NAfME/MENC, Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association, the American Choral Directors Association, and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles. Miller was nominated into the Kappa Theta Chapter (Minnesota) of Phi Beta Mu - "The International Bandmasters Fraternity" in 2017. He was inducted as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi at UMass Amherst and elected into Pi Kappa Lambda in 2001. Miller resides in St. Peter, MN, with his wife, conductor, soprano, and fellow Gustavus colleague, Heidi Johanna Miller, their two daughters, Linnea and Ingrid, and their two rambunctious kitties, Strider and Tisbury.

Dr. Heidi Johanna Miller

Originally from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, Dr. Heidi Johanna Miller joined the faculty at Gustavus Adolphus College in 2014, where she conducts the Gustavus Wind Symphony and teaches courses in music education. She joined the Gustavus faculty after five years spent in Massachusetts, where she served as Artist-in-Residence in Winds and Director of the Williams College Wind Ensemble in Williamstown, MA.

Her varied career also includes appointments with the University of Massachusetts, the Pioneer Valley (MA) Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and Spring Lake Park High School (MN). In addition, she co-founded the Minneapolis-St. Paul based Sapphire Chamber Consort and co-conducted the Amherst Community Band for three seasons and the Encore Wind Ensemble for one season. Miller has also performed extensively with vocal ensembles in Minnesota and New England and loves the intersectionality of vocal and instrumental music of all types.

Dr. Karrin Meffert-Nelson

Karrin Meffert-Nelson, DMA, teaches clarinet, conducts the Gustavus Chamber Winds, and teaches courses in Music Education and Music History. Dr. Meffert-Nelson maintains an active performing career as Principal Clarinetist with the Minnesota Opera Orchestra and through freelance work with Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Northrop Ballet Orchestra, and with productions at the State and Orpheum Theaters. She has also performed with the St. Louis Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, and the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota.

As a clinician, Meffert-Nelson frequently appears as an adjudicator for area solo and ensemble contests and works with the woodwind sections of the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies. In addition to her DMA degree in Clarinet Performance from the University of Minnesota, Dr. Meffert-Nelson holds the MM degree in Clarinet Performance from Northwestern University in Evantston, IL and the BM degree in Clarinet Performance and Music Education from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. Prior to her appointment at Gustavus Adolphus College, Meffert-Nelson taught clarinet and chamber music at the University of Minnesota.