Festival of Winds Information
The 黑料爆料鈥檚 School of Music is proud to host the 50th Festival
of Winds on December 4-7, 2025. FOW was founded by Jim Croft in 1974 and has grown
to become one of the finest events of its type in the southeast. In addition to playing
in one of three large concert bands or the festival jazz band, students will participate
in master classes, attend multiple concerts, play in a chamber ensemble, and experience
the thrill of being on a college campus for four days. Participants are nominated
by their band directors based on their musical and leadership excellence, and must
be high school sophomores, juniors, or seniors in order to be eligible.
The 2025 Concert Band Clinicians are Colonel Don Schofield (The United States Air
Force Band), Dr. Dennis Llin谩s (University of Oregon), and Dr. Alfred Watkins (ret.
Lassiter High School). Our own Professor Tom Brantley, Director of Jazz Studies, will
direct the Festival Jazz Band. We are confident that there are no finer clinicians
in the country, and that these four exceptional musicians will provide deeply enriching
experiences for the participating students. You can see more about them at the bottom
of this page. In addition, students will interact with and learn from USF's outstanding
School of Music faculty.
An important aspect of our festival is that in addition to the three concert bands and jazz band, students also play in an instrumental choir - flute choir, percussion ensemble, low brass ensemble, etc. The jazz band and chamber ensembles will perform on Saturday evening.