Dr. Zastoupil assumed the role of Director of Wind Studies and tenured associate professor of music at the University of Tennessee in the fall of 2022. His primary responsibilities at UT include conducting the critically acclaimed University of Tennessee Wind Ensemble, teaching graduate courses in music, guiding the graduate wind conducting program, and providing the administrative leadership for all aspects of the University of Tennessee’s diverse and historic band program.

Dr. Zastoupil previously served as Director of Concert Bands and tenured associate professor of music at Missouri State University where he guided all aspects of a comprehensive concert band program of five concert ensembles - over 400 students. He conducted the Missouri State Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Springfield Youth Wind Ensemble, Community Band, and taught the graduate wind conducting studio. While at MSU, he founded three nationally recognized events: the MSU Conducting Workshop, the Springfield Youth Wind Ensemble, and the Palen Concert Clinic for concert bands. The MSU Wind Ensemble received national attention with invited performances at the 2018 and 2022 CBDNA Southwestern Regional Conventions, the 2018 MMEA Conference, as well as performances at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, MO and the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, TX. The University Wind Symphony was selected and performed for the 2020 MMEA Conference and the Community Band was selected and performed at the MBA Summer Convention in 2021.

An advocate of music education and advancing the wind repertoire, Zastoupil has collaborated with composers such as James Stephenson, Kevin Day, Michael Daugherty, William Bolcolm, Augusta Read-Thomas, Stephen Gryc, Gunther Schuller, Scott McAllister, Paul Dooley, Scott Boerma and others. Since 2013, his online conducting course through Conn Selmer’s MusicProfessor platform has received worldwide recognition as a valuable resource for online conducting pedagogy. Since 2021, he works extensively with the Yamaha Corporation of America to assist in the education and outreach of the Harmony Director 300, helping band directors all over the globe incorporate this technology into their classrooms. Zastoupil regularly guest conducts professional and student honor ensembles throughout the United States and has conducted abroad in Europe and Asia.

Zastoupil’s professional experience includes having served as the Associate Director of Bands/Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Texas – Arlington and Eastern Michigan University, as well as brass staff faculty for the Santa Clara Vanguard DCI corps. Originally from Texas, Zastoupil holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Northwestern University where he was the L.K. Skornia endowed fellowship winner and was an adjunct instructor in the Bienen School of Music. He received his Master of Music degree in wind conducting from the University of Michigan, his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Baylor University, and is a former student of the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Mr. Rector currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee and is the band director at Hardin Valley Academy where he directs the wind ensemble, symphonic band, marching band, and indoor winds. During his time with Hardin Valley, the band program has received numerous local and regional awards in marching and concert performance, including  finalist appearances in Bands of America events and Winter Guard International regional competitions and performances at the Tennessee Music Education Association State Concert Festival.  Alex is an alumnus of Carolina Crown Drum & Bugle Corps and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Education from the University of Tennessee, where he was a member of the Symphonic Band, Concert Band, and the Pride of the Southland Marching Band.  Alex is married to his wonderful wife Kelsey and they have one wonderful son.                    

An American whose music has been characterized by "propulsive, syncopated rhythms, colorful orchestration, and instrumental virtuosity," (Robert Kirzinger, Boston Symphony) Composer Kevin Day has quickly emerged as one of the leading young voices in the world of music composition today, whose music ranges from powerful introspection to joyous exuberance. Kevin Day is an internationally acclaimed composer, conductor, and pianist, whose music often intersects between the worlds of jazz, minimalism, Latin music, fusion, and contemporary classical idioms. Day serves as the Vice President of the Millennium Composers Initiative, a collective of more than 120 composers from several countries around the world.

A winner of the BMI Student Composer Award, a three-time finalist for the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and considered for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for his Concerto for Wind Ensemble, Day has composed over 200 works, and has had numerous performances throughout the United States, Russia, Austria, Australia, Taiwan, South Africa, and Japan. His works have been programmed by the symphonies of Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Indianapolis, Houston, and more, as well as several top professional and collegiate wind ensembles. His works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Rachmaninov Hall (Russia), The Midwest Clinic, and other major venues, and recently he had his Carnegie Hall Conducting Debut at the 2022 New York International Music Festival.

Day has collaborated with the likes of David Childs, Nicki Roman, James Markey, Wendy Richman, Jens Lindemann, Demondrae Thurman, Hiram Diaz, Steven Cohen, Jeremy Lewis, and more on works for their respective instruments, as well as chamber ensembles like One Found Sound, Axiom Brass, Ensemble Dal Niente, The Sheffield Chamber Players, The Puerto Rican Trombone Ensemble, The Zenith Saxophone Quartet, The Tesla Quartet, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Low Brass Section.

Day is currently Assistant Professor of Composition at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He is pursuing his DMA in Composition from the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where he studies with Charles Norman Mason, Dorothy Hindman, and Lansing McCloskey. He holds a MM in Composition from the University of Georgia, and BM in Performance from Texas Christian University (TCU). He is alumnus of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America.

Katie Johnson-Webb is the Associate Professor of Horn at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She excels as a flexible, thoughtful, and active performer of solo repertoire, chamber music, and orchestral literature.  Katie frequently performs with the Knoxville Symphony and other regional ensembles. In past years, Katie was selected to perform with the Aspen Summer Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado, the Kent/Blossom Music Festival in Kent, Ohio, and the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Katie has been heard in recital at the 2018 International Horn Symposium at Ball State University, the 2016 International Horn Symposium at Ithaca College, and the 2015 International Horn Symposium at the Colburn School. Additionally, Katie has given recitals and masterclasses at universities across the United States and Canada. In May 2020, Katie released her first CD, La Loba, on the Summit Brass label with pianist, Kirstin Ihde. La Loba received the third prize award in the American Prize Competition and third prize in the Ernst Bacon Award for American Music Competition.

As an active chamber musician, Katie is a member of the Tennessee Brass Quintet and a founding member of the Cobalt Horn Quartet, winners of the 2018 International Horn Society Horn Quartet Competition – Professional Division.

Katie completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012 under the direction of Professor Emeritus Douglas Hill and Professor Daniel Grabois. While completing the Master of Music degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she worked closely with Professor Douglas Hill as a Bolz Fellow. In 2018, she was awarded a grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation to collaborate with Norwegian hornist and pedagogue, Frøydis Ree Wekre in Oslo, Norway.  Katie completed her undergraduate studies in music and political science at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana.

Alex van Duuren is a dynamic and versatile trombonist currently serving as Associate Professor of Trombone at the University of Tennessee. Dr. van Duuren has performed with a variety of professional ensembles including the Knoxville Symphony and Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, the Nashville Recording Orchestra, Greenville Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Symphony Augusta, and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Sonora. He is a member of the Quintasonic Brass Quintet with colleagues Vince DiMartino, Jason Dovel, Matthew Haislip, and Alexander Lapins. In addition to his activities on trombone, Dr. van Duuren still performs on his original instrument, serving as a piano accompanist for professional recording sessions as well as for his students and guest artists at the University of Tennessee.

In addition to maintaining a highly active performing schedule, Dr. van Duuren also enjoys an active career in the recording studio, playing trombone and bass trombone on the 2020 film The Wolf of Snow Hollow, appearing with the American Chamber Winds on Radix Tyrannis and Live at WASBE (Mark Custom Records), as well as producing La Loba, a solo album released by Dr. Katie Johnson-Webb on Summit Records. His own solo album, Vocalizations, can be heard on most streaming services including Spotify and Amazon Music. 

Dr. van Duuren completed his doctorate at the University of Arizona under the instructor of Moisés Paiewonsky. In addition, he completed a doctoral minor in Entrepreneurship with Eller College of Management, which he received while participating in the nationally renowned McGuire Entrepreneurship Program. Dr. van Duuren was honored with the 2018 Governor’s School for the Fine Arts Outstanding Teacher Award.