2024 OBDC Guest Composer
Julie Giroux
Julie Ann Giroux was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts on December 12, 1961. She graduated from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge LA in 1984. She started playing piano at 3 years of age and began composing at the age of 8 and has been composing ever since. Her first published work for concert band, published by Southern Music Company was composed at the age of 13.
Julie began composing commercially in 1984. She was hired by Oscar winning composer Bill Conti as an orchestrator, her first project with Conti being “North & South” the mini-series. With over 100 film, television and video game credits, Giroux collaborated with dozens of film composers, producers, and celebrities including Samuel Goldwyn, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Madonna, Liza Minnelli, Celene Dion, Paula Abdul, Michael Jackson, Paul Newman, Harry Connick Jr. and many others. Projects she has worked on have been nominated for Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Golden Globe awards. She has won individual Emmy Awards in the field of “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Direction”. When She won her first Emmy Award, she was the first woman and the youngest person to ever win that award. She has won it three times.
Giroux has also published a large category of classical works with emphasis on original compositions for Wind Band which are published by Musica Propria and distributed internationally. She is greatly sought after as a composer and recently completing her 5th Symphony “Sun, Rain & Wind” which premiered in June, 2018. Her music has been recorded and reviewed internationally receiving top reviews and her music has been performed at major music festivals the world over.
Giroux has been a true force in a male dominated field and has accrued many previously male only awards. She is a member of ASCAP, The Film Musicians Fund, Kappa Kappa PSI, Tau Beta Sigma and a member of the American Bandmasters Association. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Service to Music Medal Award, Emmy Awards and was the first female composer inducted into the American Bandmasters Association in 2009.
All-Star Band guest conductor Jonathan Helmick
Dr. Jonathan Helmick serves as Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at Slippery Rock University. Part of his responsibilities include directing the Slippery Rock University "Marching Pride", the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, and the Tuba and Euphonium Ensemble. He also teaches assigned courses such as Fundamentals of Conducting, Advanced Conducting, Brass Methods, Marching Band Field Charting, and Applied Euphonium. Under his direction, the Slippery Rock University Wind Ensemble has achieved national acclaim having been named a finalist for the prestigious American Prize in Wind Ensemble and Concert Band Performance (college/university division). Most recently, the two hundred-member Slippery Rock University Marching Pride was invited to perform in Ireland at the 2019 Dublin St. Patrick's Festival Parade and the 2019 Limerick International Band Championship. During these internationally televised performances the ensemble received the honor of being named Best Overall Band, Best Adult Band, and Best International Band.
Dr. Helmick holds the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Conducting from The University of Southern Mississippi. He earned a Master of Music degree in Euphonium Performance with a cognate area in Music Theory from The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. Both his Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree and Bachelor of Arts in Business and Organizational Communications degrees were received from the University of Akron with honors. Prior to his college teaching career, Dr. Helmick taught in the public schools of Ohio and Mississippi, most recently the All-Superior Sweepstakes Award winning Oak Grove Band program. He has also served as Assistant Conductor and member of the Board of Trustees for the Freedom Brass Band of Northeast Ohio and performed as a member of the Brass Band of the Western Reserve on both euphonium and baritone.
Prior to his position at Slippery Rock University, Dr. Helmick served as the Director of Bands and Low Brass Instructor at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, MS. At Jones, he conducted the Jones County Junior College Symphonic Band and was the Director of the "Maroon Typhoon" Marching Band. Courses he taught included Applied Trombone, Euphonium, and Tuba. During his time at Jones, the marching band gained national attention when invited to perform in the 2015 McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago, IL. Under his direction, students have had the opportunity to work in both performance and masterclass settings with national and international performing artists such as Tucker Jolly, Dr. Richard Perry, the Maniacal 4 Quartet, Harmonic Brass, and Travis Scott. Further, he served as co-founder and site coordinator of the "Roger Bobo Festival of Brass," a summer brass symposium featuring international brass pedagogue and tubist Roger Bobo as clinician.
Active as a musician and educator, Dr. Helmick has served as a guest clinician, artist, and adjudicator in Pennsylvania, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, Sicily, Austria, and the Czech Republic. At Slippery Rock University, he has earned the honor of being named recipient of the 2017-2018 President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 2019, he was honored to receive the Citation of Excellence from the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, representing District 5.
Primary teachers of conducting and music education include Dr. Thomas Fraschillo, Dr. Mohamad Schuman, Professor Robert D. Jorgensen, Dr. Galen S. Karriker, and Dr. Jody Besse. Principal euphonium teachers include Dr. Richard Perry and Professor Tucker Jolly.
Honor Band conductor Alfred Watkins
Alfred L. Watkins was Director of Bands at Lassiter High School for 31 years. For six years prior to joining Lassiter, Watkins served as Director of Bands at Murphy High School in the Atlanta Public Schools. Bands under Watkins’ direction have performed four times at the Midwest Band Clinic, six performances at the Bands Of America National Concert Band Festival and four performances at the Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference. The symphonic band has performed on the college campuses of the University of Georgia (4), Florida State University, University of South Carolina, University of Southern Mississippi and Troy State University. The Lassiter Flute Choir, Clarinet Choir, Trumpet Ensemble, Trombone Choir, and Percussion Ensemble have all performed on the national stage. The Lassiter Percussion Ensemble has performed twice at the Midwest Clinic, PASIC, three times at the National Percussion Festival and four times at the Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference.
The Lassiter Marching Band was the 1998 and 2002 Bands of America Grand National Champion and the band also won nine BOA Regional Championships. Under Watkins’ leadership, the band also participated in four Tournament of Roses Parades, three times in the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade, twice in the Orange Bowl Parade and once in the Florida Citrus Bowl Parade. During Mr. Watkins’ Lassiter tenure, all four (or five) Lassiter concert bands received consecutive Superior Ratings from 1993 until his retirement in 2013, with the top two bands performing in Grade VI since 1989. The band program is one of only fourteen high bands in America to have received both the Sudler Flag of Honor for concert and the Sudler Shield for marching. The Lassiter Winter Color Guard was named 1996 and 1997 Winter Guard International World Champions.
Mr. Watkins has been selected as a member of the Florida A & M University Gallery of Distinguished Alumni, the American Bandmasters Association, the Georgia Chapter of the Phi Beta Mu Hall of Fame and the Bands of America Hall of Fame. He has received 16 Certificates of Excellence from the National Band Association, the Sudler Order of Merit from the John Philip Sousa Foundation and the Band World Magazine Legion of Honor. In 1996, Mr. Watkins was Associate Director for the Atlanta Olympic Marching Band that performed in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. In 2008, Mr. Watkins received the prestigious Turknett Leadership Character Award from the Turknett Leadership Group, a Metro Atlanta Leadership Consultant firm. He was the first public school educator to have been nominated for this award. Mr. Watkins is Co-Founder, Conductor and Musical Director of the Cobb Wind Symphony, an all-adult community band based in the Atlanta area, which in 2009, earned the Sudler Silver Scroll Award presented to outstanding community bands in America and has performed twice at the Midwest Clinic. He is one of the founding members and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Minority Band Directors National Association, an organization formed in the summer of 2011, whose purpose is to serve, promote, celebrate and mentor minority band directors throughout America. In 2009 and 2010, two doctoral dissertations were written centering their subject matter on his life and his work at Lassiter. They are: Alfred Watkins and the Lassiter High School Band: A Qualitative Study by Sue Samuels, a dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Auburn, Alabama December 18, 2009 and Alfred L. Watkins: An Historical Narrative of His Musical Life and Work with the Lassiter High School Band by Matthew J. Thomas, a Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The Florida State University, School of Music, Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2010. In 2013, he was awarded the Distinguished Career Award from GMEA. Also in 2013, Mr. Watkins was selected for the “Leader of the Band Award” in an online poll of ten thousand band directors as one of the admired band directors in America. Motivation Speaker and Leadership Consultant, Scott Lang administered the online poll. In 2013, he was a recipient of the Image Award by the 100 Black Men Organization of North Atlanta and the Flourish Award sponsored by Kennesaw State University Schools of the Arts.In 2014, Watkins’ former students and friends commissioned composers Mark Camphouse and James Curnow to write works honoring Mr. Watkins and his career: “Second Essay for Symphonic Band” and “Lexus for Solo Trumpet, Winds and Percussion.” In 2014, Watkins received the Edwin Franko Goldman Award from the American School Band Directors Association for outstanding contribution to the advancement of school bands. The $1.5 million Alfred L. Watkins Band Building at Lassiter High School bears his name. He and his wife of 32 years, Rita, live in Marietta. They have two sons: Christopher, as trumpet player/bugler in the United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, D. C. and Jonathan, a graduate of Auburn University (Finance).