Steve Sveum - All-State High School Jazz Ensemble

Steve Sveum retired as a band and jazz director in the Sun Prairie Area School District in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin from 1985-2020. In that time his jazz ensembles performed at numerous state and national conventions, including the Midwest Clinic with Wynton Marsalis. Other notable performances include a performance at the Wisconsin Music Educators Conference with guest soloist, Clark Terry and a concert tour of Germany. His high school jazz ensemble has also been a 13 time finalist in the national "Essentially Ellington" festival and competition, placing third, three times and played an opening set for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at the Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Mr. Sveum brought in numerous guest artists to work with his ensembles including Arturo Sandoval, Clark Terry, Dennis Mackrel, Bobby Shew, James Williams, Ed Thigpen, Tony Williams, Carl Allen, Ronald Carter, Rodney Whitaker, Terell Stafford, Kenny Rampton and Bria Skonberg among others.

Mr. Sveum was a 2014 recipient of the Downbeat Magazine "Jazz Education Achievement Award" and has worked for Jazz at Lincoln as a faculty member of the Band Director Academy in New York, New York; Mesa, Arizona, St. Louis, Missouri and Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Mr. Sveum recently celebrated 20 years as a faculty member at the Birch Creek Music Academy in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. Sveum has also served as a faculty member at the UW-Whitewater summer Jazz Camp. He has been an Illinois district honor jazz ensemble director 7 times, across the state of Illinois. In 2016, he directed the Iowa 3A All-State Jazz Ensemble in Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Sveum is a contributing author for the “Teaching Music through Performance in Jazz” series published by GIA and "The Conductor’s Companion - 100 rehearsal techniques, imaginative ideas, quotes and facts" published by Meredith. He remains active working with high school jazz ensembles across the country.

Adam Waller - Junior All-State Jazz Ensemble

Dr. Adam Waller is the Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Instrumental Music Education at Anderson University where he conducts the AU Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, and teaches Undergraduate and Graduate level Music Education courses. Prior to his appointment at AU, he was the Wind Ensemble director at the Johns Hopkins University and assistant conductor of the Wind Ensemble and Modern Orchestra at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Recent performances of the Peabody Wind Ensemble under his baton have earned the conductor accolades in the 2017 American Prize in Conducting, in both the College Wind Ensemble category, and the American Music category. Dr. Waller also served on the music faculty of the Peabody Conservatory and Towson University.

In recent years, Dr. Waller has conducted and arranged for the Anderson University Orchestra in the annual Evening of Excellence and Candles and Carols programs. In 2023, he conducted Stewart Copeland, from The Police, in Copeland’s own “Degrangements for Orchestra” at the Palladium in Carmel, IN. In 2024, he was invited back home to conduct the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association District VIII All-District Band. He is also scheduled to conduct Grammy-award winner Trisha Yearwood in an upcoming concert. A sought-after clinician and adjudicator, Dr. Waller frequently travels throughout the state of Indiana working with public school bands and orchestras and serving as a judge for state and national music contests. As a professional saxophonist, Dr. Waller frequently performs with the Anderson Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Indiana, and The Directors Jazz Orchestra.

Dr. Waller has earned Doctorate of Musical Arts and Masters Degrees in Wind Conducting from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Additional studies in advanced conducting include workshops at the Eastman School of Music, Michigan State University, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Hart School of Music, and the Inaugural United States Army Band’s “Pershing’s Own” conducting workshop.