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MetWinds Announces Gabe Southard as Our New Music Director!
MetWinds is excited to announce the appointment of Gabe Southard as our new music director. Gabe was selected from 6 finalists who conducted MetWinds concerts from the summer 2025 season through our most recent indoor concert, May 3rd, 2026. Of his appointment, Gabe said he is "looking forward to starting work with the MetWinds, continuing the group's reputation for excellence, and bringing some new and exciting program ideas!" He has already started programming for the fall and will assume his post starting next season. A little bit about Gabe:
Dr. Robert “Gabe" Southard joined Gordon College in the Fall 2022 as Associate Teaching Professor of Music and conductor of the Gordon Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Band. Immediately prior to joining Gordon’s music faculty, Dr. Southard was serving as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Hope College, MI. At Hope College, he was also the Head of the Winds and Brass area and Head of the Instrumental Music Education Area. Dr. Southard completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting at Michigan State University where he studied with Professor John Whitwell. Prior to this, Dr. Southard served as Wind Symphony conductor and Flute instructor at the University of Michigan-Flint. He also holds master and bachelor of music degrees from University of Wisconsin Madison and Ithaca College.
Dr. Southard is an active orchestrator. His largest project to date is an arrangement for wind ensemble of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Symphony No. 2 “Antar,” which is currently published through OHM Music. He has also started a line of flexible chamber arrangements aimed to help smaller schools perform great works even if they do not have the proper instrumentation. The first piece of this line, Mozart’s Serenade in C minor, is due to be published in 2026.
As a flute player, Dr. Southard maintains an active performing schedule as a soloist and orchestral musician. He served as principal flute of the Holland Symphony Orchestra, MI for several years and has performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Lucca Opera Orchestra, Italy, as well as a number of community orchestras. Dr. Southard was a semi-finalist in the National Flute Association’s Piccolo Artist Competition and winner of the 2016 Convention Performers Competition where he performed two new works at the convention in San Diego. In 2020, Dr. Southard was named a Pearl Flute Artist, one of less than 70 flutists worldwide. In 2022, he released his first flute CD – Gold Mosaic: Music for Flute by Dana Wilson. It is currently available on all streaming sites.