About MetWinds

MetWinds is pleased to announced our finalist candidates for the position of music director. We look forward to working with each of our candidates this summer and in our upcoming season! A final selection will be made following our May concert in 2026. MetWinds appreciates all the fine musicians who applied for the position. The search commitee has narrowed the selection process down to 6 finalists:

Meghan MacFadden

July 10 (LEX250) & July 17 Summer Series

Meghan MacFadden is the Director of the Wind Ensemble at Smith College, Assistant Conductor of the Valley Winds, and Staff Accompanist at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. She is a sought-after guest conductor for student honor bands and festivals across New England and abroad. Meghan previously worked as an Assistant Conductor of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony, and has taught instrumental music at Beaver Country Day School, the Dana Hall School, Clark University, and Tufts University. She is a 2024 recipient of the CBDNA Mike Moss Grant for conducting study with Jerry Junkin and Mallory Thompson. Meghan is a passionate champion of diversity in the wind band world and works to facilitate discussions on gender dynamics in instrumental music and music education.

Since her arrival at Smith in 2022, Meghan has worked to increase the wind ensemble's performance standards while growing the ensemble’s profile on campus and throughout New England. The group has shared collaborative concerts with the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble and The Valley Winds and membership has grown to over 50 musicians. Her administrative and programming philosophy honors Smith College's history and leadership as a women's institution by elevating cis, transgender, and non-binary women composers and guest artists. She is the creator and coordinator of the Smith College Wind Conducting Internship, which provides mentoring and rehearsal/performance opportunities for female-identifying undergraduate students in the Five College Consortium.

Meghan's teachers include Flora May Edmondson and Melody Lord on piano, and Donna Milanovich, Alex Murray, and Jonathan Keeble on flute. She received her Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Illinois where she played piccolo in the Illinois Wind Symphony under James Keene, and her Master of Music in Instrumental Conducting from Sam Houston State University. She is an alum of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps and a member of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME).

Meghan lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with her husband Oliver and son Jack.

Gabe Southard

July 24 & July 31 Summer Series

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. He is also the Wind Ensemble conductor for the Northeast Massachusetts Youth Orchestras.

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 Spring 2025.

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.

Philip Sanborn

Fall Concert 2025

Philip Sanborn is in his nineteenth season as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Tri-County Symphonic Band. Mr. Sanborn resides in Marion, MA with his wife Karen (baritone saxophonist in the Tri-County Symphonic Band). He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where he studied with Abe Torchinsky.

Mr. Sanborn was recently named Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Bay Colony Brass. The Bay Colony Brass is a large brass ensemble based in Newton, MA, comprised of some of the finest brass instrumentalists in the greater Boston area.

As a trombonist and euphonium player, Mr. Sanborn has performed with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, Ocean State Lyric Opera Orchestra, Rhode Island Civic Chorale Orchestra, The Bass-Wingate’s Band (British Brass Band), Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Tri-County Symphonic Band, Marion Concert Band, Our Lady of Light Band, and the American Band of Providence, R.I.

As a jazz trombonist, Mr. Sanborn has performed both locally and internationally including the Montreux (Switzerland) Jazz Festival. Mr. Sanborn has appeared with Cab Calloway, Julius La Rosa, Bobby Vinson, Duke Bellaire Big Band (Bovi’s, East Providence, RI), John Allmark, Tony Giorgianni’s Jazz Odyssey, White Heat Swing Orchestra, Ken Hadley Big Band, SouthCoast Jazz Orchestra, Night Life Orchestra, Mike and Joe’s Big Band, Mahrud, Jorge Ferreira, International Portuguese Music Awards, and many others.

Mark Olson

Holiday Pops Concert 2025

Mark Olson serves as Director of Bands at Harvard University, he conducts the Sunday Jazz Ensemble, the Wind Ensemble, works with the Harvard University Band and assists with the administration of the Band program. Mark has guest conducted the Metropolitan Wind Symphony and served as Interim Conductor of the Cambridge Symphony one season. He is also the current Finalist for MetWinds. He has been a guest conductor and clinician for bands in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Iowa.

Olson earned degrees from Concordia College (B.M. Music Education) and the University of Minnesota (M.A. Music Education). His conducting teachers have included Craig Kirchhoff and J. Robert Hanson.

In addition to teaching and conducting, Mark is an active trumpet performer. He is currently a MetWinds member, former member of the Charles River Wind Ensemble, the Mankato Symphony Orchestra, Austin Symphony Orchestra, and Winona Brass Band. He has studied trumpet with David Baldwin, Gary Bordner, and J. Robert Hanson..

Lindsay Bronnenkant

Winter Concert 2026

Dr. Lindsay Bronnenkant directs the Symphony Band, teaches conducting classes, and leads a graduate conducting seminar at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Prior to her appointment at UMass Amherst, Bronnenkant taught basic conducting at Nazareth College and led the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Community Wind Ensemble as she completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting degree at the Eastman School of Music. In her time at Eastman, she served as Assistant/Associate Conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensembles, Finalist and Teaching Assistant for the University of Rochester Wind Symphony, and Teaching Assistant for basic conducting classes. She was a Frederick Fennell Conducting Fellow and a finalist for the Eastman School of Music Teaching Assistant Prize.

Prior to her graduate studies, Bronnenkant was the Director of Bands at the Aquinas Institute of Rochester, Director of the University of Rochester Pep Band, Director of the Newark High School Parade Band, and Interim Conductor of the Brighton Symphony Orchestra. She has additionally assistant directed the Eastman Community Music School Summer High School Wind Ensemble Workshop each summer since 2010.

Bronnenkant has had the opportunity to conduct premier ensembles such as the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the University of Michigan Symphony Band, and the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” at their 2017 Conductor Showcase Concert. A recipient of the American Prize Career Encouragement Certificate in wind conducting, she has also been invited to work with school, youth, and community ensembles on original and classic works.

As a composer, Bronnenkant wrote her first work for wind ensemble, Symphony for Singer, self-taught at 18 years old. Her first published work, Tarot (2021), was designated the runner-up to the 2021 National Band Association/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. The piece is based on original research on Gustav Holst and was presented as part of Bronnenkant’s doctoral conducting recital and lecture presentation.

Bronnenkant holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (D.M.A. Wind Conducting, ’22), the University of Michigan (M.M. Wind Conducting, ‘19), Nazareth College (B.M. Music Education, ’14), and the University of Rochester (B.S. Brain and Cognitive Sciences, ’10). Her conducting mentors include Mark Scatterday, Michael Haithcock, Jared Chase, and Nancy Strelau, and she has taken composition lessons with Keane Southard, Nancy Strelau, Christopher Winders, David Liptak, and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez. Bronnenkant is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi, and she is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. Additional professional affiliations include the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), the National Band Association (NBA), the College Music Society (CMS), and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).

Brian Cardany

Spring Concert 2026

Dr. Brian Cardany is the Director of Bands at the University of Rhode Island, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band, directs the athletic bands, and teaches instrumental conducting. He also serves as coordinator for both the Southern New England Honor Band and URI Commencement music activities, and is the conductor for the URI Alumni Wind Ensemble.

His efforts to promote new music and works of artistic merit has included a presentation at the Midwest Clinic, several contributions to the Teaching Music Through Performance series (GIA Publications) and regular involvement with commissions and the recording of new works.

As an avid supporter of life-long music making, Dr. Cardany also serves as conductor for four Rhode Island community ensembles, including The American Band, the Ocean State Pops Orchestra, the South County Chamber Orchestra, and the South Kingstown Community String Orchestra. Education