Music Director & Conductor
Michael Burch-Pesses
Michael Burch-Pesses is the conductor and musical director of the Oregon Symphonic Band, Oregon’s premier adult band. A former Navy bandmaster, he has conducted bands throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, and is in wide demand as a guest conductor, clinician, lecturer, and adjudicator. He first came to OSB as a guest conductor in 1998 and became our full time conductor in 2002.
Since 1995 he has served as Director of Bands at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, where he conducts the Symphonic Band and Jazz Band, and teaches courses in conducting and music history. During his tenure at Pacific University the instrumental program has more than doubled in size and continues to achieve ever higher levels of musical maturity. He has received two awards for excellence in teaching from the University, and in 2018 the Oregon Music Educators Association recognized his teaching with the John C. McManus Distinguished Teacher Award, the highest award the Association bestows.
Dr. Burch-Pesses enjoyed a distinguished career as a bandmaster in the United States Navy before arriving at Pacific University, enlisting as a horn player and working his way up through the ranks to become the Navy’s senior bandmaster and Head of the Navy Music Program. During his Navy career he served as Leader of the Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Maryland. Under his direction the Naval Academy Band received the George Howard Citation of Musical Excellence from the John Philip Sousa Foundation, the highest civilian award for a military band. He also served as Assistant Leader of the Navy Band in Washington, DC, and Director of the Commodores, the Navy’s official jazz ensemble. He is the recipient of the Legion of Merit, the highest award ever given to a Navy bandmaster.
Dr. Burch-Pesses holds Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in conducting from the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He is an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association, and is Past President of the Northwest Division of the College Band Directors Association. He currently serves as President of the Oregon Band Directors Association.
Former OSB conductors are Dell Herreid (1987-1995), Bill Tuttle (1988-1994), and Dave Becker (1995-2005).
Associate Conductors
Alex Christy
Alex has been a music educator since 2006. A native of Denver, CO, she received a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Colorado State University before relocating to the Northwest. After beginning her career teaching band and choir in public schools she received a Master of Music in Instrumental Conducting from Portland State University and began working as a freelance music educator.
Currently she maintains a large private studio teaching clarinet and saxophone to students of all ages across the greater Portland/Vancouver area. She is a frequent instrumental clinician, guest conductor, and adjudicator in schools, youth instrumental ensembles, and festivals, and is a longtime member of the instructional staff of the Skyview High School marching band in Vancouver, WA. Ms. Christy performs with the Oregon Symphonic Band and the Zephyr Clarinet Choir.
Cynthia Plank
Cynthia Plank lives in Gresham, Oregon, and has been teaching band at Beaumont Middle School for 23 years. She completed her undergraduate degree in Music Education at the University of Oregon, and earned a Masters in Instrumental Conducting through the American Band College.
An active adjudicator and clinician for both jazz and concert bands in Oregon and Washington, Mrs. Plank has been nominated three times for the Music Educator Grammy Award, and was a quarter-finalist in 2015. Twenty-plus years and thousands of students later, Mrs Plank is humbled and gratified by the bands’ many accolades- over 200 awards in recognition of outstanding performances at jazz, concert band and marching band events. Cynthia Plank is also the founder of the Portland Community Wind Band (2005), and conducted the ensemble for several years. She performs frequently in the Portland area as a vocalist, bassist and flutist with the Second Wind Jazz Band and serves on the board of directors for the Oregon Symphonic Band, as well as Associate Conductor. Ms. Plank is also on the board of the Portland Jazz Festival, known as PDX Jazz. She is published in the series Teaching Music Through Performance- in Jazz, Volume II, and was selected as the Oregon band director for School Band and Orchestra Magazine’s 50 Directors Who Make a Difference (2016). When she is not in the classroom, on her bike or on stage, Ms. Plank enjoys gardening, birding, and traveling with her husband Corey.