About the Music Director

Sean Kelley is Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at North Central College, where he directs The Naperville Winds, Chamber Players, Symphony Band and Cardinal Athletic Band Program, which comprises the Cardinal Marching Band and several basketball bands. Additionally, he instructs courses in instrumental conducting and instrumental ensemble methods. Prior to arriving at North Central, Sean served as Director of Bands for the Hillsboro and West Clermont school districts in Greater Cincinnati. He holds degrees in music education from Wittenberg University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and degrees in wind conducting from Wright State University and the University of Oklahoma.

A native of Fairborn, Ohio and now residing in Elgin, Illinois, Dr. Kelley is an active composer, arranger, show designer, guest conductor, and clinician for high school bands throughout Chicagoland and the Midwest. He has adjudicated music ensembles across the Midwest with the Central States Judges Association, and has served as Director of the Wright State University Concert Band, Assistant Director of the Cincinnati Junior Youth Wind Ensemble, and as a teaching graduate assistant with Wright State University’s Wind Symphony and the University of Oklahoma’s Wind Symphony, Symphony Band, “Pride of Oklahoma” Marching Band, and “Sound of the Sooners” basketball band.

In addition to studying extensively with his primary conducting mentors, David Booth and William Wakefield, he has opened new lines of research in the area of the interpretive development of wind band conductors. Through these endeavors, he has worked closely with Gary Green (University of Miami), Michael Haithcock (University of Michigan), Michael Hancock (University of Oklahoma), Gary Hill (Arizona State University), Joseph Missal (Oklahoma State University), and Warren Olftert (North Dakota State University). Sean is a member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), the College Music Society (CMS), and the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE). 

For more information about Dr. Kelley’s compositions, please click here.