The American Bandmasters Association, founded in 1929 with John Philip Sousa serving as Honorary Life President, recognizes outstanding achievement among concert band conductors and composers. Its invitational membership includes approximately 300 wind band conductors and composers from the United States and Canada, as well as Honorary Members from Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. The organization also includes approximately 50 Associate Members—music individuals, businesses, and corporations that provide significant services to bands, band programs, and the publication of band music.
Composer ZHOU TIAN wins the 2026 Sousa-ABA-Ostwald Composition Contest Award
The American Bandmasters Association and the John Philip Sousa Foundation are proud to congratulate composer Zhou Tian (JOH TEE-en) on winning the Sousa-ABA-Ostwald Composition Contest for the second time. He won the contest in 2022 with Sinfonia.
Since 1956, the contest has spurred the creation of many important new works for concert band and has generated more original band music than any other competition of its kind. Entries are screened and judged by a committee of ABA members. Zhou’s winning 2026 entry, Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble, will be performed by the UMKC Wind Symphony at the next ABA annual convention in Kansas City, Missouri, February 24–27, 2027.
Zhou is a Grammy-nominated Chinese-American composer whose music has been performed by leading performers and orchestras, such as Manfred Honeck, Yuja Wang, Jaap van Zweden, Long Yu, Noah Bendix-Balgley, the New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band, Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, Dover Quartet, and the Shanghai Symphony, where he recently served as Artist-in-Residence. His Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned and recorded by Louis Langrée and the Cincinnati Symphony, earned him a GRAMMY Award nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2018, making him the first Chinese-born composer and the second Asian composer (following Tōru Takemitsu) honored in that category. In 2019, Beijing Music Festival named him “Artist of the Year.”
Currently an associate professor of composition at Michigan State University, Zhou was born into a musical family in Hangzhou, China, and attended Shanghai Conservatory. Zhou moved to the United States when he was 19 and holds degrees from the Curtis Institute (Bachelor of Music), the Juilliard School (Master of Music), and USC Thornton School of Music (Doctor of Musical Arts). His principle teachers include Jennifer Higdon, Christopher Rouse, and Stephen Hartke. He is a first-prize winner of Washington International Composers Competition, ASCAP/Lotte Lehmann Art Song Competition, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Glick Award, and has held Composition Fellowships from Tanglewood and Aspen.
You can read more about Zhao Tian here.
Spring Message from ABA President Dennis Fisher
It’s impossible to fully express all the feelings I have moving into this new role as President of the American Bandmasters Association. As I said at the convention, it is both humbling and an enormous honor. The legacy that has been left to us by our predecessors is awe inspiring to say the least. The impact that ABA has made is due to their groundwork, and it is incumbent on current and future members to uphold that standard of innovation and excellence.
The American Bandmasters Association has long been the standard bearer for the support and betterment of concert bands. The Sousa-ABA-Ostwald Award sits as the premier award for composition for concert band. Dating from 1956 with Clifton Williams’ “Fanfare and Allegro,” the annual award has been on the leading edge for recognizing the finest in new pieces for concert band, contributing to the repertoire for bands worldwide. More recent initiatives, which can be found under News and Projects tab, highlight the thoughtful and creative work of our many member committees. Future projects are exciting and when brought to fruition will further the many initiatives of the organization.
Elected membership into the American Bandmasters Association is a coveted capstone to highly successful and influential careers of our members. This recognition of musical excellence, creativity and leadership provides a foundation for the concert band’s role in the growth and lives of our students. The mentoring we have received from our predecessors in the “Lest We Forget” section, inspires us to pay it forward to future generations of leaders in the band world. I am eternally grateful for this opportunity to serve this organization and our profession. Without the support of past mentors and students, none of this would be possible. I am thrilled about the work of ABA over the coming year culminating with “Goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City here we come” in February 2027!
Sincerely,
Dennis Fisher, 88th President
The American Bandmasters Association
Email: Dennis.Fisher@unt.edu
ABA Associate Members
