Lone Star Wind Orchestra

The Lone Star Wind Orchestra (LSWO) was founded in April 2006 by Robert Clark, Barry Knezek, and Christopher Tucker. The driving force behind forming this performing ensemble was the collective agreement between the founders to build an orchestra from a player’s perspective and be a vital participant in the North Texas arts community. The founders were in agreement that the organization needed to focus on these core values: making the best possible music, giving back to the community, and reaching out to the under-served.

The LSWO performs classical transcriptions, chamber music, and contemporary wind band literature in some of the finest performance halls available, including the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, the Charles W. Eisemann Center, and Moody Performance Hall. The Lone Star Wind Orchestra is proud to nurture musical growth through its guest artists and conductors, and to support the expansion of the wind band repertoire through commissioning new works.

Among the organization’s many achievements, the Lone Star Wind Orchestra has formed the Lone Star Youth Winds, a high school honor band; expanded the organization’s successful “Lone Star Kids” program, providing a concert experience to Title-I music programs; and presented forty-three (43) “Music Changing Lives” scholarships to deserving high school seniors. The LSWO has recorded and released three professional CDs, American Tapestry in 2008 and Converging Cultures in 2011 and One for All in 2020 (nominated for the 63rd Grammy Awards long ballot), which are all distributed nationally. The LSWO has also commissioned new works for wind band by composers John Mackey, Omar Thomas, Julie Giroux, Donald Grantham, Cindy McTee, and Joseph Schwantner. In the summer of 2008, the LSWO appointed Eugene Migliaro Corporon as the organization’s first Music Director and Conductor. The LSWO has performed twice (2008, 2010) at the Texas Bandmasters Association convention in San Antonio, TX, the 2012 Arkansas Bandmasters Association convention in Fort Smith, AR, the 2012 Midwest International Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago, IL, and the 2015 World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensemble convention in San Jose, CA.

These accomplishments are in addition to the numerous programs at no cost to community outreach groups and organizations. The Lone Star Wind Orchestra strives to embody “Music Changing Lives” to audiences and as a role model for young students, encouraging the pursuit of music involvement as a life-long passion.

#MusicChangingLives

For more information, visit www.lswo.com