Pictures from the 2025 ABA Convention, February 26 – March 2, Chattanooga, TN

The American Bandmasters Association, founded in 1929, with John Philip Sousa as Honorary Life President, recognizes outstanding achievement on the part of Concert Band conductors and composers. The current membership (invitational) comprises approximately 300 band conductors and composers in the USA and Canada, and 80 Associate Members (music businesses and corporations that provide significant services to bands and to the publication of band music.)

A Message from the President  . . . 

Hello! I hope this finds each of you having had a bit of time this summer to enjoy family, travel, or do other things that may be difficult at other times!  Even if you are working all summer, maybe you had a bit of an opportunity to rejuvenate. As many of you know, June and I were fortunate to spend some time in the Colorado mountains enjoying the Buffaloes and Burros at Custer State Park in South Dakota before driving to Illinois to hear Bruce Moss’s wonderful Wheaton Municipal Band  in concert, where Alfred Watkins was the guest conductor. It was great to see several other friends also attending this concert. All of you will get to hear this exciting group of musicians at the ABA Chicago Convention in March. 

After the concert, we spent some time at the convention hotel following-up on some of the scheduled excursions. You are going to enjoy the Swissotel and the proximity to downtown Chicago.  Having said that, please plan to come to the convention, functioning as a “city person.” Plan to do things like… have your cab (from dinner) drop you off at the concert hall, to save time. If you are driving, use the information that will be provided to save money on downtown parking.  We will have buses for certain things, but many things are easily walkable.  On Saturday, we hope to run the buses on a loop, so that you have opportunities to come and go at different times. If you want to be intellectual and really enjoy the Chicago Institute of Art experience on that day, sign up for the docent-led tour.  If you want a day to just relax and be entertained, join the Navy Pier tour…see the city from the water view, ride the Chicago Flyover (Exhilarating!), and choose from 100 places to eat… everything from fast-food to sit-down lunch. We also took the Wendella Architectural Boat Tour and found it very interesting and, yes, there is seating inside in a glass area if it is a bit cool. (Still has great views!)

The hotel sign-up is available on the ABA website. (Main Menu, “Annual Conventions”) Please go ahead and book your room for March. The basic rooms that are listed are very nice and have various views of the lake, park, and downtown. If you choose to upgrade to a corner room, they are spacious and have multiple views.  Between meetings, concerts and excursions, I am not sure how much time you will actually spend in your room. The sign-up for the excursions, banquet, etc., will be available later this fall.  Please continue to check the ABA website for periodic updating of information concerning all of the convention activities.

I would be remiss if I did not thank the 2026 ABA Convention Hosts and Planning Committee!  Brian and Megan Covey, assisted by Scott and Janice Casagrande, and Alex and Kathy Kaminski, are working diligently to make sure that everyone has a wonderful time in Chicago! Thanks to these folks for all of their work!

Note: ABA is now functioning as a 501c3 organization.  What this means to you is that any donation you choose to make to the convention, or other ABA activities, will be tax deductible.

Also: After the first request for convention guest conductors was sent to the membership, we are now very close to filling all of the available conducting opportunities. If you are truly interested in being considered to conduct in March 2026, please click this link to fill out the request form ASAP.   

Besides convention-planning, the Board, standing committees, and several ad hoc committees, are working hard to clarify some of the important operations that help ABA to function. As we have items approved, you will be receiving updates on what these groups have accomplished in support of ABA.

As always, if you have questions, ideas or need information, please ask!

Roy C. Holder, President 
American Bandmasters Association 

ABA Associate Members