Dear Future All-Stars,
On behalf of the entire Nebraska Junior All-Stars educational team, I want to welcome you. You have shown exceptional promise as a young musician. As a member of the band, choir, and orchestra, you will perform for audiences in Hawai’i as we experience the best of the island of O'ahu. You will be in the capable hands of three fantastic collegiate level conductors as well as a team of dedicated music educators from around Nebraska who will be there to make this trip both memorable and musically educational. We are excited to have you join us on this unforgettable adventure!
Chris Tucker
Nebraska Executive Director
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On behalf of the entire Nebraska Junior All-Stars educational team, I want to welcome you. You have shown exceptional promise as a young musician. As a member of the band, choir, and orchestra, you will perform for audiences in Hawai’i as we experience the best of the island of O'ahu. You will be in the capable hands of three fantastic collegiate level conductors as well as a team of dedicated music educators from around Nebraska who will be there to make this trip both memorable and musically educational. We are excited to have you join us on this unforgettable adventure!
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Meet Your All-Star Conductors
Our ASOM staff prides itself on the conductors hired to work with the finest young musicians in your area. These renown conductors will be working with our All-Stars students.
Dr. Alex Wimmer
Band Conductor
Dr. Alex Wimmer currently serves as the Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at Kansas State University. He directs the Wind Ensemble and the Pride of Wildcat Land (KSUMB), instructs graduate courses, serves as the faculty sponsor for Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, and oversees the entire Kansas State University Band Program. Dr. Wimmer previously served as the Associate Director of Bands (2023-2026) and the Assistant Director of Bands (2017-2023) at Kansas State University. In these positions he directed the Wind Symphony, Cat Band (basketball pep band), Volleyball Band, was Associate/Assistant Director, arranger, and drill designer for the KSUMB, and instructed undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting, arranging, and marching band techniques. Dr. Wimmer coordinated the K-State Summer Music Camp and K-State Leadership and Auxiliary Camp. The Wind Symphony was selected to perform at Kansas Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop three times (2019, 2022, 2026) in the nine years he was director. He currently serves as one of the Assistant Directors of the Manhattan Municipal Band.
Originally from Gretna, Nebraska, Dr. Wimmer received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, his Master of Music degree in Education with an emphasis in Wind Conducting from Kansas State University, and his Doctorate in Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction from Kansas State University. Dr. Wimmer was the Director of Bands at Gretna High School and the Assistant Director of Bands at Gretna Middle School. He was a recipient of the Jack R. Snider Young Band Director Award in 2011 and served on the Nebraska Music Educators Association Leadership Academy from 2011-2012.
Dr. Wimmer is in demand as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator as well as a percussion specialist. His professional affiliations include the Kansas Music Educators Association, the Kansas Bandmasters Association, the National Association for Music Education, the College Band Directors National Association, the Percussive Arts Society, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Kappa Lambda, and Phi Beta Mu. He is currently the president of the Kansas Bandmasters Association, as well a co-chair of the New Band Director Bootcamp during the association’s annual convention.
Dr. Derrick Fox
Choir Conductor
Dr. Derrick Fox is the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Creative Endeavors and a Professor of Choral Conducting at Michigan State University. Prior to MSU, he was the Director of Choral Activities and Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Assistant Professor of Choral Music at Ithaca College. Dr. Fox has taught at the middle school, high school and collegiate levels. His conducting experiences have included singers from upper elementary choirs through collegiate and community choirs. He was awarded the 2021 Bryan R. Johnson Service Award by the Nebraska Music Educators Association and the 2022 University of Nebraska Omaha Award for Distinguished Research/Creative Activity.
He has conducted all state and honor choirs and has been in residence at universities across the United States and abroad. He also leads professional development and organizational change initiatives for music focused organizations throughout the United States. His professional educational workshops focus on assessment in the choral classroom, building classroom community and culture, rehearsal strategies, choral conducting techniques and shape note singing in the African American community. Dr. Fox conducted the 2019 National ACDA Middle School/Junior High Mixed Honor Choir and traveled to South Africa as a 2019 ACDA International Conductor Exchange Fellow where he led choral workshops and rehearsals in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Potchefstroom.
As a baritone soloist, Dr. Fox has collaborated with various organizations; among them are the Arkansas Symphony, Lansing Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Columbia Chorale, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha Symphonic Chorus, University of Missouri, Michigan State University, Webster University and the Espaço Cultural (Brasilia, Brazil). He can be heard singing selections from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess on the compact disc In This Hid Clearing, available on the Naxos Classical Music label. He most recently the baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony with the Michigan State University Symphonic Orchestra and Choral Union.
As an author, Dr. Fox has written articles for many organizations and his compositions and arrangements are published by Hal Leonard, Music Spoke, Hinshaw and Brilee Music. His book, Yes You Can: A Band Director’s Guide to Teaching Choirs is published by Carl Fischer. He launched The Derrick Fox Choral Series with Music Spoke to publish works by and about marginalized and minoritized people. Dr. Fox also curates the Foundation in Song Choral series in partnership with Hinshaw Music to publish music that supports pedagogical goals while remaining accessible to choirs of all levels. He has cultivated educational partnerships many musical organizations, among them Hal Leonard, Sounding Spirit and the Country Music Association Foundation. He was the creator, writer and host of the KVNO’s radio show Reflections of Us, a show focused on amplifying diverse voice in the classical music. Dr. Fox is the President of the Midwestern Region of the American Choral Directors Association. https://www.drderrickfox.com/
Joshua Roach
Orchestra Conductor
Joshua Roach serves as an Assistant Professor of Music at the Boston University School of Music where he is the Director of the BU Wind Ensemble. He also works within the orchestral program, teaches conducting to graduate students, and provides training in pedagogy to undergraduate performance majors. Prior to joining the faculty at the BU, Roach taught at a myriad of institutions throughout the United States, including The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, The College of New Jersey, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Peru State College, and California Lutheran University. He has been a clinician for bands and orchestras from across the country and has served as guest conductor for the Los Angeles Winds, cover conductor for Pacific Symphony, and assistant conductor for the Young Musician’s Foundation Debut Orchestra and the Downey Symphony Orchestra. As an honor band and honor orchestra conductor, Roach has led groups in California, New Jersey, New York, and Nebraska. In 2027, he will return to California to lead the All-State High School Golden State Band. Internationally, he has led tours with ensembles to Asia and Europe and served as assistant conductor for the Landesjugendorchester of Baden-Württemberg, a highly selective youth orchestra in Southern Germany.
Before pursuing teaching full-time in higher education, Roach resided in Los Angeles, where he was the music director of the Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble, instrumental coach for the “Grammy Signature School Award” Diamond Bar High School, and orchestra manager for the USC Thornton School of Music. For eleven years, he spent his summers teaching at the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program where he worked with domestic and international middle and high school students. From 2015-2017, he was on the brass staff for the Phantom Regiment drum and bugle corps.
Ensembles in Southern California, Michigan, Ohio, and New Jersey have performed Roach’s compositions and arrangements, and his television music has been played on network broadcast shows such as Sport Science, Crime 360, Project Runway, and Last American Cowboy. He has assisted in productions by Turner Classic Films, PBS, Fox, Universal, and DreamWorks. In addition to the works available on his website, he is also published by Murphy Music Press.
Roach is a member of the National Association for Music Educators, the College Band Directors National Association, and is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi. At the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in performance, Graduate Certificate in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television, and a Master of Music degree in instrumental conducting. At the University of Michigan, he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting. Roach’s primary conducting teachers and mentors have been Michael Haithcock, Larry Livingston, Carl St.Clair, H. Robert Reynolds and Sharon Lavery. He studied composition with Frederick Lesemann, Jack Smalley, and David Spear. He has studied trumpet with Boyde Hood, Timothy Morrison, Russell Plylar, Judith Saxton, and Mark Niehaus.
Meeting Info
Stay tuned for meeting dates and times! All meetings will take place virtually and be offered at various dates/times.