William Kinne, DMA

William Kinne is Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Southern Maine’s Osher School of Music, where he conducts the University Concert Band and Osher Wind Ensemble, leads the graduate wind conducting program, and teaches conducting. In July 2024, he was an invited presenter at the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) International Conference in Gwangju, South Korea. The previous year, he presented research on the wind music of William Grant Still at the national conference of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA).

Dr. Kinne is Artistic Director and conductor of the Casco Bay Wind Symphony, the premier community wind band in Maine, which presents a full season of concerts featuring large-ensemble masterworks, chamber winds, and newly commissioned works. He also conducts the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble, an auditioned high school honor band that performs annually in Merrill Auditorium, and in 2024 served as interim conductor of the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra.

An advocate for new music, Dr. Kinne has been a consortium member supporting new works by John Mackey, Carlos Simon, Erika Svanoe, and Joel Puckett. He has led Maine and regional premieres, including Rollo Dilworth’s Weather, a setting of Claudia Rankine’s poem responding to the murder of George Floyd, which he conducted with the USM Concert Band and Choirs with the composer in residence. His programming emphasizes multimedia concerts, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and works by composers from underrepresented backgrounds, and his ongoing research examines the wind band music of Charles Ives and William Grant Still.

A sought-after guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, Dr. Kinne works with all-state, regional honor, university, and secondary-school ensembles across New England and the Southwest, and has presented at numerous state music educators’ conferences. Before joining USM, he was Associate Director of Bands at Northern Arizona University, where he conducted the Symphonic Band and directed the athletic bands; under his leadership, the NAU Lumberjack Marching Band was invited to perform a halftime show for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals in 2018. Earlier in his career, he led school and preparatory band programs for more than a decade.

He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting and Wind Literature from the University of Colorado Boulder, the Master of Music in conducting from the University of Michigan, and the Bachelor of Music in music education from the University of New Hampshire. His principal conducting teachers include Allan McMurray, Donald McKinney, Michael Haithcock, and Andrew Boysen, Jr.