Dr. Barry Ellis is Professor of Music and Director of Bands and Orchestra at UW-Platteville. He conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, University Symphony Orchestra and is an instructor of instrumental conducting, woodwind methods and wind literature. Ellis is also Director of the UW-Platteville Pioneer Summer Band Camp, Band Conductor’s Art Workshop, Founder and Director of the UW-Platteville Tri-State Honors Band Festival, the Wisconsin College and University Faculty Woodwind Ensemble, and the Rountree Wind Symphony. Ensembles under his direction have performed at the Wisconsin Music Educators Conference, the National Band Association-Wisconsin Chapter Convention, and the NAfME National Biennial In-Service Conference.
Ellis is Principal Bassoonist with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra and is Artistic Director of the Rountree Ensemble, a professional chamber ensemble in residence at UW-Platteville. As a bassoonist of Rountree, Ellis was featured on the live radio broadcast Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen on Wisconsin Public Radio. In 2011, he performed with other UW-Platteville woodwind faculty at Carnegie Hall. Ellis was the conductor of the Dubuque Youth Symphony Orchestra for eight years. He was selected by the University of Wisconsin System as a Wisconsin Teaching Fellow, received the National Band Association-Wisconsin Chapter Citation of Excellence three times and has presented clinics for the Wisconsin Music Educators Association and has had articles published in the College Band Directors National Report and in The Instrumentalist magazine.
On the Rountree Wind Symphony’s recording of The Music and Art of J. Clifton Williams (Mark Records) Bandworldmagazine proclaimed “Band aficionados worldwide owe a great deal of thanks to Dr. Barry Ellis and the Rountree Wind Symphony for their unparalleled tribute to James Clifton Williams…As a bonus, the program booklet is truly something to behold. I cannot recommend this recording enough; it is a MUST for your collection.” The World Association for Symphonic Bands’ WASBE World magazine said, “For those unfamiliar with the wind band music of J. Clifton Williams or those wishing to have an excellent anthology of his music, this is the perfect recording.” The recording was on the 2014 Grammy Entry List Appearance and was Grammy Nomination eligible.
Ellis’ present and past professional affiliations include the College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, Music Educators National Conference, Wisconsin Music Educators Association, International Double Reed Society, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He is the Wisconsin state chair of the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association and the college representative for the National Band Association-Wisconsin chapter. Ellis received degrees from Furman University and Virginia Commonwealth University, and his doctorate from the University of Illinois where he was the Harry Begian Conducting Intern. He is active throughout the United States and Canada as an adjudicator and clinician.