RIT Concert Bands

About the Director

Robert Truan is currently the Director of Concert Bands at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Previously, he was the Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga where he helped in all aspects of the music department. He completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting with a related field in Music Theory from the University of North Texas. His research, an analysis of Paquito D’Rivera’s Caribbean Berceuse (2021), was recently presented at an international theory conference in Prague, Czech Republic entitled, “Contemporary Music Theory: Approaches, Challenges, Limits.” He also presented pedagogical research at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in 2021. Dr. Truan graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Georgia in 2009, where he continued to complete his Master’s in Music Education in 2013.  

During his residency at North Texas, Truan served as a teaching fellow, wind studies librarian, and video director. He interacted with and taught all seven performing ensembles associated with UNT Wind Studies, as well as the Green Brigade and Volleyball Band. Alongside his studies and teaching responsibilities, Truan played percussion with the UNT Wind Symphony and the Lonestar Wind Orchestra under the direction of Eugene Migliaro Corporon, the UNT Brass Band under the direction of David Childs and Raquel Samayoa, and the UNT Steel Band under the direction of Mark Ford. His work can be found on the Respair album of the North Texas Wind Symphony as well as an upcoming GIA video rehearsal series.  

Truan taught public high school band in Georgia for eleven years: five years at Whitewater High School and six years at Decatur High School respectively. Truan’s marching bands have earned seven grand championships with consistent Superior ratings. They have marched in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland and the Inaugural Christmas Day Parade in Prague, Czech Republic. His concert bands have been the featured guest ensemble at the University of Georgia’s JanFest in 2014, Music for All’s Southeastern Regional Concert Festival at Georgia State University in 2017, and the Southeastern United States Concert Band Festival at Troy University in 2020. In 2018, the Decatur High School Wind Ensemble won The Exemplary Performance Award from the Georgia Music Educator’s Association as well as two American Prizes: High School Division of Band/Wind Ensemble Performance and the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for Performance of American Music out of band, chorus, orchestra, and musical theater ensembles.  He is an active judge, clinician, and performer and spends his spare time transcribing and composing music. His affiliations include Phi Kappa Lambda’s National Music Honor’s Society, Society of Music Theory, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, National Association for Music Education, and the National Band Association. He is happily married to his favorite artist, P. Seth Thompson.