Dr. Donald DeRoche was the Director of Bands at DePaul University in Chicago from 1979 to 2008, and in 20 of those years was Chair of the Performance Studies Division. Dr. DeRoche earned degrees in music education and performance at the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in music education at Northwestern University. For three years he was clarinetist with the U.S. Army Band in Washington, D.C., and for two years was principal clarinetist with the Victoria (Canada) Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as a guest artist at the Alaska Festival of Music, and soloist with the Czech, Arcturus and Vancouver quartets. Upon his return to the United States, Dr. DeRoche spent six years directing the band program at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois. He has conducted the DePaul Wind Ensemble in Austria, Russia, Estonia, Poland, Ireland, and Hungary, and has been guest conductor with professional and conservatory wind orchestras in Estonia. From 2006-09 he served as Executive Director of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, an international organization dedicated to wind music.

Dr. DeRoche is a champion of 20th century wind band and wind chamber music, and he has produced several recordings in support of that interest. French Plus 2 on the Toshiba/EMI label was recorded in 1992 and released in Japan. Chicago Symphony Orchestra clarinetist John Bruce Yeh is the featured soloist on the album Ebony Concerto, which is available worldwide on the Reference Recordings label. Chicago Symphony Orchestra trombonist Charles Vernon is the soloist on a recording titled Eight Minutes to the Loop on Wild Ear Music. Four recordings of 20th century classics featuring Chicago Symphony Orchestra members Larry Combs, Donald Peck and Mary Sauer are available on Albany Records. Also on Albany Records, Friends in Low Places, features tuba player Floyd Cooley (formerly of the San Francisco Symphony) and Charles Vernon performing concertos. The year 2006 saw the release of Music for Trumpet and Winds with John Hagstrom of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Rami Solomonow (viola) and Julie DeRoche (clarinet) are soloists on the 2007 release, Ostinato Fantastico, which also includes music from Spain and Colombia. The final recording in this series, titled Music for Joyful Occasions, was released in April of 2008. The recording features flute soloist Mary Stolper performing the William Alwyn “Concerto for Flute and Winds” and Charles Vernon playing Gunther Schuller’s “Eine Kleine Posaunenmusik.”