John Hersey High School Band Director
DIRECTOR OF BANDS, Scott Casagrande, John Hersey High School
scott.casagrand@d214.org
Mr. C's article in the October "The Instrumentalist"
Scott J. Casagrande has been Director of Bands at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, IL since 1999. He was previously Director of Bands at Plainfield High School in Plainfield, IL from 1991 to 1999 and at Stephen Decatur High School in Decatur, IL from 1988 to 1991.
A native of Fairfax County, VA, Mr. Casagrande received his B.S. and M.S. in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He has completed additional coursework at the University of Miami, North Central College and VanderCook College of Music.
Ensembles under Mr. Casagrande’s direction have been selected to perform at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic (Symphonic Band – 2007 and Jazz Ensemble - 2004), 14 of the last 15 Illinois Superstate Concert Band Festivals and four National Concert Band Festivals. In addition, ensembles under his direction have won numerous state and regional jazz ensemble and marching band competitions, including the Purdue Jazz Festival (six times), Jazz in the Meadows (two times) and the Marching Illini Band Festival. In 2007, the John Hersey band program was awarded the prestigious Sudler Flag of Honor from the John Philip Sousa Foundation. In addition, the John Hersey High School Music Department has been designated as a “Signature School” by the Grammy Foundation. Ensembles under his direction have performed feature concerts at the Chicago Jazz Festival, Les Anches D'Azur French Riviera Music Festival, Orchestra Hall in the Chicago Symphony Center (twice) and Carnegie Hall in NYC.
In 2004, he was one of three conductors in the United States chosen to participate in the NBA International Conducting Symposium in Rome, Italy, conducting the Italian National Army Band. He has received twelve Citation of Excellence Awards from the National Band Association, the School District 214 Special Recognition Award, the Plainfield HS Stephen Hunt Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator Award and the Stephen Decatur HS Teacher Excellence in Service Award. Active in the National Band Association, he has been elected a High School Representative on the Board of Directors twice and he has been a member of the Revelli Composition Contest Committee since 2003.
Mr. Casagrande and school booster parents started the Plainfield Invitational Concert Band Festival in 1996 and the Chicagoland Invitational Concert Band Festival in 2001. Both of these festivals annually host the finest bands in the Chicago area and nationally-recognized adjudicators and clinicians.
Mr. Casagrande is an active guest conductor and adjudicator, having worked with many honor and district bands throughout the MidWest. He is a member of the National Band Association, Illinois Music Educators Association, Music Educators National Conference, the International Association for Jazz Education, Phi Beta Mu and the Italian American Band Directors Association of Illinois. He and his wife, Janice, have two daughters, Mary and Julia.