Dr. Brian Messier is Director of Bands and Senior Liaison for Hopkins Center Ensembles, where he directs the Wind Ensemble and Marching Band, and teaches courses in applied conducting, musical leadership and arts entrepreneurship. After arriving at Dartmouth in 2019, Messier launched a Mexican Composition Competition, which he has since stewarded into The Mexican Repertoire Initiative at Dartmouth; a musical, cultural and diplomatic initiative sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth. The initiative is committed to bringing Mexican repertoire to the international stage, providing opportunities for Mexican composers, combating institutionalized racism in educational and professional performing ensembles, and bringing artists together across borders. In the spring of 2023, the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble toured Mexico in partnership with the US Department of State and the Mexico Ministry of Culture's celebration of the 200th Anniversary of Diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico. Recently, the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the 2024 CBDNA Conference at Cornell University, where they will offer a program of original Mexican repertoire for wind band.
In addition to his work at Dartmouth, Messier is founder and Artistic Director of the 2016 American Prize-winning Valley Winds based in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, a group for which he also won the 2023 American Prize in conducting. Prior to his position at Dartmouth, Messier served as Artist in Residence and Director of the Wind Ensemble at Williams College, and served for 11 years in the public schools of Belchertown and Amherst, Massachusetts, receiving invitations to perform at the state conference with each program respectively. Lauded for his work with ensembles ranging from youth to professional, Messier is in high demand as a clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor.
Messier received his bachelor's degree in music education from Ithaca College, his master's degree in wind conducting from the University of Massachusetts, and his doctoral degree in conducting from the University of Minnesota where he studied with Craig Kirchhoff.