Augustana Band Festival

The Augustana Band Festival has brought thousands of students from a 5-state area to participate in two days of ensemble and clinic work featuring three separate bands — Gold, Blue and Honor Bands — led by outstanding music educators/directors. Participating students are nominated by their high school directors, and the festival is organized and carried out by an Augustana committee of outstanding student musicians.

The grand finale concert of the festival will be held at the Tea Area High School Performing Arts Center in Tea, South Dakota, and will feature performances by the Gold, Blue and Honor bands, as well as the Augustana Band.

Join us for the 69th annual Augustana Band Festival:

✨ Band Fest | Nov. 13-14 ✨

Dr. Christopher Unger is the fifth conductor of the Augustana Band. He began his tenure at the university in September 2015. 

Unger served as the interim director of bands at the University of British Columbia. Prior to that, Unger served as the assistant conductor of both the Eastman Wind Orchestra and Eastman Wind Ensemble. At Eastman, Unger was honored with the Frederick Fennell Fellowship for Advanced Conducting Study, Evan Whallon Conducting Award and prestigious Walter Hagen Conducting Prize. His role at Eastman provided him with the opportunity to act as a producer on the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s 2013 release on Avie Records titled "Stravinsky-Octet/L’Histoire du Soldat." In addition to conducting the wind ensembles, Unger worked with the brass guild, trumpet ensemble and graduate chamber orchestra. He was also chosen to conduct a featured performance of "Imis" by Massimo Luaricella, the 2011-12 OSSIA International Composition Competition winner, with the Ossia New Music Ensemble.

Prior to his graduate studies, Unger was the instrumental music teacher at G.P. Vanier Secondary School in Courtenay, British Columbia. Under his baton, the instrumental ensembles at Vanier participated in regional and national festivals and received national recognition for their performances at Musicfest Canada. In his final year at Vanier, Unger was nominated for the CARAS/MUSICAN Teacher of the Year Award.

Unger won the American Prize in Conducting in the Wind Ensemble Division in 2013. The American Prize is a series of new, nonprofit national competitions in the performing arts — unique in scope and structure, providing awards, professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition. Each year, The American Prize rewards the best recorded performances by individual artists and ensembles in the United States.

Unger’s principal conducting teachers were Drs. Mark Scatterday and Colleen Richardson. He has attended a number of influential conducting symposiums where he worked with master wind conductors such as Donald Hunsberger, Frank Battisti, Charles Peltz, Michael Haithcock, Allan McMurray, Craig Kirchhoff, Michael Votta, Gary Hill and Rodney Winther. He maintains professional affiliations with the College Band Directors National Association, World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles and Conductor’s Guild.

Unger earned a DMA in conducting from the Eastman School of Music in 2013. Additionally, he holds degrees from the University of Western Ontario and University of British Columbia.

Dr. Shelley Axelson is the director of bands at Radford University in Virginia, where she conducts the wind ensemble, campus community band, graduate conducting students and teaches conducting and courses in the music education curriculum. She was previously an assistant professor of music education and assistant director of bands at Montclair State University in New Jersey for 12 years, where her duties included conducting the Symphonic Band and teaching courses in conducting, instrumental methods and music education. She also served as an academic advisor, faculty advisor for Sigma Alpha Iota and created a campus band and pep band so students majoring in a subject other than music would have an opportunity to continue their musical education and experiences.

Axelson earned an undergraduate degree in music education from the University of South Florida, where she studied conducting with Jerry Junkin, Michael Votta and Mallory Thompson. She earned a Master of Music degree in conducting at the University of Michigan, where her principal teacher was H. Robert Reynolds. After graduating from Michigan, she taught at Pasco Middle School in Dade City, Florida, and Richardson Junior High in Richardson, Texas. After earning a doctorate in conducting with Mallory Thompson at Northwestern University, Axelson was appointed director of bands at Central College in Pella, Iowa, where she was responsible for running all aspects of the band program. After three years in Iowa, she relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana, to become an assistant professor of music education at the University of Indianapolis. In 2009, she joined the faculty of the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University in New Jersey and has been at Radford University since the fall of 2022.

Axelson is a highly sought-after conductor, clinician, presenter, and adjudicator for professional development events, band festivals, honor bands and conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada. She recently presented at the National Association for Music Education Regional Conference in Atlantic City and Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago.

Axelson is a proud member of the College Music Society, College Band Directors National Association, National Association for Music Education, Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association and Sigma Alpha Iota.

Kiley Coyne serves as director of instrumental studies and assistant director of recruitment for the Augustana University School of Music, where she also instructs the Viking Marching Color Guard and conducts the Blue &. Gold Band. In addition, Coyne launched Augustana’s Club Women’s Collegiate Flag Football team in partnership with the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings in 2024 and serves as the team’s inaugural head coach. Prior to joining Augustana, Coyne served for several years as director of bands at Washington High School in Sioux Falls. She continues to clinic and write choreography for marching bands and color guards across the Midwest during the summer months and serves as color guard caption head for the Sioux Falls Lincoln High School Marching Band. 

A Sioux Falls native, Coyne earned both a Master of Music degree in conducting and Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of South Dakota. She is pursuing a doctorate in Higher Education Leadership Administration at Arkansas State University. Coyne was named the South Dakota Outstanding Young Music Educator in 2018 and remains actively involved in the Sioux Falls arts community — serving on the board of the Festival of Bands Committee, performing with the Sioux Falls Municipal Band and assisting with the Summer Youth Band.