About
Director Michael Stanley
has
been our passionate and hardworking Instrumental Music Director since
2006. Mr. Stanley was born in Virginia, but grew up in Southern
California. He began his musical studies on guitar but soon
switched to the French Horn, studying with Louise MacGillivray and
Richard Todd, among others. He earned his BA in Music Summa cum Laude
from UCLA in 1995 and subsequently taught Instrumental Music at Walter
Reed MS in Studio City for eight years. There his groups earned
consistent Superior ratings and his Jazz Band was featured at the CMEA
All-State Convention.
As a
conductor, he has a wide variety of experience that includes founding
and directing the Stanley Wind Ensemble, an elite wind band in the
Ventura County area, conducting numerous pit orchestras throughout
Southern California, and many workshops taught by such notable
conductors as Kenneth Kiesler, Marin Alsop, and Keith Brion. He
earned his Master of Music in Conducting from CSU Long Beach in 2007,
where he studied under Dr. Richard Rintoul. His thesis project was a
complete, staged performance of Igor Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat.
Famed percussionist and composer William Kraft, who recorded the work
under Stravinsky’s baton, lauded this performance with a rousing
“Bravo!”
Since that time, Mr. Stanley has taught Instrumental Music at Burbank
High School, including classes in Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Marching
Band, Jazz Band, String Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra and AP Music
Theory. He lives in North Hollywood with his wonderful wife
Jennifer, also a music teacher, his lovebird “Birdo,” and the infamous
Dodger Dog
Percussion Instructor Barney Lane
Mr. Lane studied at North Texas State and has 20 years of film and TV music experience. He has also taught in the Burbank schools for many years and his own children went through the BHS IMA program. It is also rumored that Mr. Lane moonlights as a secret agent, but we can’t tell you any more or we’d have to kill you.
Booster President Art Booth
