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Directors
Captain Kenneth W. Megan, Director
Director Captain Kenneth W. Megan’s diverse, multi-faceted background within the Coast Guard Band includes work as musician, arranger, assistant director, director of public information, and producer of the Band’s acclaimed radio broadcast series. His body of work as a composer/arranger includes more than 30 arrangements and compositions. For 18 years he served as both assistant director and announcer for each performance. Megan produced a radio series featuring the Band, which included three complete, internationally broadcast 13-hour programs. In addition, he has supervised both the Band’s popular Young People’s Concerts and the Coast Guard Band Recital Series. Over the span of his career, his musical excellence and versatility have earned him the Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medal, two Coast Guard Commendation medals and the Coast Guard Achievement Medal.
Megan has represented the Band as an unofficial ambassador on several occasions. During the Coast Guard Band’s visit to the former Soviet Union in June 1989, Megan coordinated the events between the Ministry of Culture in Leningrad, the Soviet Armed Forces, and the American Consulate in Leningrad to set up the first tour of an American military band in that country. During that tour, one of Megan’s most memorable moments was conducting “The Stars and Stripes Forever” during a joint performance with the Leningrad Military District Band. In January 1993, Megan was the Coast Guard’s sole representative in the farewell program “An Armed Forces Salute to President Bush.” He represented the Coast Guard twice by serving on the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee for the inaugurations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush. Megan joined the U.S. Coast Guard Band in June 1975, was appointed the Band’s assistant director in July 1986 and director in October 2004.
A native of Norwood, Mass., Megan began his musical studies on clarinet at age 8, adding saxophone at age 12. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and has done post-graduate study in composition and conducting at the University of Connecticut, Hartt School of Music and Connecticut College. He earned a masters degree in business administration with a concentration in management and organization from The University of New Haven in 1990.
Chief Warrant Officer Richard E. Wyman, Assistant Director
Chief Warrant Officer Richard Wyman joined the United States Coast Guard Band in 1998 as the baritone saxophonist and was appointed assistant director in October 2004.
As assistant conductor and concert narrator on USCG Band performances, Wyman has conducted challenging musical selections across the United States and abroad, including the Band’s historic 2008 Japan tour. He has appeared as conductor for joint military band performances in Hawaii and Norfolk, Virginia, and regularly leads the Coast Guard Band at ceremonies, including Department of Homeland Security, US Coast Guard, and Coast Guard Academy events.
Wyman serves as producer of the Band’s recording projects, which include seven discs since 2004: Holiday Fanfare, American Landscapes, Gershwin Remembered, Russian Connection, Baby It’s Cold Outside!, Gardens of Stone, and Live in Japan. Wyman is actively involved in the Band’s educational initiatives. Prior to becoming assistant director, he founded the Band’s Music Outreach program, and coordinated the annual Young People’s Concerts and Young Artist Concert; three programs that reach over 10,000 students annually.
As saxophonist, he was a member of the USCG Band Saxophone Quartet, appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and at the World Saxophone Congress. Prior to joining the Coast Guard, Wyman was manager and baritone saxophonist of the Tower Saxophone Quartet, with whom he performed at the White House, including special performances for President William Clinton, senior staff, and Mr. and Mrs. Gore, and participated in the National Endowment for the Arts Chamber Music Rural Residency program for two years.
Wyman is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting at the University of Connecticut, studying with Jeffrey Renshaw. Other conducting studies include several years with Frank Battisti, and workshops with Neil Varon, H. Robert Reynolds, Jerry Junkin, Glen Adsit, Steve Peterson, and Charles Peltz. A native of Hampden, Massachusetts, Wyman holds Bachelor of Music degrees in saxophone performance and music education from the Eastman School of Music, and a Master of Music degree in saxophone performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Lewis J. Buckley, Conductor Laureate
Captain Lewis J. Buckley served as Director, U. S. Coast Guard Band, from June 1, 1975 through September 30, 2004. The Coast Guard Band’s fifth Director, he was the first to achieve the rank of Commander and then Captain, and he retired as the longest-tenured conductor of a major service band in American history. During his tenure, he and the Band’s dedicated senior leadership transformed the group from a local band that seldom performed far from the Coast Guard Academy into a major touring and broadcasting organization, representing the Coast Guard nationally and internationally through its live performances and media productions.
Captain Buckley guided the Coast Guard Band to a position of reknown among the world’s most respected wind bands. During nearly 30 years under his baton, the Band established an international reputation for excellence through its superb recordings; by airing more live and recorded concert broadcasts on National Public Radio than any other U. S. wind band, military or civilian; and through hundreds of highly acclaimed live appearances, including those at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago. He led the Band in seven Presidential Inaugurations and dozens of performances in Washington D.C, including four White House National Christmas Tree lightings and a rare performance on the floor of the House of Representatives.
He conducted for every American president from Gerald Ford through George W. Bush and for numerous international heads of state; led the Band’s first Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center appearances; worked with such diverse stars as Jim Nabors, Placido Domingo, and Walter Cronkite, among a great many others; and conducted the first concerts ever presented by an American service band in the Soviet Union, when the Coast Guard Band journeyed to then-Leningrad in 1989.
Upon his retirement, the Coast Guard awarded Captain Buckley the Legion of Merit, and the Coast Guard Band named him Conductor Laureate and endowed an annual invitation to a reknowned conductor, to be known as the Captain Lewis J. Buckley Guest Conductor.
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