Hudson Valley Symphonic Wind Ensemble

James D. Wayne is the former Music Director and Conductor of the Hudson Valley Wind Symphony, the organization he founded and conducted from 1988 to 2005. From 1978 through 1981 he was Music Director and Conductor of both the American Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the University of Bridgeport Symphonic Wind Ensemble. During the early 1970's, his New Rochelle High School Symphonic Wind Ensemble was considered one of the finest in music education, highlighted by numerous invitational performances at music education conventions and featured in a live broadcast on WQXR in New York.

In 1984 Mr. Wayne founded Second Hearing Records, one of the first commercial all-compact disc labels. As a recording engineer in this venture, he shared in the 1987 Liszt Grand Prix du Disque International for his recording of Joseph Villa’s Liszt Recital.  He has made master recordings for well-known artists Paula Robison, Eugene Istomin, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Anthony Newman, Ruth Laredo, and Karen Mason. His recordings of the University of Oklahoma Percussion Orchestra conducted by Richard Gipson and University of Houston Percussion Ensemble conducted by Blake Wilkins are currently available on Albany Records.

Since 1989 Mr. Wayne has owned and operated Silverdisc Productions in White Plains, New York, specializing in the production and manufacturing of compact disc audio supplements for the college music textbooks of such publishers as Prentice Hall, McGraw-Hill, Schirmer Books and Pearson Custom Publishing.

Actively committed to the development and popularization of the symphonic band as a serious concert organization, Mr. Wayne has made numerous commissions for new literature including a work presently in preparation by Eric Ewazen. His past commissions and première performances of new band literature have included Bill Holcombe's Casey at the Bat (2006), William H. Silvester’s transcriptions for flutist Paula Robison of Vaughan Williams‘ The Lark Ascending  (2003) and Romance for Flute, Op. 37 by Saint-Saens (2002), Fantasia on an Irish Folk Ballad by Elliot Del Borgo (1998) and Credimus, Op. 167 of Joseph Willcox Jenkins (1995).

Mr. Wayne, a native of Long Island, is a graduate of Hofstra University where he received both B.A. in Psychology and M.S. in Music Education degrees. Since 1977 he has lived in Tarrytown, New York with his wife Joan.