Ogechi Ukazu

Ogechi Ukazu

Ogechi Ukazu is a doctoral candidate in wind conducting at the University of Texas at Austin and currently serves as the Director of Bands at Kinder High School of Performing and Visual Arts in Houston ISD. Most recently, she was Interim Director of Bands at  the University of Wyoming in Laramie, WY. Prior to this appointment, she served as an Assistant Instructor at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas following her role as Visiting Instructor of Instrumental Music at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas.

Ms. Ukazu holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Houston and a Master’s Degree in Conducting from Sam Houston State University. She began her career in Spring ISD, where, in 2011, the Claughton Middle School Symphonic Band performed at the Midwest International Band & Orchestra Clinic. In July 2022, Ms. Ukazu was named Associate Conductor of the Dallas Winds, one of the few professional (non-military) wind ensembles in the world. She has also served as the primary conductor for the Austin Brass Collective, a group of professional brass musicians in the Central Texas area that perform diverse programs of original works and arrangements in a variety of performance settings.

Ms. Ukazu is an avid proponent of high quality music education for all students and has presented on music education advocacy at workshops, clinics, and conventions around the state of Texas and the country, including the Texas Music Educators Association Convention,  the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention, the Conn-Selmer Summer Institute, the Southern Methodist University Art of Teaching Music workshop, and the Sam Houston State University Teaching in the Middle School Band workshop