Guest Conductor

Captain Michelle A. Rakers, Assistant Director of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band will be the 2014 ACB Convention Band Guest Conductor.

Assistant Director Captain Michelle A. Rakers joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in May 1998 as a trumpeter/cornetist. She was appointed Assistant Director and commissioned a first lieutenant in July 2004 and promoted to her current rank by the Commandant of the Marine Corps General Michael W. Hagee on Jan. 1, 2006. She is both the first female Assistant Director and first female commissioned officer in the history of “The President’s Own.”

With the Marine Band, Capt Rakers has performed at the White House, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and across the country during the band’s annual concert tour. She has served as a conductor and coordinator for the fall and winter Chamber Music Series, and was nominated for her current position in 2003. On June 13, 2004, she conducted her first band concert, at the U.S. Capitol.

Capt Rakers, a 1986 graduate of the Marian Heights Academy in Ferdinand, Ind., received a bachelor’s degree in music management from the University of Evansville in Indiana in 1990. She continued her studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where she earned a master’s degree in music performance in 1991. She is currently pursuing a doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where she is studying with Harlan Parker. Her trumpet instructors include James Bursen of the University of Evansville, Vincent Cichowicz of Northwestern University, and Chris Gekker from the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. Her conducting instructors include Mallory Thompson of Northwestern University and Kate Tamarkin of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In 2005, she received the University of Evansville’s Distinguished Alumni Award and was granted an honorary induction into Tau Beta Sigma, a national music sorority.

Prior to joining “The President’s Own,” Capt Rakers performed with the Kalamazoo Symphony in Michigan and the Evansville Philharmonic in Indiana.

Photo and biography credits: http://www.marineband.marines.mil/Members/Officers.aspx