Loras John Schissel is a senior musicologist at the Library of Congress. As a composer and conductor,he has traveled throughout North America, Europe ,and Asia, dealing orchestras, bands, and choral ensembles in a broad range of musical styles and programs. This summers his eight year as a conductor of the Blossom Festival Band.
A native of New Hampton, Iowa, Loras John Schissel studied brass instruments and conducting with Carlton Stewart, Frederick Fennell, and John Paynter. In the years following he studies at the University of Northern Iowa, he has distinguished himself as a prominent conductor, orchestrator, and musicologist. Mr. Schisses is founder and music director of the Arlingotn-based Virginia Grand Military Band, an ensemble comprised for current and former members of the four United States service bands.
As a composer and orchestrator, Loras John Schissel has created an extensive catalogue for more than 400 works for orchestra, symphonic wind band, The Hudson, which first appeared on PBS in April 2002, received extensive coverage and critical acclaim. As a recording artist, Mr. Schissel has amassed a large discography with a wide variety of ensembles across many musical genres. Mr. Schissel's recordings with the Virginia Grand Military Band have won numerous awards, including the Suddler School for “outstanding musical excellence.” He has also embarked on a series of recordings of basic symphonic wind-band music with the Schissel Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
Loras John Schissel is a leading authority on the musical compositions of Percy Aldridge Grainger, Aaron Copland, Roger Sessions, and Serge Koussevitzky (music director of the Boston Symphony 1924-1949). He is co-authoring The Complete Literary and Musical Works of John Philip Sosa with the distinguished Sousa biographer Paul E. Bierley. In 2003, Mr. Schissel was named editor of the Gerry Mulligan Publishing Project, a joint critical edition series of Mulligan's work being created by the Library of Congress and the Gerry Mulligan Publishing Company.
Mr. Schissel appeared in the award-winning PBS documentary If You Knew Sousa for the American Experience series, as well as in Ben Wattenberg's Think Tank. He continues to serve as a commentator on the Voice of America and for the United States Information Service. In recognition of his world travels, Mr. Schissel was inducted into the Circumnavigators' Club of New York in May 2002 (John Philip Sousa IV, great-grandson of the composer, commissioned Mr. Schissel to oversee the completion of Sousa's last March, from Material left unfinished at his death. The resulting “Library of Congress” march was first performed in May 2003 by the Virginia Grand Military Band at a gala concert celebrating the opening of the Library's new Kluge Center for Scholars; the march was given its Ohio premiere during the 2003 Blossom Festival. Earlier this year, Loras John Schissel was elected to membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association.
Loras John Schissel will be conducting The Phoenix Symphony in "Big Screen Legends: Featuring the Music of John Williams" May 9-10, 2008.