Dr. Andrea E. Brown was appointed the Associate Director of Bands at the University of Maryland in 2018. In this position she conducts the University of Maryland Wind Ensemble, serves as the Director of Athletic Bands, and teaches conducting. Brown is formerly a member of the conducting faculty at the University of Michigan where she served as the assistant director of bands and was a faculty sponsor of a College of Engineering Multidisciplinary Design Project team researching conducting pedagogy technology. She also served as the director of orchestra and assistant director of bands at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. She is a frequent guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator in the US, Europe, and Asia.

While under her direction, the UMD Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the 2022 College Band Directors National Association Eastern Division Conference in Baltimore. The ensemble has performed works by a diverse range of composers and has collaborated with soloists Willie Clark, Robert DiLutis, Jennifer Piazza-Pick, and Amanda Staub. Brown led a consortium commissioning Omar Thomas’s setting of “Shenandoah” and has participated in commissions for works by Katahj Copley, Shiyung Li, Catherine Likhuta, and Harrison Collins.

During her time at Maryland, the UMD “Mighty Sound of Maryland” Marching Band has collaborated in halftime shows with local artists such as the Critical Condition Band (DC GoGo), Mawty Maw (rap artist), Grace Chin (drum set), and the Maryland Steel Pan Collective. MSOM has also been a part of joint performances with the Howard University “Showtime” Marching Band and the Penn State “Blue” Band, and has participated in special performances at The Kennedy Center (DC), the Heisman Trophy Banquet (NY), and Bands of America Regionals (MD).

Brown completed a DMA in instrumental conducting at UNC Greensboro where she was a student of John Locke and Kevin Geraldi. While at UNCG, she was both guest conductor and principal horn on UNCG Wind Ensemble's fireworks! and finish line! CDs released on the Equilibrium label. Brown has also had several rehearsal guides published in the popular GIA Publications series, "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band" and has presented at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Oxford Conducting Institute, Music For All Summer Symposium, the Yamaha Bläserklasse in Schlitz, Germany, the International Computer Music Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the College Music Society International Conference in Sydney, Australia, and multiple times at the College Band Directors National Association National Conference.

A proponent of inclusion and equity issues in the music profession, Brown is a frequent guest speaker on these topics. She currently serves on the CBDNA Diversity Committee and was a founding member of the Drum Corps International InStep Committee. Brown is the founder of “Women Rising to the Podium”— an online group of over 4700 members supporting and celebrating women band directors. Additionally, she also served as the chair of the Sigma Alpha Iota Women’s Music Fraternity Graduate Conducting Grant for eight years and is an advisor of the SAI chapter at the University of Maryland.

Brown previously served on the brass and conducting instructional staff of the DCI World Champion Phantom Regiment (2004 – 2017). Other marching organizations she has instructed include the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band and Carolina Crown. Brown has served as a music judge for Drum Corps International since the 2022 season and has been a member of the John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Shield Jury since 2021. Additionally, Brown was invited to be the Eastern Region Director of the 2024 D-Day 80th Anniversary Collegiate Mass Band and will be leading the group in its performances in Normandy, France.

As a performer, Brown was a member of the AA Brass Quintet, which won the International Brass Quintet Competition hosted by Fred Mills at the University of Georgia. She performed with the horn sections of the Boston Brass All Stars Big Band, North Carolina Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, and the Brevard Music Center Orchestra. Brown has studied brass performance and pedagogy with Abigail Pack, J.D. Shaw, Jack Masarie, Freddy Martin, Dottie Bennett, Randy Kohlenberg, Richard Steffen, and Ed Bach.

Originally from Milan, Tennessee, she is a graduate of Austin Peay State University and earned a master of music degree in horn performance and a master of music education degree with a cognate in instrumental conducting from UNCG. Prior to her position at Georgia Tech, Brown was the assistant director of bands at Austin Peay State University and taught public school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Dallas, Texas. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Kappa Lambda, and CBDNA. She was awarded the Rose of Honor as a member of Sigma Alpha Iota Women's Music Fraternity and is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. Brown lives just outside of Washington, D.C., with her dog Applesauce.