Remembering H. Robert Reynolds
H. Robert Reynolds, former Principal Conductor of the USC Thornton Wind Ensemble, died on January 30, 2026. He was 91.
An internationally recognized educator, author and orchestrator, “Bob” Reynolds lived a life devoted to music from an early age. Gifted an E-Flat alto horn from his grandfather when he was nine years old, his musical education was further inspired by instructors through middle school and high school growing up in Pennsylvania. Reynolds took the baton naturally, as early as his senior year at Meadville High, after volunteering to lead the school band during rehearsal. From that moment on, he was never too far from the podium.
After earning degrees in Music Education and Performance at the University of Michigan, Bob began his collegiate teaching career in 1962 at what was then Long Beach State College. Former students would later join the Los Angeles Philharmonic, play on the soundtracks for major motion pictures, and conduct at esteemed universities nationwide. After appointments as Director of Bands at both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his alma mater, the University of Michigan School of Music, Reynolds accepted a position as Principal Conductor of the USC Thornton Wind Ensemble at the USC Thornton School of Music in the early 2000s where he held the H. Robert Reynolds Professorship in Wind Conducting for 19 years.
Bob’s dedication to nurturing classical ensembles at our nation’s highest levels was self-evident. Reynolds served as conductor of the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings (DCWS) for 35 years, collaborating with members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Opera, and for 20 summers he served as conductor of the Young Artists Wind Ensemble at the Tanglewood Institute, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
H. Robert Reynolds conducted performances in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Powell Hall in St. Louis, Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and at Tanglewood’s Seiji Ozawa Hall. Internationally, he conducted concerts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Holland Festival in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, at the 750th anniversary of the City of Berlin, and at the Sydney Opera House. In May of 1984, in an historic tour with the Michigan Symphony Band, he gave the premiere performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s opera Samstag aus Licht at La Scala Opera in Milan, a work he and his students recorded for Deutsche Grammophon.
Professor Reynolds earned hundreds of awards and recognitions during his career. From 1983-1985, he served as President of the College Band Directors National Association, later becoming the first recipient of that organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2010, Duquesne University awarded him an honorary doctorate in recognition of his impact as a conductor and educator. In 2019, he became the first band conductor since John Philip Sousa to be inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.
H. Robert Reynolds is survived by his wife, Kristin, and three children, Susie Reynolds Bringhurst, Patti Reynolds Kiraly, Kirsten M. Reynolds; four grandchildren, Jeremy White, Sarah Mills, Katie Liebendorfer, and Amy Chapey; and two beloved great grandchildren, Gabriella and Daniella White.
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Featured photo courtesy of the LA Phil.