Dr. Abigail Pack, Associate Professor of Horn at UNCG, native of Roanoke, Virginia, received her training from East Carolina University (BMA), University of Iowa (MM), and University of Wisconsin-Madison (DMA) where she was a Bolz Teaching Fellow. Before assuming her current position at UNCG she was Horn Faculty at James Madison University from 2001 to 2008. She has also been on faculty at Knox College in Galesburg, IL; Western State College in Gunnison, CO; and taught in the Gunnison Watershed School District. An avid symphony player, Dr. Pack has held positions with the Barton Symphony Orchestra, Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and currently performs with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival Orchestra, the Southwest Chamber Orchestra, and the Opera Roanoke Orchestra. Other venues have included performances with the Iowa Brass Quintet, Western Slope Brass Band, and Massanutten Brass Band. Recent performance and presentation highlights include the National Flute Association (Washington D.C. with the Montpelier Winds), the International Horn Symposium (University of Cape Town, South Africa), the International Midwest Band and Orchestra Conference (Chicago), and the Kennedy Center of The Performing Arts (Washington).

The UNCG Wind Ensemble is a highly select concert band of fifty performers majoring in music at the UNCG School of Music. Performers in the current Wind Ensemble are drawn from sixteen states, Slovenia, and Hong Kong. The ensemble has enjoyed a distinguished record of performance throughout its history. In January 1992, the UNCG Wind Ensemble performed “A Tribute to John Philip Sousa” to a capacity crowd of 2,700 at the Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Twice, the Wind Ensemble earned critical acclaim from The Washington Post following concerts in the nation’s capital. The Wind Ensemble has performed throughout the eastern United States in recent years including the first-ever performance, in 1987, by a North Carolina collegiate ensemble in Lincoln Center, New York City. The Wind Ensemble performed that same year in West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. The Wind Ensemble has recorded nineteen commercially-available albums which have received widespread praise.

In 1985, the Wind Ensemble performed a series of concerts with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer-conductor Karel Husa. In 1988, the UNCG Wind Ensemble performed in New Orleans, Louisiana by invitation of the College Band Directors National Association for the Southern Division convention. On a number of occasions, the Wind Ensemble has commissioned and premiered works from leading band composers. In November of 1990, the Wind Ensemble performed for the Southern Division of MENC convention. In February 1994, the UNCG Wind Ensemble performed for a convention of the CBDNA and NBA in Williamsburg, Virginia. In March 1999, the Wind Ensemble performed for the national convention of the American Bandmasters Association in Melbourne, Florida. In February 2000, the Wind Ensemble performed for the CBDNA Southern Division Convention hosted at UNCG. In 2006, the Wind Ensemble performed in The Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, Maryland, shared a concert with the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in Arlington, Virginia, and collaborated with Karel Husa, David Dzubay, and Carter Pann in the performaces of their music, including two commissions. In 2009, the Wind Ensemble performed at the CBDNA National Convention at the University of Texas at Austin and performed additional concerts in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana,s and Texas as a part of a week-long tour. The Wind Ensemble performed at the 2011 National Convention of the American Bandmasters Association and the 2013 National Conference of the College Band Directors National Association hosted in Greensboro. Most recently, the UNCG took a twelve day concert tour through the Czech Republic, Austria, and Italy, the highlight of which was a concert in Prague’s famed Dvořák Hall.