Our Team
Dr. Timothy Shade
Artistic Director / Executive Director
Dr. Timothy Shade is the Director of the School of Music and Director of Bands at Wichita State University. Dr. Shade can also be seen working with the Wichita Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble and playing a trombone or euphonium around Wichita. With over fifteen years of experience conducting ensembles, he has garnered praise for his exciting programming, engaging personality, and “marvelous conducting.” Recently, Dr. Shade has been engaged in the creation of new works for wind band and cross-genre programming, such as works for wind band and film, wind band and dancers, and operas with wind ensemble accompaniment.
Dr. Courtney Long
Director of Operations
Dr. Courtney Long is an active saxophonist, educator, and clinician, performing both as a soloist and with various chamber and orchestral groups. She has also performed and presented at the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial and National Conferences several times. Dr. Long's research areas of interest are post-tonal motivic analysis and its application to agency and narrative theories, performative analysis, and motivic parallelism in post-tonal and Romantic music. You can find her most recent work published in The Saxophone Symposium (Volume 42). She currently teaches saxophone and music theory at Wichita State University, and she loves supporting music education at all levels.
Dr. Evan Ricker
Director of Communications
Dr. Evan Ricker is a music educator, queer/feminist scholar, and arts administrator from right here in the ICT. With over ten years of experience as a music educator, he recently completed his Ph.D. at Kansas State University. His dissertation focused on the dignity experiences of LGBTQ+ college wind band conductors. Ricker also has a diverse background in arts administration, having spent nine years working with the City of Wichita’s Cultural Arts and Services Division.
Samantha Shade
Director of Financial Operations
Hailing from Kentucky, Samantha Shade moved to Florida to complete a Masters in both French Horn Performance as well as Arts Presenting and Live Entertainment Management from the University of Miami. Upon moving to Wichita, she spent the last 7 years working in multiple roles with the Wichita Symphony. She has shifted gears slightly to start a new professional journey with Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters. With over 10 years of Arts Administration experience, she is eager to support and promote the work of the Wichita Wind Symphony.