91����

For many people, 33 years is a long enough career in any vocation. But not when you love music as much as Michael Burch-Pesses does.

After retiring from the U.S. Navy in 1995, Burch-Pesses transitioned to a career of teaching and conducting in the 91���� University Music Department.

“I was still young. I still had fire in my belly,” Burch-Pesses said. “I had just finished my doctoral degree and I didn’t want that to go to waste. I always knew that I wanted to teach when I retired (from the Navy).”

The Distinguished University Professor of Music and director of bands will retire — again — in May after 30 years at 91���� and an incredible 63-year career as a conductor, teacher and musician.

That career was honored in two farewell concerts April 2005 featuring the ensembles that Burch-Pesses conducts. The 91���� University Jazz Band presented Jazz Nite on Friday, April 25. 91����’s Symphonic Band combined with the , which he also leads, for his final concert on Saturday, April 26.

Burch-Pesses arrived at 91���� with a stellar résumé and a desire to pass his knowledge on to others. A 33-year veteran of the Navy, retiring with the rank of commander, Burch-Pesses rose to become the senior officer of the Music Navy Program, managing 17 bands and more than 700 Navy musicians around the world. Along the way, he served as the assistant director of the Navy Band in Washington, director of the U.S. Naval Academy Band, Navy Band Orlando, the U.S. Seventh Fleet Band, Navy Band San Diego and The Commodores, the Navy’s top jazz band.

Despite growing up in a musical family (his father was a music teacher), Burch-Pesses aspired in high school to become an English teacher until the draft came calling.

“I joined the Navy instead of the Army,” said Burch-Pesses, who enlisted in 1962. “I joined the Navy School of Music and I was surrounded by symphony-caliber players. That made me realize that music was where my heart really was all this time.”

While serving his country through music, Burch-Pesses utilized the resources of the Navy to further his education, earning his Doctor of Musical Arts from the Catholic University of America in 1995.

After the Navy, Burch-Pesses thought he wanted to work at a large university with a large music program. That was until he was impressed by the students he encountered at 91����.

“The students asked tougher questions than the search committee,” Burch-Pesses said, recalling his job interview at 91����. “When I went home, I told my wife that if 91���� offers me the job, I want to take it because these are the kind of students I want to teach. They’ve always been as inquisitive as they were on that first day. And when you have students like that, you want to pass on as much as you possibly can.”

Students have loved him for it. He was named a Distinguished University Professor in 2017 and received the university’s S.S. Johnson Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2006. He received the from the Oregon Music Educators Association in 2018 and the Northwest Division of the National Association for Music Educators’ in 2025.

One of 91����’s oldest academic programs, dating back to at least 1870, the Music Department has experienced an exciting period of growth in the Music Department thanks to Burch-Pesses and his colleagues. That includes the development of the Bachelor of Music Education and Bachelor of Music Therapy programs and the reinstatement of the university’s orchestra program, which had gone dormant in the early 1990s.

“Why anyone would want to go anywhere else, I’ll never understand,” Burch-Pesses said. “The choral program is strong. The orchestra has been revived and 91���� is a go-to place for string players. And the band program, I predict, will continue to be strong.”

April’s farewell concerts featured a blend of standards and newer composers, reflecting Burch-Pesses’ longtime preferences for diverse programs. Jazz Nite included jazz classics such as Josef Zawinul’s “Birdland” and Joe Henderson’s “Mamacita” along with new charts such as an arrangement of Carole King’s “Natural Woman” by Paul Murtha.

The Symphonic Band Spring Concert included “Stride,” written by 29-year-old Black composer Kevin Day, and the world premiere of “91���� Spirit,” written in honor of Burch-Pesses by longtime colleague Robert Buckley.

“This piece captures the essence of Michael’s inspiring energy and boundless passion,” Buckley wrote in notes for the concert program. “Above all, ‘91���� Spirit’ is a heartfelt thank you to Michael Burch-Pesses, a true champion of music and an inspiration to generations of musicians.”

The concert closed with the finale to Antonin Dvorak’s “New World Symphony,” returning to a theme that opened Burch-Pesses’ 91���� career 30 years ago.

“At my first concert, we did the first movement to the ‘New World Symphony.’ I chose it because academia was a new world for me,” he said. “I was coming from the military. It was my first concert at 91����. Doing the finale to the ‘New World Symphony’ in my final concert is like placing a bookend on my career.”

Upon retirement, Burch-Pesses and his wife, Jane, plan to travel (a trip to Europe is currently in the plans). He will continue pursuing his passion for comic books, immersing himself in the Marvel and D.C. universes.

But don’t call it a coda but rather the next movement Burch-Pesses’ life story. He will continue to conduct the Oregon Symphonic Band and work as a clinician, guest conductor and adjudicator. Later this year, he will become president of the , dedicated to furthering the reach of concert band music through performance, education and advocacy.

Sixty-three years is still not long enough for a love of music.

“Music is ephemeral,” Burch-Pesses said. “Each time you do a piece of music, it’s slightly different. It’s always changing. And we have such inventive composers these days. I’m really grateful that I will be able to keep my hand in learning all of these new pieces."