Thomas Caneva
Director
1998 – 2006
Dr. Thomas Caneva was appointed to the position of Associate Director of Bands and Director of the Marching Illini in 1998, after serving in a similar role at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He held the position of UI Associate Director of Bands until 2006. In addition to his work with the Marching Illini, Caneva oversaw all athletic bands, conducted Symphonic Band I, and taught additional music education courses. As a UI student, he performed as a member of the percussion section in the Symphonic Band under Dr. Harry Begian, and on snare drum in the Marching Illini, under the direction of Gary Smith.
Under his leadership, the Marching Illini became the first college marching band from the United States to perform at the London Tattoo held in England’s Wembley Arena (2001). The Marching Illini returned to Ireland and England in 2004 and produced four CD’s (It’s Gameday, A Championship Season, Here Come the Illini and Perspectives) under Caneva’s direction. Additional performances included the Sugar Bowl (2002), the MicronPC.com Bowl (1999), a St. Louis Rams game, and an appearance on the television game show The Wheel of Fortune with members of the Marching Illini in 2002. He served as the coordinator and host of the 2005 CBDNA National Intercollegiate Athletic Band Symposium, which was held at the University of Illinois.
Caneva resigned from Illinois in 2006 and assumed the position of Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Ball State University for nineteen years. Upon his retirement in 2025, he was named Professor Emeritus of Music/Director of Bands Emeritus. While at Ball State, the BSU Wind Ensemble was invited to perform at numerous festivals and conventions including three CBDNA National Conferences, two CBDNA Division Conferences, two ABA Conventions, two IMEA Conferences, the MENC North Central Division Conference and the Mid-North Horn Workshop. An advocate of new repertoire for wind band, Caneva was part of more than forty-five commissioning projects and premieres with the BSU Band program and he hosted over one hundred guest conductors, composers and performing artists during his tenure. He also founded the BSU Wind Band Conducting Workshop.
Active as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout the United States and Canada, Dr. Caneva has presented lectures/clinics/sessions at CBDNA Regional and National Conventions, the CBDNA Conducting Symposium, the CBDNA National Intercollegiate Athletic Band Symposium, and at Music Educator’s National Association State and Division Conventions. He served as the coordinator and host of the 2005 CBDNA National Intercollegiate Athletic Band Symposium, which was held at the University of Illinois. In 1995 Dr. Caneva guest conducted at the CBDNA National Conference in Boulder, CO and the 7th World Association of Symphonic Band and Ensembles International Convention in Hamamatsu, Japan. Additional guest conducting appearances have included university, public school, and community bands and wind ensembles at district, regional, and all-state events. Since 2011, he has served as the Concert Band Division Coordinator for the Music for All Summer Symposium and is a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician.
Previous to his appointment at the University of Illinois, Dr. Caneva was a member of the music faculties at the University of Colorado, Auburn University, and University of Texas. His teaching career began in 1980 at Lincoln-Way Community High School in New Lenox, Illinois.
As a director of university marching bands at Auburn University (assistant director) and the University of Colorado, Caneva’s bands performed at numerous bowl games including the Orange Bowl (1990 & 1991), Fiesta Bowl (1993 & 1995), Cotton Bowl (1986 & 1996), Holiday Bowl (1995), Blockbuster Bowl (1991) and Citrus Bowl (1987). In 1996, the University of Colorado “Golden Buffalo” Marching Band performed in Dublin, Ireland for the city’s St. Patrick’s Week Festivities and produced a CD (Echoes of the Flatirons). His band’s appeared at Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcon professional football games, the Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C. (1988) with the Auburn University Marching Band, and the Tournament of Roses Parade (1982) with the Lincoln-Way Community High School Band.
In 2001, Caneva was elected to membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, where he serves as a member of the Board of Directors and the Chair of the Sousa-ABA-Ostwald Composition Contest committee. In 2014, he was elected to membership in Phi Beta Mu. Other honorary and professional affiliations include CBDNA, NAfME, Kappa Kappa Psi (honorary membership), and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (honorary membership). Caneva remains active as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States and Canada, and he is a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician.
Originally from Lockport, IL, Caneva received his BS in Music Education from the University of Illinois, MM in Wind Conducting from the University of Texas, and DMA in Instrumental Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado. He holds the unique distinction of also having served on the faculties of each of these universities.