Dr. Michael W. Mapp is the Director of Bands and coordinator of the Graduate Instrumental
Conducting program at New Mexico State University. Dr. Mapp joined the music faculty at
NMSU in 2017. Prior to working at NMSU, Dr. Mapp taught at Washburn University in Topeka,
Kansas, as Director of Bands and served as associate conductor of the Kansas City Civic
Orchestra. He also enjoyed a successful tenure as a public-school teacher. At NMSU, Dr.
Mapp’s responsibilities include serving as the conductor of the Wind Symphony, Chamber
Winds, Campus Band, administering the graduate program in wind conducting, teaching
courses in music education, conducting, literature, and overseeing all facets of the university
band program. Additionally, he serves as the conductor of the Mesilla Valley Concert Band and
the Las Cruces Youth Orchestra Collective.
Dr. Mapp maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and
producer, performing throughout the United States and abroad. Bands under his direction
have performed at numerous state, regional, and national conferences, including multiple
Kansas Music Educators Association state conventions and multiple College Band Directors
National Association regional conventions. Most recently, the NMSU Wind Symphony was
invited to perform at the 2022 World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles
Conference in Prague, Czechia, and the 2024 Southwest Regional College Band Directors
Association Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. He has been an invited presenter and lecturer
at multiple universities, as well as at state, national, and international music conferences,
including the CBDNA regional and national conferences. He has served as the College Faculty
Representative for the Kansas Bandmasters Association and the Kansas State Chair for the
National Band Association. He has also served on the Board for the New Mexico Music
Educators Association and is the New Mexico representative for the Southwest Region of
CBDNA.
As an advocate of new music, Dr. Mapp annually commissions and premieres new works for
wind ensemble. He is the founder of the Young Composer Initiative, a composition competition
that solicits new works for wind ensemble internationally. In 2024, he guided a panel discussion
on new music for winds with living composers at the 2024 WASBE Conference in Gwang-Ju,
South Korea. Recent commissions, consortiums, and premieres include works by Catherine
Likhuta, Peter Meechan, Tom Davoren, Isabella Morril, Kevin Walczyk, Joni Greene, Chin Ting
Chan, Kevin McKee, Viet Cuong, Aaron Perrine, and Joel Puckett.
Michael holds degrees from New Mexico State University, Wichita State University, and The
University of Kansas. He is a member of the New Mexico Music Educators Association, Texas
Music Educators Association, the National Association for Music Education, College Band
Directors National Association, World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and Phi
Beta Mu International Band Masters Fraternity. He enjoys life in Las Cruces, New Mexico, with
his wife, Dr. Hyerim Mapp, and their dachshund, Karma.
