Colonel Dennis M. Layendecker is commander and music director of The United States Air Force Band, Washington, D.C., "America's International Musical Ambassadors." He assumed command on July 9, 2002. Originally from Springfield, Illinois, his Air Force career began in 1983.
Colonel Layendecker is a graduate of the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Music Education in 1975. He began his conducting studies in 1977 while on full piano scholarship at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, Belgium. He subsequently augmented his conducting studies during summer master classes at the Academia Musicale Chigiana in Sienna, Italy, and at the Vienna Academy of Music. In 1981, he earned a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and in 1988, he completed a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the Air Force, Colonel Layendecker served on the music faculties of The American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, Illinois and Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington. He is currently a member of the American Bandmasters Association.
During his 24-year Air Force career, Colonel Layendecker has performed throughout America, the United Kingdom and Europe--from Los Angeles to New York, Vienna to London and Oslo to Bucharest. Gifted in foreign languages, he is fluent in French, German and Italian. He has performed in such notable venues as the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles; Semper Opera, Dresden; Neues Gewandhaus Leipzig; Royal Albert Hall in London; and the Beethovenhalle in Bonn. He has led his ensembles before numerous world leaders to include six American presidents, Queen Elizabeth of England, and Pope John-Paul II.
His radio and television broadcast credits include appearances on BBC, German Radio and Television, Polish National Radio, Radio Luxembourg, RAI Italy, and public radio and national television across America.
Colonel Layendecker is a graduate of the Air War College, a distinguished graduate of the Air Command and Staff College, and a graduate of the Air Force Academic Instructor's School and Squadron Officer School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. His military decorations include the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Organizational Excellence Award with oak leaf cluster, National Defense Service Medal with bronze star, and the Global War on Terrorism Medal.
