Festival Information, Guidelines and Rules 2026
Band Adjudicators
Cheryl Hollinger
Cheryl first picked up a trumpet when she was 11. That led to a lifelong passion for the trumpet and a 40-year career as a professional musician.
Cheryl grew up in Lititz, Pennsylvania, and went on to gain a Bachelor of Science in Music Education at West Chester University. She won entry to The Juilliard School in New York, gaining her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees.
She came to New Zealand in 2000 to become Associate Principal Trumpet in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Prior to that, Cheryl played in the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans (principal trumpet), the Florida Symphony Orchestra (second trumpet), and the Savannah Symphony Orchestra (co-principal trumpet).
As a soloist, she performed with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the Florida Symphony Orchestra, the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, the Hilton Head Orchestra, and the Suburban Symphony Orchestra and Kankakee Symphony Orchestra in Illinois Cheryl has recorded with Nine Inch Nails on the “The Fragile” album, and played at several international events, including The Proms in London, the Aichi Expo in Japan, the Olympic Arts Festival 2000 in Sydney, with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in both the United States and Italy, and at the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder.
She left the NZSO after 25 years to focus on teaching – and now, also, her presenting role on RNZ Concert. She’d always had a secret desire to work in radio. Cheryl lives in Wellington and enjoys time with her partner and their two Jack Russells, seeing friends and family, doing gym workouts and some travelling.
Thomas Willmann
Dr. Thomas Willmann is a music educator, conductor, instrumentalist, and composer/arranger. He serves as the Director of Instrumental Studies and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Texas Wesleyan University.
He earned his Ph.D. in 2022 from Florida State University in Music Education with an emphasis on Instrumental Conducting, his Master’s of Music Education in 2016 with an Instrumental Conducting cognate from the University of Colorado Boulder, and his Bachelor’s degree in 2005 in Music Education with a focus on Instrumental music from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He was a music educator for primary and secondary levels for fourteen years in Colorado and Indiana.
Dr. Willmann is an active clinician, adjudicator and regular guest conductor in the DFW area. He has been a performer in several ensembles for over 25 years. Besides the United States, he has also performed in Russia and Austria. Some of the groups he has performed with include the Colorado State University (CSU) Symphony Orchestra, Soli Deo Gloria of Colorado Springs, the Greater Fort Worth Community Band, and the Little London Winds in Colorado Springs.
Thomas is a member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), Florida Music Education Association (FMEA), Colorado Music Educators Association (CMEA), Florida Bandmasters Association (FBA), International Society of Music Educators (ISME), and College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA). He is also a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Phi Kappa Psi.
He has been fortunate to attend master classes from Colonel Michael Colburn, Colonel Lowell Graham, Craig Kirchhoff, Ray Cramer, Julie Giroux, Richard Saucedo, Alfred Watkins, Bruce Pearson, Loras Schissel, Richard Blatti, Dick Mayne, Anthony Maiello, Jeff Reynolds, Gillian MacKay, and Wendy McCallum. One of his favorite memories is playing under the baton of Frederick Fennell at Butler University in 2004. He has compositions for Concert Band, Flex-Band, Small Ensembles/Chamber, and Instrumental Solos.
Thomas enjoys a wide variety of activities such as cycling, snowboarding, rock climbing, tennis, running (sometimes), wildlife photography, and camping.