Mr. David Hutter is in his eleventh year of being a band director at Maine South High School in Park Ridge Illinois. His classes at South include the Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Advanced Percussion Techniques, and Intermediate Percussion Techniques. He also directs the Marching Band and Pit Orchestra.
Under his direction, the Maine South Bands have been selected to perform at Illinois Superstate in 2022, 2023, and named 2A Honor Band for 2024. In the spring of 2025, the Wind Ensemble has been invited to perform at Music for All’s National Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis. The Marching Band has traveled to Disney World and Washington DC recently as well. Mr. Hutter frequently is a judge and clinician for festivals and contests around the Chicago suburbs for IGSMA, NimCon, and ILMEA.
Prior to his time at Maine South, Mr. Hutter served as a Band Director in Fayetteville Arkansas where he taught multiple bands and percussion classes at the Middle School, Junior High, and High School. While in Fayetteville, he also directed the Steel Pan Band at the University of Arkansas.
Mr. Hutter received his degree in Music Education (applied Percussion) graduating summa cum laude from the University of Kentucky (UK). During his time in Kentucky Mr. Hutter performed with a variety of musical ensembles including the Marching Band, Symphony Orchestra, Percussion Ensemble, and Wind Ensemble when they traveled to China prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He was also the Co-President of the UK Collegiate National Association for Music Education Chapter.
As a performer, Mr. Hutter was a proud member of the Rosemont Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps in 2009. He traveled the country as the steel pan and percussionist in the Trop-Rock band, Conch Republic. He has performed in community bands in Kentucky, Arkansas, and Illinois.
Mr. Hutter recently received his Master’s Degree in Music Education from Vandercook School of Music. Mr. Hutter is an Innovative Percussion Educational Artist and is a member of the Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and the Percussive Arts Society (PAS).
Mr. Christopher Buti, recently retired from Rolling Meadows High School, were he served for 24 years as the Director of Bands, Fine Arts Coordinator, and Head Color Guard Coach. Before teaching at RMHS, Mr. Buti was at Grant Community High School for nine years where he served as the Director of Bands, Choirs, Color Guard, Fine Arts Classes and the Performing Arts Society. Mr. Buti received his B.S. in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and his M.S. in Music Education from Vandercook College of Music in Chicago.
Mr. Buti is a member of the Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters’ Fraternity, National Association for Music Education, Illinois Music Educators Association, National Band Directors Association, Who’s Who Among American Teachers, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity. He has received the District 214 Outstanding Contributor to Education Award (2005), District 124 “Educator of the Year” (1992), District 124 Superintendent’s “G” Award (1991 and 1996), and has been a Golden Apple Award Nominee. Mr. Buti often serves as an adjudicator for local Solo and Ensemble, as well as Marching Band contests. He guest directed the District 25 Band Festival (2018, 2014), guest directed the District 214 Honor Band (2023), served as the ILMEA District VII CDPU Coordinator, and directed District VII Jazz Reading Bands (2022, 2018, 2014, 2013, 2010, 2006, 2005).
Mr. Colin Rambert is a Chicago-based percussionist and drummer who actively performs in a multitude of contemporary and classical music settings. He has appeared with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, and the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, along with ensembles showcased at the Jazz Education Network Conference, the North American Saxophone Alliance Conference, and the College Band Directors National Association Conference. Colin can most regularly be seen playing with The Phantom Broadcast, an experimental rock outfit that pushes the boundaries of indie, post-rock, classical, and jazz, and can be heard on their latest full-length album Antiquities (2019). He can also be found playing drums for the Chicago pop-rock band King Mixer.
Colin enjoys teaching young musicians of all ages throughout the Chicagoland area. Aside from his work at Maine South High School, he serves as a percussion teaching artist with Sistema Ravinia and with the Chicago Arts and Music Project. He also teaches privately and instructs marching percussion at a handful of public schools, most notably John Hersey High School, Buffalo Grove High School, William Fremd High School, Elk Grove High School, Glenbrook North High School, and Homer Jr. High. Colin holds a Master of Music degree in Percussion Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2015) and a Bachelor of Music degree in Commercial Music from Millikin University (2012).