Jared Cassedy

Jared L. Cassedy is the K-12 Performing Arts Coordinator for Lexington Public Schools in Lexington, Massachusetts where he also conducts the Lexington High School Wind Ensemble. Prior to this position, he was the Director of K-12 Performing Arts for the Salem, NH School District and the Dean of K-12 Fine, Living, and Technical Arts for the Windham, NH School District (where he began his teaching career in 2004). Jared is also the conductor of the Junior Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble (Jr. MYWE) at the New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School and an adjunct faculty member at the Longy School of Music – Masters of Music in Music Education program.

Jared has been very active in NAfME currently serving as President-Elect of the Massachusetts Music Educators Association and Past Chairperson of the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Northeastern District. He serves on the NAfME Equity Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, and the Council of Music Program Leaders. Jared was also President-Elect for the New Hampshire Music Educators Association before transitioning to Massachusetts. Jared’s work as a music educator, band director, and arts administrator has enabled him to speak at a myriad of state, national, and international conferences about curriculum, program culture and direction, and advocacy as well as at TedX about Leadership and Best Practices in Teaching and the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic (2021) presenting a session entitled – Fine Tuning Ensemble Culture and Why it Matters: Intentionally Creating a Positive Community Through Conversation and Collaboration. He is the 2015 recipient of the GRAMMY Music Educator Award furnished by the GRAMMY Foundation and The Recording Academy and was selected as a 2022 Country Music Association Foundation National Music Teacher of Excellence.

Jared’s continued collaboration with his students has enabled his ensembles to be selected to participate in a myriad of national performances and festivals including The National Band and Orchestra Festival and NY Wind Band Festival at Carnegie Hall, Festival of Gold in Chicago, the Bands of America (BOA) National Band Festival sponsored by Music for All and Yamaha in Indianapolis, the Pacific Basin International Music Festival in Honolulu, HI, and the Washington D.C. International Music Festival at the Kennedy Center for the Arts. His ensembles have also performed at such events as the NAfME Eastern Division Conference and for the Mayor of Quebec City and Governor of Montreal. He has frequently been called upon to adjudicate state and regional band and orchestra festivals and is an active clinician and honor band conductor across the Northeast.