Biography
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Bentley Corbett-Wilson is a music educator, trumpet player, and composer in Maryland. He is the Director of Bands at Folly Quarter Middle School in Howard County, the Director of Athletic Bands at UMBC, and a Brass & Woodwinds faculty member at the International School of Music. He received both his B.A. in Music Education and his M.A. in Teaching from UMBC.
Bentley frequently performs and conducts in the DMV area with various community groups and musical theater companies, and has also conducted a number of musicals including UMBC's productions of Urinetown, Legally Blonde, & Songs for a New World; Greenbelt Center for the Arts production of A Man of No Importance; Dance & BeMore's production of Voices of Carmen; and most notably Bmore Broadway Live's production of Sweet Charity as the Music Director. Bentley also maintains a private lesson studio which comprises of students who routinely score spots in county and regional Honors/GT ensemble. Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, he played trumpet with the Las Vegas Youth Philharmonic, which toured China in 2011. In 2012, he graduated from the Valley High School International Baccalaureate (IB) program, after performing with the Honors Performance Series Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Upon graduation, he moved to Maryland after being accepted to the Music Education program at UMBC, where he spent the next 5 years figuring out his place in the world. |
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During Bentley's time at UMBC, he not only developed his artistry as a musician and music educator, but his capabilities as a leader. For 5 years, he was actively involved with the UMBC Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble, along with some time spent with both the UMBC Jazz Ensemble and the UMBC Pep Band as a Student Director. He was also notably elected to be the President of the Student Government Association. He had the privilege of working with talented students in the Baltimore area through the El Sistema driven Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's OrchKids Program, as well as with various other schools in the state. Through his teachings, he recognized music's power to not only make someone a great human, but its potential to develop empathetic leaders who bring about positive civic change in a community.
Upon this recognizing, he began to seek out opportunities to develop his leadership within the UMBC community. Through various opportunities to facilitate, educate, and advise his peers, . As SGA President, he advised and consulted hundreds of students on civic engagement & leadership practices, and connected members of the community to resources and other people who could help make their visions reach fruition. This work inspired him to become a Leadership Consultant, and later, an Assistant Director of Chapter Development, with the leadership based national fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, post graduation.
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During Bentley's time with Pi Kappa Phi, he worked directly with 25 chapters across the country on organizational and leadership development, and continued to pursue an abundance of musical based experiences. I had the incredible opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall again through the Honors Performance Series, and later in Schladming, Austria, with the World Adult Wind Orchestra Project. After his time with Pi Kappa Phi, he returned to academia and received his Master of Arts in Teaching at UMBC, as the Graduate Assistant for Fraternity & Sorority Life. He then began his professional career as a teacher as the Director of Bands at Lake Elkhorn Middle School, where he taught for 5 years. The enrollment in the program doubled in size during his tenure, and frequently received praise and superior/excellent ratings at assessments and competitions. |