Director of Bands, Ken Dye, to Retire in Spring 2026
Earlier this semester, Ken Dye, Ed.D., Professor of Music and Director of Bands, notified students and band staff of his intentions to retire from the University of Notre Dame at the conclusion of the 2025–26 academic year.
Since his tenure began in 1998, Ken has led the band in performances at the Sydney Opera House, Beijing Concert Hall and Carnegie Hall, and on tours to every continent except Antarctica. Most recently, the band performed under Ken’s direction at the 2025 College Football National Championship game in Atlanta and at the preceding 2024 Orange and Sugar Bowls in Miami and New Orleans. Other notable performances include performing alongside the band Chicago at Soldier Field and an appearance at the 2013 BCS National Championship. In 2011 the Band of the Fighting Irish was awarded the prestigious Sudler Trophy from the John Philip Sousa Foundation.
Ken’s continued commitment to Notre Dame students throughout his many years of instruction and mentorship at the University will be remembered long after his retirement, particularly among those whose lives he helped shape through the Band of the Fighting Irish.
The University has retained executive search firm Isaacson, Miller to begin identifying candidates for his position in the Department of Music and his successor as band director in the Division of Student Affairs. Please join the Division in thanking Ken for his many contributions to student life at Notre Dame and congratulating him on his forthcoming retirement.