During the week of May 8, 2006, composer Gary D. Belshaw?s ninth and most recent commission, Victory Day Overture for Symphonic Wind Ensemble, received three performances in Russia. The composer toured with the Wayland Baptist University Pioneer Band during Victory Day celebrations by invitation of the International Fine Arts Institute and the Russian Ministry of Culture. The Russian premiere of the work was presented in the Grand Hall of the Moscow (State) Conservatory, where Tchaikovsky taught composition, and on the same stage where van Cliburn won the first Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 1958.
These performances marked the second time his music has been performed in Russia; Don Lucas brought Belshaw?s Weekend Stories to both Russia and England. Belshaw?s compositions have also been heard in Spain and in American concert and recital venues from Maryland to Nevada. The list of performers and venues on whose programs his works have appeared include the U. S. Naval Academy Band and the U. S. Naval Academy Band Trombone Quartet, Don Lucas, Texas Bandmasters Association, Trombones de Costa Rica, the Texas Tech Trombone Choir, Gary Lewis, Texas Music Educators Association, Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Albert George Schramm, The Texas Tech University Symphony Orchestra, Eric Fried, The Texas Tech University, the Houston Symphonic Band, Robert McElroy, Plainview Symphony Orchestra, and Boyce Wyrick. He has twice served as Composer in Residence for the Big Twelve Area Universities Trombone Conference.
Dr. Belshaw is Associate Professor of Music at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, and teaches Composition, Orchestration, Music Technology, and Piano.