Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Toven serves as the Commander of the West Point Band. A native of Union City, Pennsylvania, he holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Trombone Performance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania; a Master of Music in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music; and a Master of Military Art and Science from the Command and General Staff College.
Prior to this assignment, Lt. Col. Toven served as the Deputy Commander and Associate Bandmaster of The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” and Director of The U.S. Army Chorus. Before that, he was the Deputy Commandant at the U.S. Army School of Music in Virginia Beach, Virginia. While assigned to the School of Music, he deployed to Kuwait, where he served as the Theater Music Liaison Officer for U.S. Army Central. In that role, he coordinated Army music support throughout the Middle East and leveraged those capabilities to support the U.S. strategic public diplomacy initiatives in the region. Other previous assignments include Commander of The Army Ground Forces Band (Fort Bragg, North Carolina), Army Forces Command Staff Bands Officer, Director of the U.S. Army Europe Soldiers’ Chorus (Heidelberg, Germany), and Director of the U.S. Army Soldiers’ Chorus (Fort Meade, Maryland).
Before joining the Army, he held a variety of professional music positions throughout the northeastern United States including founder, music director, and conductor of the Plum Creek Chamber Orchestra, and assistant conductor of The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, where he worked with Grammy Award-winning mentor, the late Robert Page. He has also prepared choruses for the Boston Pops Holiday Pops under the direction of Keith Lockhart, and for performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops Orchestra under the direction of Marvin Hamlisch. In addition to teaching high school in the Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., areas, Lt. Col. Toven spent the fall of 2001 as Director of Choruses for Colgate University. He continues to be in demand as a clinician and guest conductor and has conducted numerous County, District, Region, and All-State band and chorus festivals in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Lt. Col. Toven has continued his professional development by attending the prestigious Pierre Monteux School for Orchestra Conductors as well as numerous choral and orchestral conducting workshops. As a trombonist, he has recorded with the Keystone Winds, and performed with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and the St. Vincent Camerata Brass. As a vocalist, he has sung with numerous professional ensembles in the Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., areas, including the Washington National Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, and can be heard on the Cantaloupe Music recording of Steve Reich’s “The Desert Music.”
Lt. Col. Toven is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College, the Army Band Captains Career Course, the Adjutant General’s Basic Officer Course (President Benjamin Harrison Award), Officer Candidate School (Distinguished Military Graduate), and has earned the Basic Parachutist’s Badge. His military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
Command Sergeant Major Scott Drewes was appointed as the third Command Sergeant Major for the West Point Band in October 2021. Since joining the band in 2007, Command Sgt. Maj. Drewes has served in many roles within the band. He was the drummer for the Jazz Knights and was one of the founding members of the Benny Havens Band. He has held the position of element leader for both the Benny Havens Band and the Concert Band, was the unit Operations and Plans Sergeant Major, served on the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) Superintendent’s staff as Operations Sergeant Major, and most recently, as the USMA Chief of Staff’s Sergeant Major.
Command Sgt. Maj. Drewes attended the North Carolina School of the Arts for high school, earned a Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Master of Music from the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to coming to West Point, Sgt. Maj. Drewes enlisted in the Air Force Band program in 2001, serving with the Air Force Band of Mid-America at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and the Air Force Band of Liberty at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. As a percussionist, he has traveled across the country, performing in a variety of ensembles for enthusiastic communities.
Captain Alexandra M. Borza currently serves as Deputy Commander of the West Point Band at the United States Military Academy. She is also the officer in charge of the Hellcats, an ensemble comprised of bugles, piccolos, and drums that traces its heritage back to the American Revolution.
Prior to her arrival at West Point, she served as Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General (CG), U.S. Center for Initial Military Training, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, an organization responsible for annually transforming 130,000 civilian volunteers into Soldiers who are disciplined, fit, grounded in Army Values, and combat ready. Her responsibilities included managing the administrative and travel support for the CG and Senior Mission Commander, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, spanning 18 Brigades, four Centers of Excellence, and Fort Eustis, Virginia.
Capt. Borza’s previous assignments include being sworn in as Commander, U.S. Army School of Music, Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia, in spring of 2018. While serving as Associate Bandmaster of the U.S. Army Field Band, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, from 2016 to 2018, she led over 170 performances in 30 states with the concert band and chorus. As officer in charge and conductor of the Soldiers' Chorus, she led the ensemble in over 60 school and university performances and clinics, as well as marched in the 58th Presidential Inaugural Parade. Capt. Borza also conducted the chorus in several distinguished collaborations with four major orchestras at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, in Boston, Cleveland, and Detroit. From 2014 to 2016, she proudly served as Executive Officer and Associate Conductor of the U.S. Army Ground Forces Band in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree from Old Dominion University in 2011, she earned a Master of Music Education degree with an Emphasis in Conducting under the direction of the late American Bandmasters Association President, Dennis Zeisler. Additional accomplishments include Old Dominion University's first marching band Drum Major in 2008, in addition to her induction into the prestigious music fraternity Phi Kappa Lambda in 2010.
Capt. Borza attended Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the Basic Officer Leadership Course and Captain Career Course at the U.S. Army School of Music.
