NIKKI ABISSI Nicole Abissi is a professional trombonist and teacher living in New York City. She is Second Trombone of the historic American Symphony Orchestra, Principal Trombone and Mentor of the Montclair Orchestra, performs on Broadway and with professional orchestras around the world. Nicole is also an inventor. She has created an extension handle for the trombone called, Extendabone. As a short trombonist, she knew this is a tool that needs to be available for herself, and other students around the world.

Nicole received her Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School under the instruction of Joseph Alessi, Principal Trombonist of the New York Philharmonic. She received her Master of Music Degree from Stony Brook University under the instruction of Michael Powell, Principal Trombonist of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and member of the world renowned American Brass Quintet. Nicole’s other teachers include Per Brevig, Warren Deck, Glenn Dodson, Ian Bousfield, and Thomas Riccobono.

In September of 2007, she began the first of two seasons as a fellow the New World Symphony. While there, she had the opportunity to work with one of the premier conductors of our time, Michael Tilson Thomas. Nicole won her first professional position as the Second Trombonist of the Alabama Symphony for the 2009-2012 seasons. In September of 2012 she joined the Colorado Symphony as the acting Principal trombonist for the 2012-2013 season. In the same year, she also filled in as acting Principal Trombone in the Macon Symphony under the direction of Ward Stare. Nicole has also had the pleasure of performing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, and Huntsville Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to her performance experience, Nicole is a passionate teacher. Nicole is an instructor of trombone at Montclair State University in New Jersey as well as Mannes Prep. She has given clinics at many fine universities as well as music festivals, such as, Georgia State University, University of Alabama, Interlochen Arts Camp, Southeast Trombone Symposium, University of Kentucky, Jackson State University, and Youngstown State University. Her students have gone on to study trombone performance at such schools as The Juilliard School, Northwestern University, New England Conservatory and Lynn University. Nicole Abissi is an Antoine Courtois Sponsored Artist. Estela aragon Estela Aragon (she/her) is a trumpet instructor, entrepreneur, masterclass artist, and performer. She is a former student of Aric Brian, James Ackley, and Allen Vizzutti. Estela holds a master’s degree in Trumpet Performance from the University of South Carolina School of Music and a bachelor’s degree in Music and Trumpet Performance from the University of Tampa. She has spent her post-graduate school years researching trumpet pedagogy, teaching ably in English and Spanish, and innovating in educational and entrepreneurial strategies.

Aragon is the creator of TrumpetHeadquarters.com and MusicFitAcademy.com, two different programs to teach the trumpet to students of all ages and experience levels, through well-founded pedagogical approaches and methods.

An ambassador for the art of education, Estela launched a full-time private trumpet studio called Music Fit Academy in 2014; a lesson program driven by athletic thinking in which players “workout” to achieve their highest potential. In 2018, she founded Trumpet Headquarters, a website to serve the trumpet community with an extensive lineup of complementary resources. The website went on to include the THQ Trumpet Lessons Online course; a recognized achievement in high quality online trumpet education.

Estela is often invited to share her ample experience in music education and entrepreneurship in podcasts, music programs, and conference panels. She has been invited the Oklahoma State Trumpet Studio, Shenandoah University Music Entrepreneurship Program, BrassChix Annual Gathering, Denis Wick Artist Summit, TMEA - Mouthpiece Neophobia Panel, Denis Wick Women in Brass Panel, Diversify the Stand Podcast, and the Musician’s Perspective Podcast. Aragon is also a member of the International Trumpet Guild Inclusion and Diversity Committee, where she advocates for changes in support of equality. Currently, Estela is honored to be a preliminary judge for the National Trumpet Competition.

Originally from Lima, Peru, she resides in the vibrant city of Austin, Texas with her fiancée and husky. She likes to spend her free time reading, learning languages and building large LEGO structures. Dr. STACY baker Dr. Stacy Baker is Professor of Music - Tuba/Euphonium at Morehead State University (KY) where she was honored as the 2016-2017 Distinguished Creative Productions Award recipient and the 2014-2015 Distinguished Teacher. Originally from Harsens Island, MI, she graduated summa cum laude with her B.M. and M.M. degrees from the University of Michigan as a James B. Angell scholar and holds a D.M.A. with highest honors from the University of Illinois.

Baker has toured and recorded throughout the United States Europe, and China as a soloist and founding member of SymbiosisDuo, the R.S.V.B. and JUNCTION tuba/euphonium quartets, Monarch Brass, the Athena Brass Band, as a member of the Lexington Brass Band and MSU’s Horizon Brass quintet. Her quartet, JUNCTION, presented the world premiere of the first Concerto for Tuba Quartet and Wind Band by Austrian composer Franz Cibulka at the prestigious Mid-Europe Festival in Schladming, Austria in 2002. Baker performs with the Brass Band of Battle Creek and Keith Brion’s New Sousa Band. She has also performed as principal tubist with the Warren Symphony, the Allen Park Symphony and as substitute tubist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony, the Champaign/Urbana Symphony, the Danville Symphony, the Owensboro Symphony and the Lexington Philharmonic.

Baker formed the professional tuba euphonium duo, SYMBIOSISDUO, with Dr. Gail Robertson in 2007 to increase awareness of the tuba/euphonium duo as a performance medium and to promote and disseminate new works for this unique combination of instruments. The duo chose the name "SYMBIOSISDUO" from the concert duet of that name written for them by composer Chris Sharp. In the program notes for the work he writes: "Symbiosis is defined as, 'A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence . . . The technical and range- requirements for each solo instrument are comparable, suggesting a 'separate but equal' relationship." This is an innovative and challenging approach to duet writing for tuba and euphonium producing 'the symbiosis effect' as the tuba is not relegated to an accompanying role, but is equal in all aspects of music with the other voice in the duo, the euphonium.

Her duo’s debut album, SymbiosisDuo, was selected as finalist for the International Tuba Euphonium Association’s 2010 Roger Bobo Award for Recording Excellence in Chamber Music. The duo’s second album, Playground was released in 2015 including American composer James Grant’s double concerto, Playground, and Franz Cibulka’s Wallstreet. Both albums were funded through Morehead State University Creative Production Grants. In 2016, they joined Dr. Deanna Swoboda and SSG Lauren Veronie-Curran to release the R.S.V.B. Tuba/Euphonium Quartet album - Fanfare and Flourish: Celebrating Women Composers. She and Dr. Gail Robertson presented the American premier of the first double concerto for euphonium, tuba and orchestra, The World of Dreams by Spanish composer Eduardo Nogueroles with Orchestra Iowa at the 2019 International Tuba Euphonium Conference at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.

Baker has performed and presented clinics at numerous conferences hosted by the International Tuba/Euphonium Association (ITEA), International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC), U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” Tuba/Euphonium Workshop, International Euphonium Tuba Festival, and the Kentucky, Florida and Michigan Music Educator’s Associations. A former camper, she was honored to return to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp as featured tuba artist for the 32nd Annual Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival in 2017 where she and Robertson premiered their commission of American composer Eric Knechtges’ double concerto for euphonium, tuba and wind band, "Twin Lake Reflections." She was the featured tuba artist for the 2019 International Women’s Brass Conference at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.

Baker served together with Robertson as co-instrumental advisor and co-curriculum designer for the Pro-Series Elite Practice Systems for Tuba and Euphonium, providing all exercises, instruction and quartet arrangements as well as performing as on-screen talent alongside some of their students for the revolutionary pedagogical series of 10 DVDs for tuba and 10 DVDs for euphonium. The project was fully funded and released by American Product Group, LLC in 2013 along with similar series for each of the wind instruments. She serves on the board of directors of the International Tuba Euphonium Association. She has served on the board of directors of the International Women’s Brass Conference and as co-editor of the IWBC Newsletter. Her feature article: “Making and Maintaining a Great Lip-Reed” appeared in the September 2019 edition of the ArbanZone online magazine. Dr. Hana Beloglavec Trombonist and pedagogue Hana Beloglavec has a dynamic career performing as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and teaching at Louisiana State University. In March 2020, Beloglavec performed the Lars-Erik Larsson Trombone Concertino with the U.S. Army Orchestra as a guest artist of the American Trombone Workshop. As a soloist, she has been interested in pieces for loop pedal and trombone and has commissioned two pieces, Chemical Reaction by Marc Mellits, and Give and Take by Molly Joyce.

Beloglavec was a core member of Seraph Brass from 2017-2020 and with the group performed and taught across the United States and the world. With Seraph, she was a guest artist at the 2019 Busan Maru International Music Festival in South Korea, the 2017 and 2018 Lieksa Brass Week in Finland, and the 2019 Artosphere Music Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Also deeply interested in orchestral music, Beloglavec currently performs as a substitute trombonist with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. In summer of 2019 she performed as a substitute for the Armenian National Philharmonic’s production of Verdi’s Otello. She has also performed as a substitute trombonist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under conductors Charles Dutoit, Sir Mark Elder, Ludovic Morlot, and Esa-Pekka Salonen, as well as the Chicago-based early-music ensemble Music of the Baroque under Jane Glover and Nicholas Kraemer. Beloglavec also performed as a member of the American Institute of Musical Studies Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria.

Hana Beloglavec received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Northwestern University, where she studied with Professors Michael Mulcahy, Douglas Wright, Timothy Higgins, Randall Hawes, and Christopher Davis. She completed her Master of Music degree at Yale University and her Bachelor of Music degree at Western Michigan University, where she studied with Professor Scott Hartman and Dr. Steve Wolfinbarger, respectively. In 2019 she was awarded the Early Career Award from Western Michigan University’s College of Fine Arts. Hana Beloglavec is currently the assistant professor of music at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she teaches trombone and chamber music. Hana Beloglavec is a Shires Artist and an Ultimate Brass Artist. Monica benson Monica Benson is a multifaceted artist and music educator. Her love for music and teaching has led her to be a sought after performer and educator. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Monica moved to Chicago to attend DePaul University where she earned a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Music. As a performer, Monica has played with numerous groups including the Brass Band of Battle Creek, The Ides of March, the Chicago Brass Band and indie rock group The Generationals. Her versatility as a performer has led to her ongoing residency as the official Bugler at the Arlington International Racecourse since 2014. Monica is an Artist Ambassador for Denis Wick Products.

In 2018 her various passions within music inspired her to commission a new work for unaccompanied trumpet entitled "Out of the Gates" by composer Jim Stephenson. This piece is currently set to be performed by Monica at the International Trumpet Guild conference. Due to her experience as a freelancer and educator, she was an invited guest speaker and lecturer at the International Women's Brass Conference in 2019.

As an educator, Monica believes that each student is brilliant and unique in their own way. This approach focuses on cultivating not only good musicians but also good people. She prioritizes the specific needs of the student and creates tailored lesson plans to help them cultivate a love for music and accountability to their goals. Currently, she teaches a wide range of students at various locations. Monica teaches at the Merit School of Music, Lincoln Park High School, and Lockport Township High School. Since 2018, she has also been teaching at her former alma mater in the DePaul Community Music Division. In the future, Monica hopes to teach trumpet and entrepreneurship at the collegiate level.

In her free time, Monica enjoys photography, spending time with her cats and curling up with a good book and a cup of coffee. She currently resides in Chicago, IL. https://monicabensontrumpet.com/ Dr. Carrie blosser Dr. Carrie Blosser is a versatile trumpet performer and music educator. Her experiences range from being a solo performer, a high school band director, director of a community band program, studio teacher of 60 students, and a military musician.

Currently, she is a Trumpet Instrumentalist stationed with Navy Band Great Lakes in Chicago, Illinois. Before moving to Chicago, she was a Fleet Forces Brass Quintet and Wind Ensemble member. Dr. Blosser performed over 120 concerts for military and diplomatic ceremonies, community events, and clinics per year. In addition to her duties with the U.S. Navy, she teaches private trumpet students of all ages and gives master-classes, lectures, and performances across the country.

Previously she maintained a Colorado-based studio of 65 students, working closely with multiple schools to deliver weekly clinics, and conducted the Rocky Mountain Concert Band. Before starting her doctoral program, Dr. Blosser was the Director of Bands at Cooper, Junior and Senior High School in Cooper, Texas. Her students’ achievements include selection to Pennsylvania, Texas, and Colorado All-State Bands and advancement to the semi-finals of the National Trumpet Competition as Soloists and Ensemble Performers.

An active performer, Dr. Blosser, was selected as a semi-finalist at the National Trumpet Competition as a Soloist and Ensemble member. She was also a semi-finalist in the Rocky Mountain Concerto Competition in Greeley, Colorado. Over the past two decades, she has performed with numerous orchestras across four states.

Originally from Etters, Pennsylvania, Dr. Blosser received her Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Messiah College, Master of Music in Music Education and Trumpet Performance from the University of Northern Colorado, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Her principal teachers include Dr. William Stowman, Dr. Robert Murray, and Terry Sawchuk.

Dr. Blosser is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts for her service as a musician in the U.S. military “for personifying excellence in music and service to country.” Velvet brown Velvet Brown is profoundly passionate about teaching and is a Distinguished Professor of Music at the Pennsylvania State University. She teaches applied tuba and euphonium and coordinates the brass chamber music program. Many of her students have won prestigious playing and teaching positions and were prizewinners at various regional, national and international competitions. Brown also serves as the Associate Director of the School of Music for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Velvet Brown enjoys a career as professor, international soloist, chamber ensemble performer, recording artist, conductor, and orchestral player. She has performed and taught in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Finland, France, England, Hungary, Slovenia, Russia, Japan, Cuba, Canada and the United States. Ms. Brown is currently the principal tubist of the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra. Brown was honored to be principal tuba with the Hope and Harmony Ensemble which recorded a video of fanfares for the 2021 Presidential Inauguration conducted by Marin Alsop. She has served as principal tuba with the River City Brass band, guest principal with the Lahti Philharmonic in Finland and as substitute or additional tubist with the Detroit Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, San Francisco Women’s Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Having performed and worked closely with jazz and commercial artists regarded as some of the most influential musicians of all time, including Howard Johnson, Bob Stewart and Doc Severinsen, she felt inspired to explore new territories in her music career. As a consequence, influenced also by some personal experiences, she decided to explore in music how life events shape one’s creativity and thus started a veritable music renaissance, which involves soul-searching musical patterns and a more profound relationship with the audience. She is the co- founder of MOJATUBA: Tuba and Dance Fusion Project, and is in her 15th year as lead tuba with Howard Johnson's "Gravity" Tuba Jazz Ensemble.

Velvet Brown has been an invited solo artist or tuba solo artist adjudicator at the International Tuba and Euphonium Conferences since 1998. She has also served as guest conductor for festivals in the United States in Maine, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania as well as abroad in Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Japan, and Canada. Brown is also honored to be Visiting Artist Faculty at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to her tenure at Penn State, she also taught at Bowling Green State University (Ohio), Ball State University (Indiana), and served as an associate director of University Bands at Boston University.

Brown has garnered high praise as a founding and current member of Stiletto Brass Quintet, Monarch Brass Quintet and Brass Ensemble, the Quintet of Americas and the Pennsylvania Brassworks. Moreover, she is also a founding board member of the International Women’s Brass Conference.She has released four solo CDs, and has collaborated on several other recordings as a soloist and ensemble member, such as Stiletto Brass Quintet featuring Doc Severinsen, trumpet, on one of her original compositions, Testimony (Howard Johnson and Gravity) as lead tuba, and a solo tuba jazz recording with the Cleveland Jazz Ensemble with Paul Ferguson, director. Velvet Brown is a Buffet/Crampon Performing Artist, performing on the MW 2250 and 2182 F tubas, and the MW 2000 and MW 3450 C tubas. She is also a performing artist for Denis Wick mouthpieces, mutes, and accessories. Dr. Amy cherry Amy Cherry is a freelance musician and trumpet teacher in the Philadelphia area. She holds a B.M. in Trumpet Performance from the University of Illinois and an M.M. and D.M.A. in Trumpet Performance from the University of Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music.

Dr. Cherry served as a visiting professor at Delaware State University in 2016. She was an Assistant Professor of Music at Western Carolina University from 2008- 2014, and has previously held the position of Instructor of Trumpet at Morehead State University, Wright State University and East Tennessee State University. In 2018 Dr. Cherry became a Teaching Artist with Project 440 in Philadelphia.

She currently performs with the Brandywine Brass Quintet, the Liberty Wind Ensemble, and the Maryland Winds. She has served as Principal Trumpet with the Asheville Lyric Opera, Assistant Principal Trumpet with the Spartanburg Philharmonic, and Third Trumpet with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with numerous ensembles including the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Allentown Symphony, Reading Symphony, Kingsport Symphony, Johnson City Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Dayton Opera, Lexington Philharmonic, Winston-Salem Symphony, Flat Rock Playhouse, Mannheim Steamroller, Monarch Brass Ensemble, Athena Brass Band, and the Summit Brass Ensemble.

Since 2000, Dr. Cherry has been involved with the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC), a non-profit organization that supports women brass musicians, and currently serves as a Board Member and Secretary of that organization. She also authors a biannual column exploring health and wellness issues for brass players, entitled Brass in Balance, which is published in the IWBC newsletter.

Amy is an active chamber musician interested in reaching new audiences and expanding the repertoire for brass instruments. To achieve those goals she founded the Balaton Chamber Brass in 2010 with her husband, trombonist Dan Cherry. Their debut album, Changing Times & Colorswas released in 2015 on the Albany Records label. Amanda collins Described as “impressively solid” by the Dallas Morning News, Amanda Collins has quickly become a highly sought after performer and educator nationally and abroad.

Ms. Collins is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Preparatory (certificate), Pennsylvania State University (BM) and Southern Methodist University (MM). She has studied under the tutelage of some of the finest living horn players, including Gregory Hustis, Lisa Bontrager, Larry Williams, Eli Epstein and Richard Deane.

Ms. Collins is currently third horn with the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra and second horn with the American Studio Orchestra. In 2017, Ms. Collins was appointed Principal horn of the Gateways Festival Orchestra, an ensemble featuring professional musicians of African descent. She has performed with several notable ensembles including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Opera Memphis, Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Brass Quintet. Ms. Collins recently made her UK debut performing as principal horn with the Chineke! Orchestra on their 2019 UK tour. A sought after freelancer nationally, she regularly performs for a variety of musical theaters, gospel and R&B/soul ensembles, pops ensembles and opera companies. Performances include Mary Poppins- Hershey Theater, Titanic- Signature Theater, various productions with the Soulful Symphony, Opera NOVA and the Washington Opera Society. Ms. Collins appears regularly as a soloist and guest artist. A dedicated chamber musician, she is a member of the Missouri Quintet and the University of Missouri Faculty Brass Quintet. Ms. Collins was a featured artist in 2017 and 2018 on the national radio show, Performance Today, hosted by Fred Child, broadcasted by American Public Media, performing Francis Poulenc’s Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet, FP 100 with members of the Gateways Music Festival. Additionally, she performed with the Gateways Brass Collective on Backstage Pass with Julia Figeras on WXXI, NPR in January of 2019 in Rochester, NY.

Ms. Collins is a passionate educator and is currently Assistant Teaching Professor of French Horn at the University of Missouri. Formerly, she was Adjunct Professor of French Horn at Montgomery College and the University of the District of Columbia. She also served as Instructor of French Horn at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Preparatory and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. In addition to private instruction, Ms. Collins has taught classes in music theory, chamber music and ensemble playing. A strong supporter of diversity and inclusion in the arts, many of Ms. Collins’ students hail from under-served and underrepresented communities. Ms. Collins served on faculty at the Prizm International Chamber Music Festival in 2018 where she worked with students of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition to performing and teaching, Ms. Collins regularly attends events and conferences, the focus of which is on performing and teaching the French horn, promoting and creating a network of diverse musicians, artists and instructors, and administrative networking and conversations. In 2017 and 2018, she was selected as a fellow at the Sphinx Connect conference in Detroit, MI. In 2019, Ms. Collins was interviewed on Backstage with Lee Thomas on Detroit Public Television during the 2019 Sphinx Competition. Ms. Collins is routinely a guest speaker at symposiums and events, discussing a wide range of topics including diversity and inclusion in the arts, college auditioning technique, college career management and entrepreneurship for college students and graduates.

Ms. Collins is affiliated with the American Federation of Musicians and the International Horn Society. She currently plays a Yamaha 867 French horn and Laskey 75G gold plate mouthpiece. Abbie conant IWBC Pioneer Award Winner, Performance artist and Juilliard trained trombonist Abbie Conant is somewhat of a legend in the orchestral brass world. The story of her epic fight against egregious gender discrimination in the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra where she won the position at a screened audition in 1993, inspired author Malcolm Gladwell to write the NY Times Bestseller, Blink where Abbie’s story is detailed in the last chapter. The 11 year long court battle was documented by composer/musicologist/activist, William Osborne in an article entitled, “You Sound Like a Ladies Orchestra.” After winning her lengthy court case, Abbie won a full- tenured Professorship at the University of Music in Trossingen, Germany and left the orchestra in 1993. As part of the severance agreement, the Munich Philhamonic had to allow her to attend the first International Women’s Brass Conference in St. Louis where she was a guest artist. Abbie has performed instrumental music theater works with surround sound electronics in over 150 different cities around the world. She has given masterclasses in as many esteemed music institution such as The Juilliard School, The Eastman School, New England Conservatory, Yale School of Music, Indiana University, Royal Northern College of Music, Gotheberg, Sweden, DePaul, CalArts, McGill, Oberlin and many others. While attending National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan in 1970, she won a scholarship to the Interlochen Arts Academy. She received her B.M. cum laude at Temple University with Dee Stewart of the Philadelphia Orchestra then her M.M. at Juilliard with Metropolitan Orchestra Principal, Per Brevig. In addition, she holds an Artist Diploma from the Cologne University of Music with Branimir Slokar. At the suggestion of her teacher Dr. Karl Hinterbichler, she attend Tanglewood through the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (where she studied with bass trombonist of the BSO, Gordon Hallberg). She won the audition for the Colorado Philhamonic (an intensive training orchestra), Yale Summer Chamber Music Institute at Norfolk where she studied with John Swallow, and New College Music Festival as Brass Trio in Residence). The Spoleto Festival dei due Mondi took her to Italy where she studied contemporary music with Vinko Globokar at the L’Accademia Chigiana in Siena. From there, she won her first position as principal trombone of the Royal Opera of Turin, Italy. Her next position was for principal trombone of the Munich Philharmonic for 13 years where she was awarded the official honorable title of Kammersolistin der Stadt Muenchen after 10 years of exemplary musical service to the city of Munich, Germany. She has had film roles in the feature film, The Devil’s Triangle, directed by Vadim Glowna and in the epic 13 film story of a German composer’s life and times, Die Zweite Heimat, (The Second Homeland) by dir. Edgar Reitz. Abbie has students in many different orchestras and teaching positions including, two former students in the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, the Stuttgart State Opera, the Southwest German Radio Orchestra, The Hamburg Symphony, the Regensburg Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, to name a few. Her critically acclaimed CD Trombone and Organ is on the Audite label and the DVD Music for the End of Time, an hour long tone poem for trombone, video and electronics inspired by six visions of the Revelation of St. John the Divine, and composed by William Osborne, is available through Polymnia Press. The co-composed solo works, Pond, and As it Were of a Trumpet Talking are available per download from http://www.osborne-conanr.org Cristina cutts dougherty Cristina Cutts Dougherty (b. 1998) grew up in South Africa, England, New York, and New Mexico. She was named as the Young Artist winner of the International Tuba & Euphonium Competition in 2016. That same year, she was unanimously chosen as the winner of the National Symphony's Summer Music Institute concerto competition and as a result she performed the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto with the orchestra as a soloist in the Kennedy Center. Upon moving to Los Angeles for her undergraduate studies, she was recognized as the “Most Promising Talent," of the Pasadena Showcase Instrumental Competition for woodwinds, brass, and strings, and went on in 2017 to win the Grand Prize overall in the same competition - the first tubist in the history of the competition to do so, and the youngest candidate in that year’s final round. Cristina has appeared as a soloist with the Colburn Orchestra and was a National YoungArts Foundation Medalist.

Cristina has played orchestrally as the Principal Tubist of the American Youth Symphony, with the New World Symphony, as a fellow with the National Repertory Orchestra. She currently holds the position of Principal tuba with Symphony in C, in Camden, NJ, and is the 2020/2021 Tuba Fellow for the Music Academy of the West. She is also a proud recipient of several grants from the Sphinx Organization's National Alliance for Audition Support. She has played chamber music with brass musicians from the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In summer 2019, Cristina was part of the "Full House Brass Quintet" at Music From Angel Fire, in Angel Fire New Mexico, where she gave public performances and played nearly 20 outreach shows for schools in Northern New Mexico - continuing her love for sharing music and teaching. In 2020 Cristina joined the guest-artist roster of Seraph Brass, a touring all-female brass quintet.

Cristina graduated with honors from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 2015, where she was a finalist in the concerto competition and a pupil of trombonist Thomas Riccobono for two years. In 2019, she received her Bachelor of Music in Tuba Performance from the Colburn School, studying with Norman Pearson of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She is now a student of Craig Knox of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Paul Krzywicki at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia; the first female tubist to attend the Curtis Institute since its founding in 1924. Cristina plays on an Eastman 836 CC tuba and a Yamaha 822 F tuba. Jan duga Jan Duga is a freelance tubist and educator in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. She served 30 years in The United States Air Force Band, Washington D.C., until her retirement in 2013 as a Chief Master Sergeant. In addition to her performing duties, Jan was a tour manager for the Concert Band and in charge of several organization-wide duties including personnel, administration, auditions and marketing/outreach.

Jan graduated from The Ohio State University in 1980 with a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Master of Music degree in solo tuba performance from Arizona State University in 1982. Her teachers include, Robert LeBlanc, Raymond Nutaitis, Arnold Jacobs, Michael Bunn and Paul Krzywicki. She also taught in the Chillicothe, Ohio public school system. Jan has been a featured soloist at both the 1992 and 1998 ITEC. A charter member of the Board of Directors of the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC), she served as secretary for 3 years, and was honored at the 2012 conference with the first Lifetime Service Award. She is the current Conference Co-Chair for IWBC and Manager of Monarch Brass. Amy gilreath Amy Gilreath, a founding member of Stiletto Brass Quintet, has an active professional career as both a performer and university professor. She is Principal Trumpet with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Chamber Orchestra, and serves as the Director of the Orvieto Musica Trumpet Fest in Orvieto Italy. Amy has appeared as a soloist with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Leyland Brass Band, the Illinois Chamber Orchestra, Orvieto Musica Chamber Orchestra, as well as many university and high school bands. She has been an invited soloist and clinician at the Sounds News Music Festival in Canterbury, England; the Hans Marteau Brass Festival in Hof, Germany; and the Exploring the Trumpet Festival in Kalavrita, Greece, the International Women’s Brass Conference, and the International Trumpet Guild Conference. In 2010 she appeared as the first woman soloist at the International Romantic Trumpet Festival held in St. Petersburg. Amy has received numerous praises for her solo CD entitled “Enjoying Life”, and can be heard on the Sinfonia da Camera recording “Enescu: Impressions and Chamber Symphony” released by Albany Records. She was the featured artist in the December 2009 international magazine “The Brass Herald.”

Amy is currently Professor of Trumpet at Illinois State University and also serves on the Board of Directors for the International Trumpet Guild. Amy has been co-host of the 2003 and 2006 International Women’s Brass Conference. Amy is a B&S Trumpets Performing Artist. Dr. joanna ross hersey A native Vermonter, tuba and euphonium soloist Joanna Ross Hersey has produced two solo albums, O quam mirabilis (2010) and Zigzags (2015), featuring music by composers including Hildegard von Bingen and Libby Larson in combination with her own works. Joanna is President of the International Women’s Brass Conference, Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and a Yamaha and Parker Mouthpiece Performing Artist. As a composer, her new Fresh Faces series highlights diverse music for solo and chamber brass, available from her website. Joanna’s newest solo composition, ElevenTwelve, for solo tuba and electronics, takes soloist and audience alike on a tour of Hildegard von Bingen’s convent, through a map presented as a graphic score.

As a member of the Alchemy Tuba-Euphonium Quartet, Joanna performs throughout North America and Europe and can be heard on the group’s recordings Village Dances and Prelude and Groove. For sixteen years Alchemy has been in residence each February at the Horn-Tuba Workshop in Jever, Germany where the group performs recitals, gives master-classes and conducts ensembles. Joanna studied with Dan Perantoni at Arizona State University, received a Master of Music in Tuba Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music studying with Chester Schmitz, and earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Tuba Performance from the Hartt School. Beginning her career as Principal Tubist with the United States Coast Guard Band, Joanna performed throughout the country as a soloist and clinician after winning the position at the age of nineteen. Joanna has played for three U.S. Presidents, performed at numerous state functions for visiting dignitaries, and has appeared on The Today Show and Good Morning America. In her freelance career she has performed with artists including Placido Domingo, Roberta Flack, Marilyn Horne, Arlo Guthrie, Michael Bolton, Lee Greenwood, Arturo Sandoval and Jack Nicholson. In collaboration with Parker Mouthpieces, Joanna has debuted the Hersey Artist Model Tuba Mouthpiece, featuring a three component stainless steel design.

Joanna’s research interests focus on brass history and women in 20th Century American music, and her work has been published in the International Tuba Euphonium Journal, the International Women’s Brass Conference Newsletter, the Historic Brass Society Journal, the North Carolina Music Educator’s Journal and the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education. Joanna has also contributed chapters to three books, Bands of Sisters: U.S. Military Bands During World War II, Women’s Bands in America: Performing Music and Gender, and An Early History of Music Education in Universities: The Normal School Years. Catie hickey Chicago-based musician Catie Hickey leads a multi-faceted career as a trombonist, educator, and arts advocate. Active as a jazz musician, soloist, chamber music artist, and orchestral player, her work has taken her to cities throughout Europe, Africa and the Americas. Before returning to Chicago, Ms. Hickey was a touring member of the Foothills Brass Quintet. She has performed with the symphonies of St. Louis, Calgary, Rochester and Sinaloa, Mexico. Locally, Catie is a guest with groups ranging from Lowdown Brass Band to the Lake Forest Symphony.

Committed to expanding the role of the 21st century musician, Catie's work often takes her beyond the stage and into the broader community. At home in Chicago, she is Instructor of Low Brass for Loyola University, Brass Faculty for the Francis Parker School, and a busy studio instructor in the western suburbs. Each summer, Catie serves on the faculty of the Eastman Summer Trombone Institute. An alumna of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, she is the Co-Founder of the Taller de Trombones in Panama, Panama. Catie also enjoys associations with the Trombonanza Festival in Santa Fe, Argentina and the Urubrass Festival in Montevideo, Uruguay. Catie previously taught trombone and jazz studies at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Ms. Hickey is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Rice University with degrees in both classical performance and jazz studies, as well as obtaining a certificate in Arts Leadership. When not performing or teaching, Catie is working on her Spanish and rooting for the Chicago Cubs. Bente illevold Bente Illevold (b. 1983) is the euphonium teacher at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. She comes from Rendalen in Østerdalen and plays the euphonium. Over the past few years, she has left her mark as an innovative performer and has gained recognition for her performances of several new works for the instrument, both at home and abroad. She has a master’s degree from the Norwegian Academy of Music and has performed with several of the country’s professional bands and orchestras. Bente is passionate about expanding the euphonium repertoire and allowing the instrument to unfold in new constellations and contexts, and has commissioned seven major works for the euphonium. She works daily as a freelance musician and is regularly invited as a guest teacher at the country’s educational institutions and as a soloist at international festivals. She also works as a school band conductor, and is passionate about her work with youths. Bente is the euphonium player in the Northern Lights Duo. Bente also arranges music for brass ensembles and wind bands.

Bente is an international S.E. Shires Company Euphonium artist, and was the company`s first pick as their first female and European euphonium artist. Bente performs on Shires Q41 Euphonium and mouthpieces from Doug Elliott. She also work close and cooperate with the Norwegian dealer Polar Brass. Dr. Erika izaguirre Dr. Erika Izaguirre is an active freelance performer and educator in New England, primarily based in Boston. She enjoys a career forming the minds of young brass musicians from underrepresented communities through her work in the Intensive Community Program in collaboration with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Erika also enjoys performing in local chamber groups, orchestras, and music theaters.

As a soloist, Erika has commissioned and premiered works in New York and abroad by composers John Wallace, Sean William Calhoun, and Jorge Bennett. She has also performed at the Fringe Festival and has recorded for the Blue on Blue Recording Studio and for Blue Lake Public Radio. Additionally, Dr. Izaguirre has soloed with Greece Symphony Orchestra and performed with Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, and Symphoria.

Erika earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Eastman School of Music. Her primary teachers have included James Thompson, Wiff Rudd, Ray Sasaki, Boyde Hood, and Tom Stevens.

Currently, Erika is working on a project that highlights the music of Mexican composers through performances, publications, and presentations. In her spare time, she enjoys a good book, outdoor adventures, and experimenting with Mexican recipes. Allyssa jones Allyssa Jones (M.M. Music Education, Northern Illinois University) is an award-winning musician and educator whose career spans nearly 30 years in the classroom and on stage. Her work includes positions as Program Director for Performing Arts for Boston Public Schools, Head of Accessibility & Inclusion for the Institute for Composer Diversity and Member-at-Large within the NAfME Council for Innovations. She also served as Music Department Co-Chair at Boston Arts Academy where she founded the school’s first vocal jazz ensemble and established courses in vocal technique and songwriting. She was the first Advocacy and Outreach Chair of the Massachusetts MEA-Eastern District, served as Jazz Chair for ACDA Massachusetts, co-facilitated the NAfME Perspectives Group, and served on Boston’s Handel+Haydn Society Education Planning Team.

A prolific presenter, adjudicator and clinician, Jones has led sessions on creative leadership, culturally responsive teaching, vocal jazz, classroom management, and music and adolescent literacy for numerous organizations, including the Perrone-Sizer Institute, Cantata Singers, Berklee College of Music, ACDA Massachusetts, MMEA, RIMEA, International Association for Jazz Education. Her conducting credits include over a decade as Vocal Jazz Director at Boston Arts Academy, as well as appearances with the Boston Children’s Chorus and the MMEA-Northeast District Junior Festival Treble Chorus.

Now a full-time composer and education consultant, Jones’ artistic credits include five solo recordings; music festivals and theatre productions throughout the Northeast and Midwest; and compositions, sound design and music direction for Greater Boston theatre companies, including the Front Porch Arts Collective, Company One Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage Company, The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Apollinaire Theatre, and OWLL Theatre Company. Her creative work has garnered many awards and honors, including a Surdna Artist-Teacher Fellowship and grants from The Puffin Foundation, the Boston Cultural Council and the Boston Foundation. Jones’ company, Jones Creative & Consulting (JCC), develops music projects and resources that support dialogue, collaboration and innovation across sectors and communities. JCC’s latest project is a new print music division, Rising Tide Music Press, created to connect emerging Black, Brown, Indigenous and Asian composers with a national network of performers and educators.

*Alyssa Jones is a Panelist for the 2021 Mentor Program Ashley killam Ashley Killam (she/her) is a trumpet player, educator, drill designer, entrepreneur, and international speaker. Ashley works as the co-founder and owner of Diversify the Stand and the General Manager for Rising Tide Music Press and has spent her post-school years researching and presenting across the country.

An advocate for creating change in music, Ashley is passionate about building awareness for underrepresented voices in music and providing performers and educators resources to make ethical and sustainable changes in performing and teaching music. She has presented her lecture, “Fanfare for the Unheard” to college and high school courses across the United States and Canada, featuring composers and providing resources to include music by underrepresented composers within individual programs. From this, she co-founded Diversify the Stand to listen and learn from the stories of underrepresented voices in the musical community. Along with Diversify the Stand, she manages Rising Tide Music Press; publishing works by BBIA (Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian) composers and creators. Ashley also co-founded of the new Diversity & Inclusion Committee for the International Trumpet Guild and a member of the ITG New Works Committee.

Ashley has performed in a wide range of ensembles, from chamber music to large bands and orchestras, performing professionally with the North Carolina Brass Band, New Mexico Philharmonic, and the Sandia Brass Quintet.

As an educator, Ashley teaches trumpet lessons, sectionals, full brass rehearsals and has worked with students of all ages and skill levels. She has taught privately for nearly a decade, and many of her students have been recognized for their excellence. Several of Ashley’s students have participated in honor and All-State classical and jazz bands in New Mexico and North Carolina. She has also designed and recorded a 53-week curriculum for beginning voice and yoga, for an educational organization in Blacksburg.

Ashley also has significant marching band experience as a drill writer, visual instructor, and director. She marched for three years with the Marching Illini at the University of Illinois, appearing in Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2014 and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2015. She has written drill since 2014 and has written shows for the Appalachian State University Marching Band, the Marching Illini Sousaphone section, and high school bands in Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, writing for ensembles with 15 to 150 students.

Ashley currently resides in Radford, Virginia, with her husband and corgi puppy, Biscuit. She holds a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from the University of New Mexico and a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her former instructors include Dr. John Marchiando, Charles Daval, Ron Romm, and Mark Thompson. Dr. Jacquelyn lankford Jacquelyn Lankford is the Assistant Professor of Trumpet at McNeese State University, acting principal and second trumpet with the Monroe Symphony Orchestra, and third trumpet in the Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra. She earned her Doctorate in Trumpet Performance with a related field in Music Education from the University of North Texas in 2019, Master’s in Trumpet Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music in 2016, and Bachelor’s in Music Education from New Mexico State University in 2014. Jacquelyn is also the founder of the Women Composing for Trumpet Competition, which was created in 2020.

Ensembles she has performed with include the Monroe Symphony Orchestra, Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra, Rory Partin Big Band, Calcasieu Brass Band, Richardson Symphony Orchestra, Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra, Big Band on the Rio Grande, Eastman Wind Ensemble, UNT Symphony Orchestra, and UNT Wind Symphony. In 2019, she was also appointed head of the Lake Charles annual Messiah production, which is one of the longest running performances of Messiah in the country.

As a soloist, Jacquelyn was invited to Rouen, France to compete in the Eric Aubier International Trumpet Competition where she was one of only two United States competitors. She has also competed at the National Trumpet Competition many times in both the solo and ensemble divisions, and won 3rd place in the large ensemble division in 2018 with the UNT large ensemble’s performance of Kevin McKee’s Vuelta del Fuego. Dr. brittany lasch As a winner of the 2019 S&R Foundation Washington Award, Trombonist Brittany Lasch has appeared as a soloist with ensembles such as the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own”, the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass, and symphonies around the country. With playing described as “masterful” (Syracuse Post-Standard), Brittany is Assistant Professor of Trombone at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Brittany also performs as Principal Trombone of the Michigan Opera Theatre Orchestra at the Detroit Opera House.

Brittany was a winner of Astral Artist’s 2017 National Auditions. She was also the winner of the 2015 National Collegiate Solo Competition hosted by the U.S. Army Band, the 2010 Eisenberg- Fried Brass Concerto Competition, and she was the recipient of the Zulalian Foundation Award in 2014. Her trombone quartet Boston Based won the 2017 International Trombone Association’s Quartet Competition. In early 2018, Brittany was awarded 2nd place in The American Prize solo instrumentalist competition.

Brittany was a finalist in the 2015 International Trombone Association Frank Smith Solo Competition and has received prizes from the 2015 Enkor Woodwind, Brass and Percussion Competition, the 2010 Queens Symphony Young Soloist Competition, and the 2006 International Women’s Brass Conference Competition, as well as the International Trombone Association’s Larry Wiehe Solo Competition and Gilberto Gagliardi Competition. Upon graduation from the Manhattan School of Music, she received the coveted John Clark Award for outstanding accomplishment in Brass Performance.

Brittany has performed with orchestras nationwide including the Detroit Symphony, Nashville Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Vermont Symphony, Albany Symphony, Symphoria, and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. She participated in the Verbier Festival Orchestra for two summers, and has also appeared at the Spoleto USA Festival, Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, the Castleton Festival, in the National Repertory Orchestra, and at the Aspen Music Festival. She has also been a participant in the prestigious Alessi Trombone Seminar in Fossano, Italy, and in the Summer Trombone Workshop at Temple University.

As an advocate for new music, Brittany has commissioned and performed a number of new pieces for trombone. She recently gave the premiere of the orchestrated version of Martin Kennedy's Theme and Variations for Trombone and Orchestra with the BGSU Philharmonia under the direction of Emily Brown. She also recorded the work with the BGSU Philharmonia, to be released in 2021 on the Albany Records label. Her most recent premiere performance of a consortium commissioned work by composer Inez McComas can be viewed here https://youtu.be/SPY0JU1dedk?t=2559

A native of Park Ridge, Illinois, Brittany Lasch earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University, where she received the Brass Department Award. She also holds a Master of Music degree from Yale School of Music. With a deep commitment to education, she has been a featured teacher and performer at events such as the American Trombone Workshop, the International Women’s Brass Conference, the UW Whitewater Trombone Day, the University of Arkansas Trombone Workshop, and Midwest Trombone Tuba Euphonium Conference at Eastern Illinois University. She has presented masterclasses at universities across the country and at pre-collegiate programs such as the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Her principal teachers include Toby Oft, Scott Hartman, and Steve Norrell. Brittany Lasch is an Edwards Trombone Performing Artist. Brittany also proudly uses and endorses ChopSaver Lip Care. Dr. Jeannie little Trombonist and conductor Dr. Jeannie Little joined the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra as Principal trombonist, and the Montana State University School of Music in 2015 as Low Brass Professor and Director of the University Band. Jeannie earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Performance and Pedagogy at the Eastman School of Music, a Master’s degree in Music Performance from Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from the Florida State University.

As a soloist and clinician, Dr. Little is active presenting recitals and master classes throughout the country, with recent performances and clinics at the International Trombone Festival, the International Women's Brass Conference, and the American Trombone Workshop. She has also earned a reputation as an outstanding, dynamic and inspiring conductor having served as the Music Director of the Brighton Symphony Orchestra and assistant conductor of the legendary Eastman Trombone Choir.

Dr. Little’s orchestral experiences include Principal Trombone of the Bozeman Symphony, Charlottesville Symphony, the Illinois Chamber Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. In addition, she has performed with the Syracuse, Honolulu, Long Beach, Alabama, Chautauqua, New Mexico and Detroit Symphony Orchestras and the Louisiana Philharmonic. Other highlights include touring and recording with the Chicago Symphony under Leonard Bernstein. Additionally, she has performed with such jazz greats as Doc Severinson, Ella Fitzgerald, and Natalie Cole. Previous teaching positions include Trombone Professor at Louisiana State University, James Madison University, and Instructor of Low Brass at the Interlochen Arts Academy and the University of Hawaii. Kana madarame Born in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, Kana Madarame is active as both a performer and a teacher mainly around Tokyo. She is an adjunct professor at Tokyo Gakugei University, Senzoku Gakuen College of Music and Shobi College of Music, where she teaches trumpet, British brass and trumpet ensemble. She also coaches high school bands in Tokyo. Ms. Madarame often volunteers to give recitals to support and spread music education and culture in her hometown, Mito, Ibaraki, Japan.

Ms. Madarame is principal cornet of the Japan Ladies’ Brass Band and Tokyo Brass Society, the first professional British-style brass band in Japan. She is currently a board member of International Women’s Brass Conference and Japanese Band Directors Association. She has appeared and won in several solo competitions in Japan. Her successful music achievement is not only in Japan but also throughout North America, Europe and Malaysia. In 2003, she won second prize at International Women’s Brass Conference.

Ms. Madarame received her Master of Music in trumpet performance from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music in addition to a Bachelor of Music Education and Performance from Tokyo Gakugei University. Ms. Madarame’s primary teachers include Mineo Sugiki, Yukihiro Sekiyama and Pierre Thibaud. Dr. Natalie mannix Natalie Mannix is an avid soloist, chamber musician, orchestral performer and educator. She is currently Associate Professor of Trombone at the University of North Texas and trombonist with the Stiletto Brass Quintet. Previously, she was Principal Trombone in the Delaware Symphony for 14 years, and a member of the United States Navy Band in Washington, DC for over nine years where she performed with the brass quintet, concert and ceremonial band.

Dr. Mannix has appeared as guest artist and clinician at colleges and conferences throughout North America, including the 2018, 2016 and 2013 International Trombone Festival, the International Women’s Brass Conference, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic and the American Trombone Workshop. She has performed with the Dallas Symphony, Dallas Opera, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony, the Washington Opera and Kennedy Center Orchestras, the Washington Trombone Ensemble, the Monarch Brass, and several regional orchestras and brass ensembles. A new music advocate, she has commissioned several works for trombone and continues to perform and promote music by emerging composers.

Her recent recordings include a solo album, Breaking Ground: A Celebration of Women Composers and chamber music CDs: Scarpe! with the Stiletto Brass Quintet, And If All Were Dark with Dave Taylor and the Washington Trombone Ensemble, Mozart’s Requiem with the Dallas Chamber Choir and Orchestra, the grammy-nominated Interchange: Concertos by Rodrigo and Assad with the Delaware Symphony and LA Guitar Quartet; and Shadowcatcher: Music for Winds, Brass and Percussion.

An avid brass pedagogue, Natalie has adjudicated international solo and ensemble competitions and serves on the Executive Board and as chair of the Advisory Council for Diversity for the International Trombone Association and on the Board of Directors for the International Women’s Brass Conference

Natalie received her degrees from the University of Michigan, The Juilliard School and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Catholic University. She is a performing artist for the Edwards Instrument Company. Jennifer marotta Jennifer Marotta is a Los Angeles based musician who teaches trumpet at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. As an active freelance musician, she regularly performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the St. Louis Symphony.

Marotta is currently a member of the Grand Teton Music Festival and the Music of the Baroque in Chicago. She was a member of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band from 2001 to 2005.

Originally from Naperville, Illinois, Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and her Master of Music degree from DePaul University, where she studied with Barbara Butler and John Hagstrom.

Marotta was a visiting trumpet professor at UCLA in 2016 and was Assistant Professor of Trumpet at Kennesaw State University from 2006 to 2012. She was also a visiting professor at Illinois State University in 2006 and was an artist-in-residence at Emory University from 2006 to 2010.

Jennifer, along with Thomas Hooten, is the most recent editor for Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet, published by Carl Fischer. Jennifer is a Yamaha Artist. Dr. Wendy matthews Dr. Wendy K. Matthews is an Associate Professor of Music Education and Director of Bands at Kent State University. She holds degrees from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Conservatory of Music, University of Maryland-College Park, and George Mason University. Prior to joining the faculty at Kent State University, Dr. Matthews led the music department at Northern Virginia Community College as Assistant Dean as well as directed the Alexandria Campus Band, Orchestra, and Chamber Winds. She has also taught undergraduate and graduate courses and conducted ensembles at Georgetown University, University of Maryland, George Mason University, and Wayne State University. She is the recipient of the WSU College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts Teaching Award, Ph.D. Academic Award for the Outstanding Dissertation from the George Mason University College of Education and Human Development, and the Graduate Student Research Award (Studying and Self-Regulated Learning SIG) of the American Educational Research Association. Her college ensembles have performed at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, DAR Constitution Hall, in Washington, D.C., the Michigan Music Conference, and the 2013, 2014 and 2015 International Trumpet Guild International Conferences. Additionally, Dr. Matthews taught elementary and secondary school instrumental music in Virginia and Maryland.

Dr. Matthews' research interests include oral histories of the first women brass players in professional orchestras and military bands, research in self-regulation. group dynamics in large ensembles, and various topics in music teacher education. She is the co-author of the Basic Conducting Techniques (Seventh Edition) published by Routledge Music. She has published in numerous journals including the Journal of Research in Music Education, Psychology of Music, International Journal of Music Education, Journal of Band Research, College Music Symposium, Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, Research and Issues in Music Education Journal, The International Journal of Educational and Psychological Assessment and the International Trumpet Guild Journal. Dr. Matthews has presented research, professional development, and historical sessions at national and international conferences throughout the world including Symposium on Music Teacher Education Conferences, International Society for Music Education World Conferences, the National Association for Music Education Conference, College Music Society Conferences, and the American Educational Research Association as well as numerous state and collegiate conferences including TMEA, OMEA, KMEA, CASMEC, NCMEA, and MMC. She is proud to be serving IWBC on the conference awards committee and as the co-chair of the Susan Slaughter International Solo Competition for Brass & Ginger Turner Ensemble Competition for Brass.

Dr. Matthews is in demand throughout the world as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator most recently conducting in New Delhi. India for the American Schools Honor Band, the 257th Army Band (the "Band of the Nation's Capital"), American School Band Director Association Honor Band-Ohio Chapter, Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association District XVI and III, and the New Music in Brass Reading Session at the International Women in Brass Conference. Dr. Matthews has served as an adjudicator for the International Susan Slaughter Solo Brass Competition and the National Trumpet Competition, as well as the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association, Festivals of Music, and Music in the Parks. Theresa may Theresa J. May is a native of Shaker Heights, Ohio. She received her Masters degree in trumpet performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and her Bachelor of Music from the University of Dayton. Theresa keeps a vigorous teaching and performance schedule.

Ms. May is adjunct faculty at Cuyahoga Community College where she teaches Applied Trumpet and World Music. She is also adjunct faculty at John Carroll University where she teaches World Music. As a private lesson instructor, Ms. May teaches at Academy Music, Olmsted Falls schools, Conservatory of Music at Hudson Montessori, and provides house lessons in and the around the city of Cleveland. She has most recently became a member of Black Classical Music Educators (BCME) and is also a new teaching artist for the Roots of American Music (ROAM).

Ms. May performs regularly with Gabriel’s Horns, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Mourning [A] BLKstar and the Cleveland Brassworks. She continues to perform in the Colour of Music Festival, a festival for Black classical musicians, and has also recently began performing with Kyle Kidd & Company and is always looking for new opportunities to perform. Past performance experience includes Cleveland Opera Theater Orchestra and DIVA Jazz Orchestra- under the direction of Sherrie Maricle, in the month-long production of Maurice Hines’ Tappin’ Thru Life at the Cleveland Playhouse. She has also been featured as a guest artist in the Alumni Recital Series at the University of Dayton. Amy mccabe Whether playing suspended in midair on the Broadway stage or soloing on the Symphony Hall stage in Chicago, Amy McCabe is ready to perform in a variety of capacities. She was recently a soloist with the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain in London’s Regent Hall, at the International Trumpet Guild conference, and appeared on a recital for the Kennedy Center’s reopening of the Terrace Theater with the Emerson String Quartet. Amy is currently a trumpet/cornetist with The “President’s Own” United States Marine Band, and has completed two national concert tours as a soloist in addition to her duties at Arlington National Cemetery and the White House. She is also an active chamber musician, having recorded with Seraph Brass and The Barclay Brass. In addition, Amy has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, and The Brass Band of Battle Creek. Amy was a featured soloist in the first National and Japan touring cast of the Tony and Emmy-award winning show, “Blast!” in addition to touring with pop artist Michael Bolton on a national tour. Amy’s interest in passing the love of music on to others is found through her work with Sound Impact and the Boulanger Initiative. She holds a degree in elementary education from Illinois Wesleyan University and a Master’s degree in trumpet performance from Northwestern University, studying with Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer. Misa mead Misa was born in the city of Kumamoto, in the south west of Japan. She graduated from Tokyo College of Music in 2008. At both high school and university she was a scholarship student.

Misa won the unanimous Gold Medal at the European Solo Competition for Young Soloists in Luxembourg 2011, as well winning the first prize at the 4th All-Japan Junior High and Senior High School Students Wind Instruments Solo Contest, 2000, and the 25th All-Kyushu Music Competition Gold Award 2001. At the highly prestigious Jeju International Wind and Percussion Solo Competition 2012 and 2014, South Korea, she won third prize. Misa graduated with Honors at the Conservatory at regional radiation of Paris 2012.

Misa appeared as a guest artist in March 2013 at Tubamania Festivals in Thailand and May 2013 at the South West Region Tuba Euphonium Conference (SWRTEC) in California, USA, performing her own compositions. In 2013 she was appointed High School Performance Assistant at the Tokyo College of Music. She also worked closely with the Tokyo-based Spiel Kammerensemble.

Since July 2013, Misa moved to the UK, and performed many concerts in more than twenty countries. She married the famous British euphonium artist Steven Mead in March 2014, and changed her name from Misa Akahoshi to Misa Mead. Her debut CD Journey, was released to great critical acclaim.

Misa is an active as freelance composer and orchestrator. Many of her works are published by ASKS Winds (Japan) and Bocchino Music (UK) distributed world-wide. Misa is a Besson Euphonium Artist represents the Buffet Group around the world with her solo activities. Dr. Stacie mickens Stacie Mickens joined the UNT College of Music faculty as an associate professor of horn in August 2018. Prior to her appointment, she was associate professor at the Dana School of Music, Youngstown State University, and also previously served on the faculties of Luther College (Decorah, IA) and Winona State University (Winona, MN). She completed her doctorate of musical arts at the University of Michigan as a recipient of the Rackham Fellowship Award. There she studied with former Philadelphia Orchestra member and jazz musician Adam Unsworth and with Detroit Symphony member Bryan Kennedy. She holds a master of music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied with renowned horn pedagogue Douglas Hill. She received a bachelor of arts degree in music and English from Luther College, studying horn with Patricia Brown and piano with John Strauss.

As an orchestral musician, Mickens has performed with Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Plano Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Chamber Winds, Blossom Music Festival, Monarch Brass, Madison Symphony Orchestra, and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. She previously held positions in the following symphony orchestras: Akron, Wheeling, Youngstown, Lansing, Dearborn, Southwest Michigan, La Crosse, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, and Dubuque.

Representing the University of Michigan, Mickens performed in recital at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. as part of the Millennium Stage’s Conservatory Project. In 2011 and 2012, she was invited to perform at the Thy Chamber Music Festival, and gave several concerts in the northwest region of Denmark. David Morgan composed When Penguins Fly (concerto for horn and wind ensemble) for her in 2018. The piece was premiered at the 2018 Ohio Music Education Association Convention (OMEA) in Columbus, OH by Mickens and the YSU Wind Ensemble. She has enjoyed additional concerto performances with the following groups: UNT Wind Symphony, UNT Symphony Orchestra, UNT Concert Orchestra, Luther College Symphony Orchestra, Akron Symphony, Erie Young Artists’ Debut Orchestra, Packard Band, and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony.

Mickens performed and presented at the 50th International Horn Symposium in 2018 and at the International Women’s Brass Conferences in 2019 and 2017. She has been a regional guest artist at the 2018 Mid-South Horn Workshop, the 2015 and 2016 Northeast Horn Workshops, the 2013 Southeast Horn Workshop, and the 2006 Midwest Horn Workshop. As a young musician, Mickens participated in drum and bugle corps and marching arts activities. She was a member of Star of Indiana’s Brass Theater, world champion Cadets, and Colts.

*Dr. Mickens is a Panelist for the 2021 Mentor Program Lynn mostoller Lynn Mostoller joined the Santa Fe Symphony in 2004, where she currently serves as second trombonist. From 1991 to 2001 she served as principal trombonist of the Tulsa Philharmonic. Prior to her appointment in Tulsa, Ms. Mostoller performed regularly with the Women’s Philharmonic, the Santa Cruz Symphony, and the Santa Rosa Symphony. She has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, the New Mexico Symphony, the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and the Monarch Brass Ensemble. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 2004 she completed a Juris Doctor at the University of New Mexico School of Law. Ms. Mostoller served as law clerk to the Honorable Harris Hartz of the United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit for the 2004-2005 term. She is an attorney with the Albuquerque law firm, Sutin Thayer & Browne, P.C., where her practice focuses primarily on commercial litigation, appeals, and employment law. Ms. Mostoller is one of five lawyers to receive the 2014 Guardian of Liberty Award from the ACLU of New Mexico for her work on Griego v. Oliver, which challenged New Mexico’s ban on same-sex marriage. Andrea neumann German born trombonist Andrea Neumann Rodriguez has been an active freelance musician in the New York area since 2010. In addition to being a member of Local 802, she is active on Broadway as well as participation in ensembles including the American Symphony Orchestra, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, The Orchestra Now, The Big Apple Circus, the Met Gala, as well as several jazz, salsa, and chamber ensembles. Using her native German as a teaching tool, Andrea has enjoyed an ongoing relationship with the only full German inclusion Day Care in Manhattan, keeping German culture and traditions alive through singing/playing/movement of nursery songs and stories. She is also a founding member of Phoenix, a new quartet project.

Before arriving in NYC, Miss Neumann has been a member of or performed with the Orquesta Sinaloa de los Artes, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Richardson Symphony Orchestra, a soloist with the Dallas Metropolitan Winds, Garland/Las Colinas Symphonies, Longview, San Angelo, and Shreveport Orchestras. In her native Germany, she has performed in Munich, Frankfurt, and throw out the Black Forest, while also playing summer festivals in Switzerland.

An avid international clinician and educator in Europe, the Caribbean, and throughout the United States, she has led a successful studio comprised of Trombone, Bass Trombone, Euphonium, and Tuba students since 1993.

Current credits include recordings and performances with artists such as Ana Gasteyer, Diana DeGarmo, Michelle Dowdy, Collin Raye, Lisa Loeb, Frank Ocean, Il Divo, Adele, and several other independent label artists. Miss Neumann, an Edwards Artist, received her Bachelor of Music Education from New Mexico State University and Masters Degree in Performance from Southern Methodist University. Laurel ohlson National Symphony Orchestra Associate Principal Horn Laurel Bennert Ohlson has appeared as a concerto soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra and Eclipse Chamber Orchestra and in numerous solo engagements across the U.S. and South America. Appointed by Mstislav Rostropovich, she has had the pleasure of performing with the NSO in the finest concert halls in Europe, Russia, China, Japan, Korea, South America, the U.S., and Oman.

She premiered Truman Harris’ Concertino for Horn and Chamber Orchestra with Eclipse Chamber Orchestra in 1999, and recorded the work in 2006. Ms. Ohlson is on the faculty of The Catholic University of America, and has been an active performer and teacher through the NSO’s Youth Fellowship Program, Summer Music Institute, and the American Residencies. She also conducts master classes and Wagner tuba clinics at International Horn Society Symposiums and International Women's Brass Conferences (IWBC).

Ms. Ohlson presents “History of the Horn” lecture-demonstrations, playing on at least a dozen horn-related instruments including the alphorn, shofar, natural horn, Wagner tuba, and the ever-popular garden hose. She has been on the Board of Directors of the IWBC since its founding in 1991. Ava ordman After twenty-four years as principal trombone with the Grand Rapids Symphony – a job she attained at the age of 19 – Ava Ordman moved to the Detroit area to work as a psychologist and continue as a freelance trombonist. While working in Grand Rapids at age 41, Ordman returned to school to pursue a degree in Counseling Psychology. Armed with her new MA, LLP, she began work at the Guidance Center in Southgate while also working as a substitute trombonist with the Detroit Symphony and Michigan Opera Theater orchestras and teaching low brass at Oakland University.

Ordman had taught at several colleges and universities in the Grand Rapids area while in the orchestra, but it had never been in her mindset to pursue a full-time position at the university level. That changed when the professorship in trombone opened at Michigan State University in 2002. Ordman decided to “go for it” with the possibility of once again making another career shift. Chosen as the Professor of Trombone at Michigan State University later that year, it didn’t take long for Ordman to know that this was where she was supposed to be.

In addition to her professorial duties, Ordman continues to pursue and enjoy a varied life as a performer. She is principal trombone of both the Lansing Symphony and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music Orchestra. She also performs regularly with the Beaumont Brass, which is the faculty brass quintet at Michigan State University, and the Monarch Brass, which is the flagship brass ensemble of the International Women’s Brass Conference. Yet perhaps what Ordman enjoys most is performing as a soloist.

She has been a featured soloist with many orchestras throughout the United States, including her solo debut at Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony performing Donald Erb’s Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra. Ordman has been a featured artist at several International Trombone Festivals; the International Brassfest in Bloomington, IN; the American Trombone Workshop in Fort Myer, VA; and many International Women's Brass Conferences held throughout the United States. Ordman also performed the world premieres of Steven Smith's Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra with the Eugene Symphony and Libby Larsen's Mary Cassatt for Mezzo-Soprano, Trombone, and Orchestra with the Grand Rapids Symphony. Both of these works were written for Ordman and, along with Donald Erb’s Concerto, have been performed by her throughout the United States. Ordman’s most recent venture, however, has been to form a consortium of trombonists and conductors to commission a new trombone concerto by David Biedenbender. This work “Their Eyes are Fireflies,” received its world premiere on March 22, 2018 with the Michigan State University Wind Ensemble and was performed again by Ordman in the 2018-19 season with the Lansing Symphony, Michigan Philharmonic and Grand Rapids Symphony.

Another recent milestone for Ordman was the release of her first solo CD in January 2017 entitled, It’s About Time: Music for Trombone by Women Composers” on the Blue Griffin label. She is also the featured trombone soloist on a Koss Classics' CD of concertos by Donald Erb and on the CD entitled Simple Gifts, the Music of Frank Ticheli. In February of 2018, Professor Ordman was named the recipient of the 2018 Neill Humfeld Award for “Excellence in Teaching” by the International Trombone Association. When asked what is most important to Ordman in her life as a teacher, she says, “I consider it a privilege to be involved in the lives of young people who are developing and evolving as both musicians and as people. I hope that I have been able to help them in some way on their journey, because they have certainly enriched mine.” Ordman earned her Bachelor and Master degrees in Trombone Performance from the University of Michigan in 1975 and her Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology at Western Michigan University in 1998. Her primary teachers were Mark McDunn, Frank Crisafuli, Glenn P. Smith, Glenn Dodson and Arnold Jacobs. Ordman is a Bach Performing Artist. Donna parkes Australian trombonist Donna Parkes has been Principal Trombone of the Louisville Orchestra since 2008 and has been Principal Trombone of the Colorado Music Festival since 2009. Prior to this year, she played the 2012-13 season with the Utah Symphony and the 2007-8 season with the San Francisco Symphony. Parkes was a member of the Virginia Symphony from 2001-2007 and was a member of the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas for two years. She has performed with many orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Oregon Symphony, National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, Sydney Symphony, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Parkes has performed at the Arizona Musicfest, the Marlboro Festival, and the Grand Tetons Festival and in 2016 toured with the Australian World Orchestra. Solo competition successes include winning the Australian National Trombone Competition, the Brisbane International Brass Competition, and finalist in the Jeju Brass Competition in Korea. She has appeared as a soloist or clinician at the International Women’s Brass Conference, International Trombone Festival and the Melbourne International Festival of Brass. Parkes received her Masters Degree studying under Charles Vernon at DePaul University and other primary teachers include Michael Mulcahy and Ron Prussing. Marquita reef Marquita Reef received her degrees in Trombone Performance from the University of Denver-Lamont School of Music(BM), and Brooklyn College(MM); participant in the Keystone Brass Institute and The Aspen Music Festival. Music educator in the St Louis Public School District at Metro Academic and Classical High School where she teaches a variety of subjects including Concert Band, Beginning Winds and Percussion, I.B. Music, Music History, Jazz History, Piano and Classical Guitar. At Webster University’s Community Music School as part of the faculty teaching Trombone, Euphonium and Tuba to Middle, High and College level students.

The recipient of SLPS’s first Music Educator of the Year Award, the Pettus Award for Excellence in Education, Outstanding Music Educator Award in the St. Louis Metro District #8 and the Local 2- 197 Musicians’ Union George Smith Diversity Award.

On the Board of Directors for the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) and the St. Louis Low Brass Collective, Board Multi Cultural Chair for the St Louis Metro District #8, Representative Delegate for Musicians Association of St Louis Local 2-197 at American Federation of Musicians Conventions in Las Vegas and presently the President of the St Louis Low Brass Collective. On the RIDE Committee (Racism Inclusion Diversity Equity) for MAAE (Missouri Alliance for Arts Education) in sessions about racial inclusion in Missouri’s professional arts education organizations.

Plays with the area brass musicians every year for the Holiday Brass Concerts (IWBC), other local orchestras and jazz bands in the St. Louis area. Conn-Selmer VIP and in January 2019 featured in an article, Meet Marquita in St. Louis.( https://www.conn-selmer.com/application/files/5915/6476/0576/ TouchPoint_534_January_2019.pdf ) Carole dawn reinhart Carole Dawn Reinhart was born in Roselle, New Jersey on Dec. 20th, 1941. Her mother played trombone and started her daughter on the slide cornet at age two and a half. By the time Reinhart was 7, she was playing duets in concert with her older brother, who was an accomplished trumpeter. At age 10, she received a scholarship to study with Edward Treutel at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. She was first chair in New Jersey's All-State Bands and Orchestras. At age 16, she was commissioned as the youngest and only woman bandmaster in the Salvation Army, and made her first international appearance as guest soloist and conductor at a youth congress in Toronto, Canada.

After graduating from high school, Reinhart received a symphony orchestra scholarship to the University of Miami, where she worked under Fabian Sevitzky and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts. A Fulbright scholarship then took her to study with Helmut Wobisch in Vienna, where she was the first woman brass player to achieve the coveted "Reifezeugnis" with honors. Reinhart then returned to New York to complete her education at the Juilliard School of Music, where she was first trumpet in the Juilliard Orchestra and received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Science degrees. Following graduation, Reinhart played regularly in the orchestra at Radio City Music Hall and in Leopold Stokowski's American Symphony Orchestra. She continued as a Getzen clinician soloing with high school and college bands and various orchestras, and appeared on numerous TV shows, including the "Tonight Show", the "Mike Douglas Show" and several Al Hirt "Fanfare" shows. In 1968, she performed for American servicemen on a USO tour of Asia during the Vietnam war.

In 1971, Reinhart moved to Berlin, Germany where she played studio sessions, filled in as principal trumpet at the "Deutsche Oper", and built up her solo career with symphony and chamber orchestras, averaging 125 concerts a year, as well as television performances and radio recordings. In addition she made solo albums for Deutsche Grammophon and BASF with the Munich Philharmonic, German Bach Soloists, Amsterdam Chamber Orchestra and Wuerttemberg Chamber Orchestra. Her concert tours have taken her throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, the United States, Canada, and Australia, where she performed in Melbourne with the Australian Symphony for over 100,000 people with "live" national television coverage.

In 1983, Reinhart was offered a professorship at the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 1994, the Vienna University Press published the book, "Carole Dawn Reinhart – Aspects of a Career", which is now available from IWBC in an updated 3rd edition with CD. ( Proceeds go to IWBC) After a 40 year performance career, Reinhart ceased concertizing in 1996 but continues to be active teaching at the university in Vienna, giving master classes around the world, and serving as a juror for competitions. In 2009, with the dissertation theme, "Women Brass Musicians", (also available at ), she earned her PhD.

Reinhart, a founding member of ITG who served on the ITG Board of Directors and performed at the 1st International Brass Conference held in Montreux, Switzerland in 1976, is the longest affiliated Getzen artist, since "Doc" Severinson gave her a Getzen trumpet on the "Tonight Show" in 1964. She has attended and participated in every IWBC conference since 1993, when she performed several solos and her Carole Reinhart Trio played a concert. She was a member of Monarch Brass on its inaugural tour in 1996 and received the Pioneer Award in 2003. Susan rider Trumpeter, Susan Rider, currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. In the region, she has performed with various ensembles to include the Annapolis Chorale and Chamber Orchestra, Columbia Pro Cantare Festival Orchestra, Alexandria Symphony, Concert Artists of Baltimore, Harrisburg Symphony, Snark Ensemble and the Cathedral Choral Society Orchestra. She is a member of the Stiletto Brass Quintet, Monarch Brass and “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band.

Susan grew up in the state of Iowa. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., she lived in the southern part of Indiana and West Texas. Previously she performed as a member of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Owensboro Symphony, Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, Midland/Odessa Symphony and Lone Star Brass Quintet. Additionally, she has performed with the Evansville Philharmonic and New World Symphony.

As a soloist, Susan has performed in recital and has been a featured soloist with several ensembles to include The Hannaford Street Silver Brass Band, The Volga Band, Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, Fort Dodge Area Orchestra and The United States Marine Band. Additionally, she has performed at several conferences to include The Midwest Clinic, International Women’s Brass Conference and International Trumpet Guild.

As an educator, Susan has held positions as an Associate Instructor at Indiana University; as adjunct faculty at Purdue University and Shenandoah University; and as a private trumpet/cornet teacher for the Ector County Independent School District in Odessa, Texas. Her educational outreach has included giving master classes nationally and internationally, and she maintains a private teaching studio in Northern Virginia. Susan completed her musical education at the University of Northern Iowa (B.M.) and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (M.M. and D.M.). She is grateful to have studied under the tutelage of master trumpet teachers Keith Johnson, Randy Grabowski, Charles Gorham and Edmund Cord. Dr. Gail robertson Dr. Gail Robertson has a distinguished reputation as a euphonium artist and teacher, soloist, and clinician. She has also garnered worldwide attention for leadership, her work as composer/arranger, and as a musical talent. Robertson serves as Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Central Arkansas. She is the former head of the jazz area where she coordinated jazz events and conducted the top jazz ensemble. In addition to teaching, she performs as tubist in the faculty brass quintet, Pinnacle Brass.

Robertson earned her B.A. degree from the University of Central Florida and a M.M. from Indiana University where she served as graduate assistant to Harvey Phillips. She postponed her doctoral studies at the University of Maryland with Dr. Brian Bowman to perform for ten years with the world-famous Tubafours at Walt Disney World, Orlando, where she was musical supervisor/chief arranger and produced a highly acclaimed CD, Tubas Under the Boardwalk. Gail completed her D.M.A. as a University Distinguished Fellow at Michigan State University (studies with Phil Sinder and Ava Ordman). Dr. Robertson has taught on the faculties of Eastern Michigan University, the University of Central Florida, Bethune-Cookman University, the University of Florida, and remains active as a teacher, adjudicator, jazz clinician, composer, arranger and free-lance artist, both nationally and internationally.

Dr. Robertson is President of the International Tuba and Euphonium Association (ITEA). She was elected for a six-year term that began July 1, 2017. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Leonard Falcone Tuba and Euphonium Festival. She is Past President of the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) and co-hosted two international conferences. Robertson was Chair/Chief Editor of the International Tuba and Euphonium Press (2012-2017). She also served as Euphonium and Membership Coordinator of the ITEA and was the featured artist on the cover of the ITEA Journal (Vol. 38:1, Fall 2010). Dr. Robertson and Dr. Stacy Baker tour and perform as a SYMBIOSISDUO. They have recorded two CDs: SymbiosisDuo and Playground. The duo has commissioned many works by well-known composers (including Franz Cibulka, Jim Self, James Grant, Christopher Marshall, Brian Balmages, Chris Sharp, Kimberly Archer, T.O. Sterrett, and Phillip Bimstein). Gail Robertson and Stacy Baker were honored to be the featured guest artists for the 2019 Leonard Falcone Tuba and Euphonium Festival where they commissioned and premiered Eric Knechtges’ double concerto for wind band, Twin Lake Reflections. They were also recently featured soloists with Orchestra Iowa at the 2019 International Tuba and Euphonium Conference in Iowa City, where they performed the U.S. premiere of Eduardo Nogueroles’ The World of Dreams.

Dr. Robertson partnered with Dr. Baker as Co-Instrumental Advisor and Co-Curriculum Designer for the Pro-Series Elite Practice Systems for Tuba and Euphonium – providing all exercises, instruction, and quartet arrangements, as well as performing as on-screen talent alongside student musicians for the revolutionary pedagogical series of 10 DVDs for tuba and 10 DVDs for euphonium. The project was fully funded and released by American Product Group, LLC. In 2016, Robertson recorded a CD with The R.S.V.B. Quartet (Robertson, Dr. Deanna Swoboda, SFC Lauren Veronie-Curran and Dr. Stacy Baker) called Fanfare and Flourish. This recording premiered several of Dr. Robertson’s original compositions: Okto Flourish, Psychedelic Dances, and In A Funk.Robertson is a recipient of Tau Beta Sigma’s highest honor, the Outstanding Service to Music Award. She was awarded the ITEA’s Clifford Bevan Award for Excellence in Research for her research manuscript, “Restoring the Euphonium’s Legacy as Cello of the Wind Band.” This research was featured in the ITEA Journal (Vol. 46:1, Fall 2018). Recently, Dr. Robertson was one of the featured artists on the cover of the Brass Herald magazine, issue 77/April 2019. This issue also included her article, “Ladies of Brass – Tuba and Euphonium.” Robertson has published articles, reviews, and compositions in British Brass Band World, Bandworld, and the International Tuba Euphonium Association’s, ITEA Journal

Dr. Robertson recently became a member of the acclaimed touring brass ensemble, Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass. Gail alternates with Dr. Brian Bowman as Euphonium Clinician for the elite Master’s degree program at the American Band College in Ashland, Oregon. She has joined the faculty as a Brass Coach for the Brass Chamber Music Workshop at Humboldt State University, in Arcata, California. For the past several years, Robertson has been the principal euphoniumist of The Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom Festival Band. Dr. Robertson was featured soloist at the 2019 United States Army Tuba-Euphonium Workshop, where she performed the orchestral world premiere of Barbara York’s Euphonium Concerto Creative States with the U. S. Army Orchestra. This workshop also featured the University of Central Arkansas’s Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble and Walt Disney’s Tubafours (30th Anniversary performance). Robertson was also the 2019 International Women’s Brass Conference featured Euphonium Artist at Arizona State University in Tempe, Az.

Robertson has toured the United States, Europe, Korea, China, and Japan with various ensembles. She has been a longtime member of the Brass Band of Battle Creek, Keith Brion’s New Sousa Band, and Monarch Brass. Dr. Robertson has been a clinician for the MIDWEST Band and Orchestra Clinic (2006) and has performed four times: as a member of The Monarch Brass (2016), The Brass Band of Battle Creek (2017) and Keith Brion’s New Sousa Band (2009 and 2018). Gail has also performed as a featured euphonium soloist at Carnegie Hall with Purdue University’s Wind Ensemble. She has performed as tenor tubist/tubist/bass trumpet with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra/Sarasota Ballet, the Arkansas Symphony, and Cincinnati Symphony.Dr. Robertson’s published works and arrangements are available through GAR MUSIC, Euphonium.com, and Cimarron Press. As a Willson Euphonium Artist, Robertson’s euphonium of choice is a Willson 2950TA with a bronze Warburton/Gail Robertson mouthpiece. Dr. Lauren Rudzinskas Dr. Lauren Rudzinskas is the Executive Director and Founder of the Virtual Trombone Workshop and General Manager of the International Women’s Brass Conference. She was the part time professor of trombone and euphonium at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania until Fall 2020. Rudzinskas earned a doctorate of musical arts in Trombone Performance and Literature with a minor in Pedagogy, an Advanced Certificate in College Teaching, and Performer's Certificate at the Eastman School of Music. Lauren was recently a finalist for the Assistant Professor of Trombone and Euphonium position at the University of Denver and Professor of Trombone at SUNY Potsdam. Rudzinskas is a regular substitute in Symphoria (formerly the Syracuse Symphony) and has been invited to perform with the inaugural International Women’s Trombone Choir at the 2021 International Trombone Festival where she will also give two presentations.

A strong advocate for music education, Dr. Rudzinskas was the 2016 recipient for the Jack L. Frank Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 2016 Frank Faculty Development Research Grant. She taught tenor trombone, bass trombone, and euphonium at the Eastman Community Music School. She has published articles, received grants, and released a CD. Rudzinskas recently gave a presentation on diverse chamber music featuring her arrangements at the New York State School Music Association Conference. She has given masterclasses at Hamilton College, Youngstown State University, Ithaca College, and others.

Lauren’s performance credits include playing with IWBC’s Holiday Brass and the Diva Jazz Orchestra in the Cleveland Playhouse production of Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life. She is a member of the SPH Jazz Orchestra. Lauren has held positions as principal trombonist with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Women’s Philharmonic, and Youngstown Scoring Stage, and performed as lead trombonist in the First Class Big Band. She has also premiered and commissioned numerous works and is sponsored by music software company, Blackbinder. Dr. Raquel rodriguez samayoa

Raquel Samayoa leads a dynamic and engaging career as a teacher, chamber musician, recitalist, adjudicator and solo performer. She currently serves as Assistant Professor of Trumpet, and Co-Conductor of the UNT Brass Band at the University of North Texas College of Music, where she has taught since 2018. Dr. Samayoa additionally performs with Lantana Trio, a Brass Trio comprised of UNT Brass Faculty. Dr. Samayoa was previously on faculty at Tennessee Tech University and Northern Kentucky University.

Her performances have taken her to leading venues in the United States, Russia, Finland, Australia, China, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. As a member of the award-winning Seraph Brass, she frequently tours the US and abroad performing concerts and engaging in educational outreach performances. A passionate educator, Dr. Samayoa is also on the brass staff for the Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps. Dr. Samayoa is a Yamaha Artist and a Denis Wick Artist and Clinician.

Raquel is the co-editor of the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) Newsletter and will be a co-host for the 2022 IWBC hosted at UNT. She has additionally served as an adjudicator at the National Trumpet Competition and ITG Conference. Raquel’s scholarly activities have resulted in articles published in The Instrumentalist and International Trumpet Guild Journal. She recently presented sessions at the College Music Society Southern Conference, Midwest Clinic, Historic Brass Society Symposium, and the International Trumpet Guild Conference.

Dr. Samayoa has been invited as a guest artist and clinician at several universities and conferences across the country. Raquel was recently a guest artist at the Brass Day of the Moscow Conservatory (RUS), Brass Day of the Melbourne Conservatorium (AU), South Texas Brass Symposium, 2019 Dallas Trumpet Workshop, and will serve as a guest artist at the 2021 Interlochen Trumpet Institute.

In 2013, Raquel recorded “Cincinnati Virtuosity – The Cornet Solos of Frank Simon and Herman Bellstedt” which is available on Amazon and iTunes. In January 2020, Dr. Samayoa released her first publication with Mountain Peak Music entitled Dueling Fundamentals for Two Trumpets. Dr. Samayoa holds the DMA in Trumpet Performance from the University of North Texas where she studied with renowned trumpet pedagogue, Keith Johnson. She earned the MA and Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from West Texas A&M University where she studied trumpet with Mr. David Ritter and Wind Conducting with Dr. Gary Garner. Dr. Faye-ellen silverman Faye-Ellen Silverman began studying at the Dalcroze School of Music shortly before her fourth birthday. At age 13 she won the Parents League composition contest, judged by Leopold Stokowski, resulting in her Carnegie Hall debut. Her compositions (about 100) are published by Seesaw Music/Subito, and recorded on several music labels, including Albany records. Thomas Pfotenhauer (trumpet), Ann Ellsworth and David Jolley (horn), trombonist Lisa Albrecht, and Andrew Bove, Velvet Brown, and Joanna Ross Hersey (tuba) have recorded several of her brass works. She has received numerous awards, including residencies in Spain, Italy, and France, and numerous commissions, including one from the Fromm Foundation. The Baltimore Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, the New Orleans Philharmonic, the International Experimental Music Festival in Bourges, ISCM - Korea section, Nieuwe Oogst (Belgium), Grupo Musica Hoje (Brazil), the Corona Guitar Quartet (Denmark), Jauna Muzika (Lithuania), the Monday Evening Concert series (Los Angeles), Voices of Change (Dallas) and the Aspen Music Festival are some of the groups that have performed Dr. Silverman’s works. Silverman is a Founding composer member of Music Under Construction and a Founding Board Member of the International Women’s Brass Conference. She is currently on the faculties of Juilliard Evening Division and New York University’s Steinhardt School and also teaches privately. For further information, please go to her Web site: www.fayeellensilverman.com. Susan slaughter Susan Slaughter joined the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in l969 and four years later became the first woman ever to be named Principal Trumpet of a major symphony orchestra. She has been on the faculty of the Grand Teton Orchestra Seminar, the National Orchestra Institute, The Texas Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival.

In 1992 Ms. Slaughter founded the International Women’s Brass Conference, an organization dedicated to provide opportunities and recognition for women brass musicians. As a fund-raising effort to support the International Women’s Brass Conference, Ms. Slaughter organized and has produced the very popular Holiday Brass concerts, which are now in their third decade, and are performed each December. Additionally, Baltimore, MD also produces a Holiday Brass concert to help support the ever growing International Women’s Brass Conference.

In 1996, Ms. Slaughter founded Monarch Brass, an all female brass ensemble which has performed in the United States and Europe to critical acclaim. In 2003, they released their first recording titled ‘Monarch Brass.’

For more information about the International Women’s Brass Conference and the Holiday Brass Concerts, visit www.myiwbc.org, and www.holidaybrass.com respectively.

Ms. Slaughter retired as Principal Trumpet from the Saint Louis Symphony on September 1, 2010. Jessica sneeringer Jessica Sneeringer is a graduate of The Ohio State University earning Bachelor's Degrees in Music Education and Trombone Performance as well as a Master’s Degree in Music Education. Jessica is currently in her 21st year of teaching, 16th year as the Director of Bands at Columbus Academy in Gahanna, Ohio, and is the Chair of the Performing Arts Department. A member of the Central Ohio Brass Band since 1999, she was a soloist and principle trombone until 2005, when she stepped onto the podium. Over her 16 years as COBB’s conductor the group has enjoyed much growth, success, and critical acclaim, having won the 1st Section of the North American Brass Band Association a record 5 times. Her last performance with COBB was in July of 2019, where the group performed at the International Trombone Festival to great acclaim with brass band and trombone super star Brett Baker.

Also a freelance trombonist, Jessica has the privilege of playing with many fine groups including The Athena Brass Band (which she is fortunate to have the opportunity to now conduct), the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, the Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra, the Springfield Symphony Jazz Orchestra, and a variety of other ensembles in and around Central Ohio. Over the years, Ms. Sneeringer has performed with the Disney Collegiate All-Star Band, Monarch Brass, Phil Smith, Allen Vizzutti, Nancy Wilson, Jiggs Whigham, and Frank Foster, among many other artists.

Jessica is a member of Phi Beta Mu (The Bandmasters Fraternity) and has been a clinician, adjudicator, and coach for several colleges, conferences, online events, and outstanding student groups including The Ohio State University Marching Band, Capital University’s Junior Winds, Ohio State Fair Band, the Ohio Music Educator’s Association All-State Band, and Tuba Christmas Columbus 2018. She is currently the instructor for the Columbus Youth Jazz Ensemble, an audition-only honors group which performs year-round. She makes her home in Central Ohio with her son Joshua and daughter Jordan. Marie speziale Marie Speziale, Professor Emerita of Trumpet and Chair of the Brass Department at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, is acknowledged as the first woman trumpeter in a major symphony orchestra. Ms. Speziale retired in 1996 after having served as Associate Principal Trumpet of the Cincinnati Symphony for thirty-two years (1964-1996). A graduate of the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ms. Speziale studied with Robert Price, Robert Braunagel, Eugene Blee and Arnold Jacobs. Her tenure with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra included playing with the Cincinnati Opera Orchestra, Cincinnati May Festival Orchestra, Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Ms. Speziale performed under the batons of such greats as Igor Stravinsky, George Szell, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Eugene Ormandy, Eric Leinsdorf, James Levine and Max Rudolf. Her very extensive performance experience includes solo appearances on the NBC Dave Garroway Today Show, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, with Duke Ellington and with Dave Brubeck on the Johnny Carson NBC Tonight Show, on the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra European tour and at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Soon after joining the Cincinnati Symphony, she was engaged to record sound tracks for James Brown, whose career was launched by the historic King Records in Cincinnati.

Since retiring from the orchestra, she has remained active as a performer, teacher and clinician. She served as Visiting Principal, Associate Principal and Second Trumpet of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, including their European tour, Carnegie Hall concerts and recordings. She toured with DIVA (the women’s jazz band) and the Florida Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the Louisiana Philharmonic. She performed with the Monarch Brass Quintet and Monarch Brass Ensemble, which she also conducted at the 1997 and 2014 International Women’s Brass Conferences, and at the 2015 ITG Conference. She recorded for the Star Trek TV Series: Voyager and Deep Space Nine, at Paramount and 20th Century Fox studios. In 1999, she was one of six Americans (and the only woman among the Americans) to be invited by the Tokyo International Music Festival to perform in its first Super World Orchestra.

Ms. Speziale has been an active participant in numerous conferences and leader of master classes in Europe, Japan and throughout the United States. She was a featured guest artist at the 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2010 and 2014 International Women’s Brass Conferences and the 1998, 1999, 2001, 2014 and 2015 International Trumpet Guild Conferences. She has served as artist faculty at the 1998, 1999 and 2000 Summit Brass Mendez Institute, performing with Summit Brass, coaching ensembles, presenting master classes and conducting brass orchestral repertoire reading sessions. She has adjudicated the Fischoff National Chamber Music, the International Women’s Brass Conference, International Trumpet Guild, Interlochen Concerto and National Trumpet Competitions. From 1979 to 2002 she was Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and was Professor of Music at Indiana University from 1999 to 2002. In 2001, she was appointed Professor of Trumpet and Brass Department Chair at the prestigious Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. While at Rice, she conducted the Rice Brass Choir, performed regularly with the Houston Grand Opera and frequently with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Houston Ballet Orchestra and Houston Pops. In addition to serving as President of the International Women’s Brass Conference, she served on its Board of Directors, and hosted their 2000 conference at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Northern Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, and on the editorial committee of the American Music Teacher, the official journal of the Music Teachers National Association. A member of the American Federation of Musicians, Ms. Speziale served as Secretary and on the Board of Directors of Local #1 in Cincinnati, OH. She is a member of the International Conference of Opera and Symphony Musicians, International Trumpet Guild, Pi Kappa Lambda and Cincinnati MacDowell Society. As a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, she has held the offices of Province President and Director of Instrumental Activities. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. Ms. Speziale has won many awards and honors, including Leading Women in the Arts Award from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition of Women’s Organizations, the Outstanding Woman of the Year in Music Award from the Tampa Tribune, the Sigma Alpha Iota Chapter, Province and National Leadership Awards, the Pioneer Award from the International Women's Brass Conference, the Golden Rose Award from the Women Band Director International, the Woman of Excellence Award from the Italian Club of Tampa, the Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of Cincinnati, and the Distinguished Alumna Award from the College- Conservatory of Music. In April of 2018, she was inducted into the Cincinnati Jazz Hall of Fame as part of their recognition of the Symphony Jazz Quintet, of which she was a founding member.

She has been a brass coach at the New World Symphony, serving on the audition adversity training panel and conducting their brass ensemble in concert. She served on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music’s Opera Theatre and Music Festival both in Lucca, Italy and Spoleto, Italy, where she conducted the brass choir, taught brass orchestral repertoire classes and served as brass chamber music coach. She has coached and conducted the brass sections of Washington, DC’s premiere bands .... the US Air Force Band, US Air Force Ceremonial Brass and the US Army Field Band. A member of the faculty at the Round Top Festival Institute since 2011, she conducts their Brass Ensemble every summer. From 2014-2016, Ms. Speziale supervised the graduate brass chamber music program at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. In 2016, she was invited by the Midwest Board of Directors to present a master class at their 70th Anniversary Conference. In 2017, she travelled to Uruguay to conduct the Banda Sinfonica de Montevideo in concerts commemorating Women’s History Month. In 2017, Ms. Speziale served as Visiting Professor of Trumpet at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and in 2018 at the Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin. In 2018 she was presented with the prestigious Honorary Award from the International Trumpet Guild. In 2019, Ms. Speziale was one of 100 women recognized by Cincinnati Arts Wave in their Celebration of Women in the Arts: Power of Her. Ms. Speziale’s biography will be included in Dr. Daniel Thrower’s new book, The 100 Most Influential Trumpeters. Dr. Sarah stoneback Dr. Sarah Stoneback is an innovative and exuberant performer, with over twenty years professional performance experience. Dr. Stoneback is an active trumpet soloist, chamber musician and orchestral performer who has frequented stages throughout the United States, Europe and China. She has been featured with groups including; the National Brass Quintet, the InterHarmony International Chamber Music Festival (Acqui Terme, Italy), Eurobrass, the Denver Municipal Band, the Montana State University Band and numerous high school bands throughout the Midwest.

Currently, Dr. Stoneback serves as the Assistant Professor of Trumpet at Montana State University School of Music and holds the position of Principal Trumpet with the Bozeman Symphony. Dr. Stoneback is one of the founding members of The Bobcat Brass Trio, comprised of the trumpet, horn and trombone professors in the Montana State University School of Music at Montana State University School of Music. Sarah is an active Conn-Selmer Bach clinician and artist and is passionate about connecting and supporting others in their musical endeavors.

Sarah’s dedication and love for music can be traced to her early experiences, performing and traveling with Stoneback Sisters and Brass. Comprised of a triplet trumpet trio, trumpet quartet & brass quintet, this ensemble has presented over 2,000 educational seminars and residency programs. They frequently solo with bands and orchestras throughout the United States and Europe, including; the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, The John Philip Sousa Band, the South Dakota Symphony, the Texas Christian University and the United States Air Force Band of the West. In Spring 2018, Sarah and her triplet sisters and father were featured trumpet soloists in an evening of classic trumpet trios with the MSU Wind Symphony as part of Montana State’s 125th Birthday Celebration.

Dr. Stoneback holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Performance and Pedagogy and Masters of Music from CU Boulder, under Professor Terry Sawchuk. Dr. Stoneback has a bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance from Arizona State University where she studied with Regent’s Professor David Hickman. She is a 2000 graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, where she studied with Dr. Stanley Friedman.

Dr. Stoneback’s approach to teaching incorporates her evidence-based research in applying the Kolb Learning Style Inventory. Her research provides her a unique understanding about how undergraduate and graduate trumpet majors learn the trumpet, literature, and foundational elements of music most effectively. A portion of her research results can be found in the International Trumpet Guild Journal published, Summer 2017. Her Dissertation can be found published at: http://scholar.colorado.edu/brap_gradetds/1/. Shanyse strickland Shanyse Strickland is a multi-instrumentalist who specializes in both jazz and classical genres. While French horn is primary her instrument, Ms. Strickland plays a variety of woodwind and brass instruments.

Originally from Akron, OH, Shanyse recently obtained her Master of Music at Duquesne University with emphasis in the French Horn. While attending Duquesne, Shanyse studied with Zach Smith, assistant principal horn of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Shanyse received her Bachelor of Music degree at Youngstown State University, where she studied with the late great Bill Slocum, previous principal horn of the New York Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra.

Shanyse has performed with a variety of ensembles and continues to freelance in the greater Pittsburgh area. While pursuing her undergrad at Youngstown State University, she wrote horn lines and played trombone and flute for the reuniting Ohio Players, the famous funk group from the 70s. She was the winner of the 2016 Jazz division at the International Horn Symposium (IHS), where she was able to perform with jazz composer David Amram and a host of other jazz hornist. She currently is the flute feature of a local group the Level Up Band, where she performs a variety of genres including new-soul, jazz and R&B. Staying true to her classical music roots, she goes on yearly tours with the Colour of Music Festival, on orchestra compiled of musicians with African decent from all over the world.

Shanyse aims to bridge the world of classical and jazz music together, while also bridging the gap that exists between the African American community and the classical music. In order to achieve both sides of the spectrum, Shanyse plans to release original EP that takes excerpts from Classical music and surrounds them in a neo-soul/jazz context, giving the best of both worlds. Using elements of the Western European tradition, Shanyse aims to show that African Americans possess the ability to execute classical music well, in a way that does not eliminate the soulful joy that naturally stems from the skin that they are in. Be on the lookout for her EP release titled “Perspectives”. Dr. Deanna swoboda Dr. Deanna Swoboda is Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Arizona State University, where she teaches tuba and euphonium, Entrepreneurship and Music courses, coaches chamber music, and designs creative music performances.

Prior to joining the ASU music faculty, Swoboda was Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Western Michigan University where she was a full time member of the Western Brass Quintet. Prior to WMU, Ms. Swoboda was tubist of the Dallas Brass, a 6-piece ensemble that travels the United States and Europe presenting hundreds of concerts each year and working extensively in the public schools and at colleges and universities. Swoboda is also the creator and performer of a motivational recruiting video and music workshop called “Band Blast Off.”

Swoboda has taught at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, at the University of Northern Iowa, and University of Idaho. As an international performer and clinician she has been a guest at the National Conservatory of Madrid (Spain), Deutschen Tubaforum–Hammelberg (Germany), The Higher School for the Arts in Porto, Portugal, and the St Petersburg Conservatory in St Petersburg, Russia. As a clinician and performer, Swoboda has appeared at the national and northwest regional conventions of Music Educators National Conference (MENC) on numerous occasions, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, International Women’s Brass Conference, The Army Band Tuba Euphonium Conference, International Tuba-Euphonium Conferences, and for state music educator associations. Deanna Swoboda is a Past President for I.T.E.A., the International Tuba Euphonium Association. Her mentors are Roberts Spevacek, Rex Martin and Sam Pilafian.

Her solo CD, “Deanna’s Wonderland,” was released on Summit Records in 1999. Her solo CD is entitled “Shamanic Journey” and features the music of women composers. “Table for Three” is a new CD featuring music for low brass trio, recorded with ASU brass colleagues John Ericson and Douglas Yeo. It is available at Summit Records. “Fanfare and Flourish” is a quartet recording featuring the music of women composers. It is published by Potenza Music. Nancy taylor Nancy Taylor is the trumpet professor at University of Texas at El Paso. She holds a bachelor of music degree in performance from Arizona State University where she was a student of David Hickman, and a master of music from Indiana University where she studied with Allan Dean. She also studied extensively with Vince diMartino. Before joining the music faculty at UTEP in 2008, Taylor was a member of the United States Marine Band, “The President’s Own.” She holds the unique distinction of having been the first female to win a position with the cornet/trumpet section in the nearly 200-year history of the organization. While a member of The President’s Own, Taylor performed at The White House, Pentagon, and for three national concert tours.

She currently plays principal trumpet with the El Paso Wind Symphony and the Quintessential Brass Quintet in addition to performing with the El Paso Opera and El Paso Symphony Orchestra. Taylor performs regularly at UTEP and at numerous other venues in the greater El Paso area.

In addition to being a professional musician, Ms. Taylor is a board-certified Occupational Therapist specializing in injury treatment and prevention of musicians. Comfortable as a performer and a clinician has given clinics on musician’s wellness at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic Convention, Texas Music Educators Convention, Texas Bandmasters Association, and the Pennsylvania Music Educators Convention. Taylor is also on the faculty of the Conn-Selmer Institute as a specialist in injury prevention for musicians. She has also served as clinician to musicians of the United States Air Force Band and The President’s Own United States Marine Band.

Her book, Teaching Healthy Musicianship: The Music Educators Guide to Injury Prevention and Wellness (Oxford University Press) is available on Amazon.com. Ginger turner Ginger Turner recently retired from 27 year tenure performing with The United States Army Field Band. Her career has included playing principal trumpet, performing featured solos with the concert band, leading a brass quintet and presenting numerous master classes nationwide. She was the designer and coordinator of the widely-used instructional video, A Trumpeter’s Resource. Turner also developed the program “Building a Better Brass Section through the development of the Brass Quintet” which has been presented at major music conferences around the country. This program has created opportunities for students to excel while providing leadership training in one lesson plan, emphasizing individual responsibility in learning. A longstanding and active member of Monarch Brass, Turner has enjoyed playing and touring with the ensemble since 2008.

Passionate about education, Turner has been involved with the International Women’s Brass Conference since 2003. She currently serves as a board member, chair of the Susan Slaughter Solo Competition and the Ginger Turner Ensemble Competition, and annually produces the Holiday Brass Concert in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ms. Turner has studied with greats of the trumpet world such as Marie Speziale, Susan Slaughter and René Hernandez. She holds a Bachelors degree in Music Education and a Masters Degree in Trumpet Performance from Arizona State, studying with David Hickman.Turner is a Conn-Selmer Educational Artist. Dr. Danielle Vantuinen Dr. Danielle VanTuinen joined the faculty of the University of Florida in August 2019 as Assistant Professor of Tuba and Euphonium. Danielle is a performer, educator, and entrepreneur based in Rochester, New Hampshire. She currently serves as Visiting Lecturer of Music at Plymouth State University where she teaches low brass methods and applied low brass lessons. She also serves as brass faculty at the Portland Conservatory of Music, adjunct staff for the marching band at the University of New Hampshire, Educational Representative with Music and Arts, and a private lessons instructor at Timberlane High School and throughout northern New England. Danielle is the co-founder of the Moreau | VanTuinen Duo and an active presenter, clinician, and performing artist throughout the United States and Europe.

Prior to her work in New England, Danielle was the low brass instructor for the Phoenix Youth Symphony. Her responsibilities included small group and ensemble coaching for middle and high school students participating in the organization’s bands and orchestras. During the 2016-2017 academic year, she coached the Arizona State University concert band low brass section, comprised of first-year and non-major performers. Danielle has been invited to adjudicate at a variety of festivals, including the New Hampshire MEA Solo & Ensemble Competition, the Paul l. Willwerth Brass Competition at Central Michigan University, the Maine and Arizona All-State Festivals, and the AETYB Young Artist Competition in Spain. As a strong proponent of new music, she has actively participated as a member and coordinator of several commissioning projects for both solo euphonium/tuba and percussion/euphonium repertoire. This passion has resulted in over 15 new works from 2016-2019, three of which will be premiered by her in 2019.

Dr. VanTuinen has performed with several ensembles throughout Arizona, Michigan and the New England areas, including the Phoenix Ballet, West Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Salt River Brass Band, and the New England Brass Band. As a co- founder of the Moreau | VanTuinen Duo, she has been invited to perform at the International Alliance for Women in Music, the International Tuba Euphonium Conference, Spanish Association of Tubas and Euphoniums, Northern Arizona University, Ithaca College, the Miraphone Academy of the Southwest, the United States Pershing’s Own Army Band Tuba- Euphonium Workshop, and the International Women’s Brass Conference as a guest artist and educational presenter.

Danielle earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Performance from Arizona State University. Her culminating doctoral project, “Euphonium and Live Interactive Electronics: A Performer’s Examination of Three New Works”, sought to provide historical context and expand the electroacoustic repertoire for low brass. She holds a Master of Music degree in Music Performance from Arizona State University and a Bachelors of Music degree in Music Performance from Central Michigan University. Her principal mentors include Dr. Deanna Swoboda, Professor Douglas Yeo, Dr. Mark Cox, and Professor Scott Hanson. Danielle is an active member of the International Tuba Euphonium Association and the International Women’s Brass Conference. Dr. VanTuinen is a Willson Performing Artist. Lauren veronie Urquhart

Lauren Veronie Urquhart is a Master Sergeant with the U.S. Army Field Band in Washington, D.C. She spent 11 years touring the United States as part of “The Musical Ambassadors of the Army,” and now supports the Army Field Band’s mission in strategic communications and future operations. She is passionate about storytelling and using music to make real connections with people—both in-person and online. She is a graduate of the University of North Texas where she studied euphonium with Dr. Brian L. Bowman. She is the winner of the 2004 Potomac International Euphonium Competition. Lauren is a Soldier, a busy mom of three boys, and in her free time enjoys birdwatching and Cajun cooking. Kelly watkins Conductor, educator, and trumpet player Kelly Watkins hails from the great state of Texas. A member of the United States Coast Guard Band since 2003, she has appeared as a featured soloist on national concert tours and traveled extensively across the United States, and abroad to Taiwan and Japan. Kelly also serves on the faculty of Eastern Connecticut State University where she directs the Eastern Concert Band and has taught courses in conducting, Brass Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, and arts leadership. Guest conducting engagements include ensembles at Gustavus Adolphus College (MN), Appalachian State University (NC), the University of Delaware, and several United States Coast Guard Band and Chamber Players performances, as well as regional and district honor ensembles in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

From 2013-2016 she served as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band in New York City. In this post she led an ensemble of 100+ musicians of varying musical abilities in concerts and outreach initiatives across Manhattan, including collaborations with Randy Graff (Les Miserables), Liz Callaway (Broadway, Tony nominee) and Carol Jantsch (Philadelphia Orchestra).

Kelly holds a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern State University of Louisiana, a Master of Music from Illinois State University and has pursued studies in Arts Administration at Boston University. Additionally, she currently serves as the Connecticut State Chair in the Eastern Division of the College Band Directors National Association, as a member of the International Trumpet Guild, and on the Board of Directors for the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC). Jennifer wharton Jennifer Wharton is a low brass specialist based in New York City. Though getting her start classically, Jen has deep roots in jazz, commercial, chamber and Broadway music. Like a virus, she won’t stop until she has conquered the world!

These days, Jennifer can be found leading her trombone-forward ensemble, Bonegasm, and performing in West Side Story but has also held positions at King Kong, Beautiful, The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Jekyll and Hyde, Scandalous, Wonderland, 9 to 5 and Curtains, as well as performing as a substitute in over a dozen other Broadway productions.

Jen is a member of two multiple Grammy-nominated ensembles, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society and Alan Ferber Big Band. She has also performed on the Grammy-nominated cast albums for The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess, 9 to 5 The Musical and Curtains The Musical as well as the Grammy-winning recording of Beautiful The Carole King Musical.

She has performed and/or recorded with ensembles including the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie All Star Band, Ken Peplowski Big Band, Miggy Augmented Jazz Orchestra, DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Birdland Big Band, Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra, Woody Herman Orchestra, Terraza 7 Big Band, John Yao and His 17 Piece Instrument, Walking Distance, South Florida Jazz Orchestra, new Alchemy Jazz Orchestra, Steven Feifke Big Band, and the BMI Jazz Composers’ Workshop. Jennifer is an XO Professional Brass artist and plays the 1240-LT bass trombone. She teaches bass trombone at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Dr. Dan burdick Daniel Burdick, Associate Professor of Low Brass at Edinboro University, has performed with the Canadian Brass, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Keith Brion’s New Sousa Band, and numerous professional brass quintets. Concerts have included appearances at the British Institute Library in Florence, Italy, the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen, Germany, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, and a series of 15 concerts at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada. The concerts were described as, “…interesting… moving…deeply emotional…” as well as, “Maestro Daniel Burdick made the tuba come alive….” He has taught at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the University of Kentucky at Lexington, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts. He received the degree Doctor of Musical Arts in tuba performance from the University of Michigan. He is the Principal Tuba of the Erie Chamber Orchestra, has performed with the Erie Philharmonic, and has made numerous presentations at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association state conferences. Dr. Burdick participated in both the Music History Pedagogy Institute at The Julliard School sponsored by the College Music Society and the Meditation for Musicians workshop at Karmê Chöling in Vermont taught by Madeline Bruser. He was a panelist at the American Musicological Society’s Teaching Music History Day at DePauw University. Gerry pagano Originally from Athens Georgia, Gerry studied music education at the University of Georgia, before joining Atlanta based entertainer Cody Marshall. He traveled extensively during this time, to such places as Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Saudi Arabia, playing dance/ show music. The next four years were spent free lancing in Phoenix, Az. and gaining more experience, playing shows like Annie, Chorus Line, Sammy Davis Jr. and Liberace. While in Az. he started auditioning for orchestras, and determined more study was needed. His next three years were spent studying in New York, at Juilliard, where he graduated with a Bachelors and Masters in 1987. While there, he had the opportunity to perform with the Met Opera, sub with the NY Philharmonic, and other regional orchestras.

In 1987, he won a position as Bass Trombone in the S.F. Ballet Orchestra, a position he held until winning the St Louis Symphony Bass Trombone position in 1995. He has spent the last few summers teaching at the Interlochen Arts Camp. He is a founding member of the St Louis Low Brass Collective, and the Trombones of the St Louis Symphony, as well as a frequent clinician and recitalist around the country. Gerry is an Edwards Instrument Artist.