Composer Biographies
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Dr. Allen began his musical career by gaining performing and teaching diplomas in brass instrument playing and by winning national awards and television appearances as a euphonium soloist. In 1979 he won the UK National Solo Champion award in the Open Section followed by a Scholarship from the Royal Academy of Music. He graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire with the highest B.A. academic honors degree in that institution's 100-year history. His formative musicological training was shaped by Alan Jeffris (Cambridgeshire), Anthony Cross (Birmingham), Dr. Donald Mitchell (Aldeburgh, Suffolk) and Hans Keller (Dartington, Devon). After studying composition with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Dr. Robert Simpson and conducting with Sir Simon Rattle (and his teachers, George Hurst and John Carewe), Dr. Allen went on to conduct his compositions in London (Royal Albert Hall), Los Angeles (Shrine Auditorium), Boston (Boston Gardens) and Australia (the Sydney Opera House).
A CD of his music, Across the River, was produced in 1999. His Gaudy Flourishes was commissioned by and premiered at Oxford University in 2004 and subsequently recorded to CD with a performance on radio. It was premiered in the USA in June 2006 at the International Trumpet Conference. His Heroes: A Symphonic Fanfare for concert band (2004) and brass band (2005), written with a Rider Fellowship in Composition, was premiered at Rider by the Blawenburg Band and Princeton Brass Band respectively. His arrangement of Sir Michael Tippett's Adagio (titled Tippett's Adagio) was premiered by the Princeton Brass Band at Rider in 2005 by special permission of Schott & Co., London and The Tippett Foundation. He founded The Princeton Brass Band in 2004, of which he is Musical Director. The band has given premieres of works by Peter Meechan, Derek Bourgeois and Sir Paul McCartney. He was appointed Assistant Musical Director of the Blawenburg Band in 2006.
As a performer Dr. Allen is currently Principal Euphonium and Soloist with the Blawenburg Band, with whom he has recorded solos. He has also been guest Principal Euphonium with Imperial Brass Band (Woodbridge), The Eastern Wind Symphony (The College of New Jersey), and has performed solos with The Princeton Brass Band. In 2006 legendary euphoniumist Trevor Groom (Munn and Felton's/GUS/Virtuosi Brass Band of Great Britain/Kings of Brass) wrote of his playing: 'Dr. Allen displays great dynamic range, sensitivity in musically demanding passages and enviable dexterity of finger technique. Steve demonstrates professional status as an exponent of the euphonium'.
Dr. Allen's masters and doctoral studies at Oxford University (publication forthcoming) centered on the operas of Benjamin Britten and he has been published in The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Britten, ed. Mervyn Cooke (Cambridge University Press, 1999) and the International Journal of the Humanities (2005, www.Humanities-Journal.com, for whom he has also served as a Reader) and the Journal of Musicological Research (Spring 2006). He has edited chapters in Rock and Roll: An Introduction by Michael Campbell and James Brody, 2nd ed. (Schirmer, 2007) and had the honor of recording the euphonium examples on the CD accompanying Dr. Scott Whitener's seminal A Guide to Brass, 3rd ed. (Schirmer, 2007). He is currently assisting with the 12th edition of Basic Materials in Music Theory by Harder and Steinke (Prentice Hall).
Dr. Allen has tutored in music for the Queen’s, St. Hilda's and Somerville Colleges of Oxford University, where he was on the ‘Official List of Recognized Teachers’ (1998, Strohm). He has lectured at Oxford and at the Britten-Pears School of Advanced Musical Studies in Aldeburgh, England. He has lectured on Britten’s music for Australian National Radio and was a guest lecturer at the ‘Britten Festival’, SUNY, Fredonia, NY in 2005. In Fall 2006 Dr. Allen was Visiting Faculty for the Music Department of Princeton University.
Dr. Allen is Assistant Professor II of Music at Rider University. He teaches courses on Music Theory, Music History Survey, Music and Society (Music Introduction), World Music, Beethoven and the Romantic Age, The Music of the Beatles, A History of Pop and Rock Music, Great Composers, Musical Masterworks, The Arts in Contemporary Civilization, Composition, Music and the Theater and The Operas of Benjamin Britten (at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, and at Rutgers University). His current research interests continue in the music of Britten (a book is in preparation), the Beatles, Radiohead, the history of pop and rock, the Batman (1989) movie soundtrack, and the history of the brass band movement. Dr. Allen is a member of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP); the American Musicological Society (AMS); the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA); the North American Brass Band Association (NABBA); the Birmingham Conservatoire Alumni Association (UK); the Oxford Alumni Association of New York (OAANY).
Russell Anixter is a native San Franciscan, and spent his musical formative years playing trombone, bass trombone and tuba in various San Francisco dance bands, orchestras and brass ensembles. Russ moved to New York in 1990, and obtained master’s degree in composition from the Manhattan School of Music where he was a student of Manny Albam. Russ was a participant in the BMI jazz composer’s workshop directed by Albam and Jim McNeely. Russ has also studied composition with McNeely, Alfred Loeffler and Carlos Franzetti. As an arranger, Russ was a contributor to the New York Fusion Ensemble, which gave concerts and played regularly in New York clubs featuring arrangements by Russ of music by Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Weather Report. His arrangements have also been featured concerts by the Lehigh Valley Jazz Rep. Orchestra. An arrangement of “Souviners of Havana” by Louis Moreaux Gottshaulk was commissioned and performed by the Lehigh University Wind Ensemble.
Russ’ many arrangements for brass ensembles have been played across America and in Europe. In November 2006, The Alfred Loefler New Music Symposium at California State University, Chico featured his composition “Octet for Four Players”. This piece was written for 2 woodwinds and 2 brass, and everybody doubles! The Queens Symphony Orchestra, directed by Constantine Kistsopoulos, premiered “An Excerpt From Steppenwolf” in May of 2008 with great success. This eleven-minute piece for orchestra will be the first movement of a complete “Steppenwolf Symphony” scheduled to be premiered by the Queens Symphony in May 2010.
Russ is enjoying busy career as a music copyist, and has worked on over 50 Broadway shows, 25 major motion pictures, record dates and for live concerts around the country. Russ has been a partner in Anixter Rice Music Service of New York City since 2004. In 2007, Anixter Rice Music Service supervised the music copying for “The Little Mermaid” and “Young Frankenstein” on Broadway and The Radio City Music Hall 75th Anniversary Christmas Spectacular.
Greg Bartholomew’s music has been performed throughout the United States and in Canada, Australia and Europe.
Bartholomew’s first work for full orchestra, On the Ground Where We Live, was awarded the Masterworks Prize by ERM Media, and was recorded by the Czech Philharmonic for the Masterworks of the New Era CD series. Commissioned by the Oregon Bach Festival Composer Symposium, the String Trio for George Crumb, has been released on CD by the Langroise Trio.
Bartholomew’s setting of excerpts from Kofi Annan’s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, The 21st Century (A Girl Born in Afghanistan), was a finalist in the Briar Cliff University New Choral Music Competition and was released on CD by Connecticut Choral Artists (Concora). Commissioned by the Esoterics, Leo was a Finalist in the 2007 Cincinnati Camerata Composition Competition. The Ars Brunensis Chorus recording of From the Odes of Solomon is available on CD from Capstone Records.
For further information visit http://www.gregbartholomew.com/.
Allan Botschinsky, composer, trumpeter, and orchestra-leader, was born in Copenhagen on 29 March, 1940, into a family of classical musicians. He began to play the trumpet at eleven years of age, entered the Royal Danish Conservatoire at 14, and began his professional career two years later. He was Denmark's "Jazz Musician of the Year 1963". During his career as an international jazz soloist he has been playing with, among others, Dexter Gordon, Oscar Pettiford, Stan Getz, Thad Jones, and Ben Webster.
His many compositions include his prize winning suite for large orchestra and solo voice, "Sentiments", premiered in the "Nordring Radio Festival" in 1983. In that same year, Botschinsky was awarded the coveted "Ben Webster Prize". He moved to Germany where he met his partner and future wife, Marion Kaempfert, and in 1985 they produced the legendary First Brass album. In 1993 they took residence in London.
Over the last ten years, Allan has intensified his activities in composing contemporary classical music. His works include a concerto for solo trumpet and chamber orchestra, a piece for solo-clarinet, and various pieces for brass- and wind instruments and mixed ensembles. He is currently working on a cycle "Colours" for solo-instruments.
Andrew Boysen, Jr. (b. 1968) is a composer and conductor who has appeared with high school, festival and university ensembles across the United States and Great Britain. In 1991, Boysen earned his Bachelor of Music degree in music education and music composition from the University of Iowa, and in 1993 he received his Master of Music degree in wind conducting from Northwestern University. He then went on to earn his Doctor of Musical Arts degree (also in wind conducting) from the Eastman School of Music, where he was the conductor of the Eastman Wind Orchestra and assistant conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble.
After his education Boysen became the Director of Bands at Cary-Grove High School in Illinois and was the music director and conductor of the Deerfield Community Concert Band. Boysen eventually came to serve as an assistant professor and Acting Associate Director of Bands at Indiana State University, where he taught in the music education department, in addition to directing the Marching Sycamores and conducting the symphonic band.
He is currently an assistant professor in the music department at the University of New Hampshire, where he is the Director of Bands. His duties consist of conducting the wind symphony as well as teaching various subjects including conducting, musical composition and orchestration. He continues to maintain an active schedule as a composer and receives commissions for the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Orchestra Festival, the Iowa All-State Band, Massachusetts All-State Band, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, and the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association as well as many high school and university concert bands throughout the United States. Recently, he taught and conducted the Eastern Regional All-District 11/12 Band at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, on February 2nd and 3rd, where he premiered his new work, "Persistent Cycles."
Boysen has twice won the Claude T. Smith Memorial Band Composition Contest: the first time in 1991 for “I Am” and again in 1994 for “Ovations”. He won the University of Iowa Honors Composition Prize in 1991 and in 2000 won the International Horn Society Composition Contest.
L. Elise Carter, flutist, performed her debut solo recital at Weill recital hall in Carnegie hall in October of 2005. She followed up this performance with another performance in Jan. 2007 at Weill Recital Hall as part of Artist International’s alumni series. At the first of these performances she debuted her two solo works for flute. As well as a solo artist, Ms Carter is a member of the chamber ensembles Uptown Flutes (debuted at Carnegie hall in 2002) and the Apollo Quintet.
She is principal flute with the Verismo Opera and performs regularly with the Garden State Philharmonic, the Blue Hill Troupe the Ibex Chamber Orchestra, and others. She has given concerts in venues in the New York Area such as Trinity Church noon day series on Wall Street, and St John the Divine. Ms Carter can be heard on 5 commercially available CDs; Into the Next Dimension with guitarist and composer Dave Calkins (heard widely on national public radio), A Flute Renaissance, An Uptown Christmas and 21st Century Gems with the Uptown Flutes, and Waiting for Love, a children's cantata by Gerard Chiusano and Mary Hochman.
Ms Carter is the adjunct professor at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. In addition to her flute playing endeavors, she is the music director at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Dumont, NJ.
Ms Carter is an award winning composer whose composition for solo flute “Gypsy Dance” was chosen as the audition piece for the National High School Flute Choir. She has since been commissioned to write Triptych for Flutes for the National High School flute choir to perform in 2009. She has studied composition with Katherine Hoover and has studied flute with Julius Baker, Bart Feller, Thomas Robertello, and Diva Goodfriend-Koven. Ms. Carter received her bachelor of Music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Vince is very active is music as an author, clinician, adjudicator, composer, music reviewer, columnist, arranger, conductor, producer and educator. Vince has studied composition and film scoring with Arnold Franchetti, Bernard Wagenaar, Jimmy Giuffre and Don Sebesky. He has taught music, composition and arranging at the US School of Music in Norfolk, Virginia, Elizabeth City State University, The King's College, and Peekskill City Schools. He authored the textbook "Arranging Music for the Real World" which is published by Mel Bay. Among his many accomplishments, Vince he has been the arranger/conductor/producer for the Annual Thanksgiving Parade in Philadelphia for WPVI-TV, and ABC-Disney, wrote the ABC News Theme for Peter Jennings World News Tonight New York and directed the Kunming Symphony Orchestra, China, where he earned world recognition at the International Festival of the Arts.
Barton Cummings enjoyed a distinguished international career as a tuba player. An early pioneer in establishing the tuba as a true solo instrument, he began a campaign in the 1960's to commission new compositions for the tuba. As a result of his efforts, more than seventy new compositions were written for and dedicated to him.
Now retired from active tuba playing, Mr. Cummings concentrates on composing and arranging and his music has been throughout the world by such prominent artists and ensembles as Harvey Phillips, Mark Nelson, Mary Ann Craig, Fritz Kaenzig, Dennis Askew, Kenyon Wilson, Susan Bradley, Susan Nigro, James J. Pellerite, Lindsey Bartlett, Lawrence Gwozdz, Philip Black, Tony Clements, David Deason, Carson Cooman, Janet Polk, Jae Young Heo, San Jose (CA) Chamber Orchestra, Bowling Green State University Euphonium-Tuba Ensemble, Colonial Tuba Quartet, Meridian Arts Ensemble Brass Quintet, St. John’s Brass Quintet, Prima Toni, Tokyo Bari-Tuba Ensemble, University of Michigan Euphonium-Tuba Ensemble, New Castle Brass Ensemble, Harmonious Brass Choir, University of New Hampshire Concert Choir, University of the Pacific Wind Ensemble, University of Memphis Concert Band, Sacramento State University Wind Ensemble, University of North Carolina – Greensboro TubaBand, Georgia Honors Euphonium-Tuba Choir, and The Chicago Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Many of his original and arranged compositions have been recorded on the Channel Classics, Crystal and Mark record labels.
Brad Cutcliffe has written extensively for nearly every genre of contemporary concert music and his works have been performed across the nation. Among his works are a piano concerto, a chamber opera, and numerous orchestral pieces including Recordare, a work commemorating the victims of September 11. He is proud of his six seasons as composer-in-residence with the Kansas City-based Northland Symphony Orchestra.
His B.M. and M.M. in music composition were earned at the University of Denver, where he was the student of Dr. Donald Keats. He received his Ph.D. in music composition at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where he studied with Paul Chihara, Roger Bourland, Paul Reale, Ian Krouse, and David Lefkowitz.
Although his primary focus is composition, he is also in demand as a professional singer. He has served in several church and community choirs in both Denver and Kansas City, and is currently the bass section leader/soloist for St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and the Kansas City Symphony Chorus. His student work with the Lamont Opera Theater included nearly a dozen roles such as Bartolo in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte.
Dr. Cutcliffe is an adjunct instructor of music theory at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City, MO.
Emmy Award winning composer Anthony DiLorenzo grew up in Stoughton Massachusetts. His music is performed throughout the world by symphony orchestras and chamber groups, including The San Francisco Symphony, The New World Symphony, The Louisiana Philharmonic, The Utah Symphony, The Tokyo Symphony, and The Boston Pops Orchestra. Burning River Brass under the direction of Feza Zweifel, regularly performs Anthony’s works in their concerts. You can also hear his music weekly on ABC's College Football, Ice Skating, Horse racing and countless cues for ESPN, HBO, FOX and numerous campaigns for NBC (you can hear a few at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRG8VngHpQQ and http://www.skoolpool.com/watch?v=DLWuVO38kn0).
For the past twelve years Anthony has composed more than 80 film trailers, from Toy Story, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Red Dragon, The Lost World, Final Fantasy, Fools Gold, Bee Story to The Simpsons movie in 3D. Recently, Anthony was commissioned by conductor Naoto Otomo and the Tokyo Symphony to compose a concerto grosso for Brass Quintet and orchestra. The quintet titled Chimera was performed by the world famous Center City Brass Quintet and was received with rave reviews. Anthony is a member of the Center City Brass Quintet which is another avenue for his compositional talent. His original work "Firedance", which the CCBQ premiered and recorded on its Street Song album, has become a favorite among student and professional brass quintets around the world.
Chris DuBrock hails from Anchorage, Alaska where he began playing trumpet and writing music in elementary school. He studied trumpet and arranging at the Eastman summer program for high school students, then left Alaska to study trumpet and composition at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ where he received an M.M. in jazz trumpet and a Ph.D. in composition.
In 2001, DuBrock completed his studies at Rutgers and around that time co-founded a small film music production company, Cinema SoundWorks (cinemasoundworks.com) with singer/songwriter Anthony Scalzo. As part of Cinema SoundWorks, DuBrock has co-composed music for documentary films including the award winning First Light: The Montauk Lighthouse (Third Wave Films, 2006) which appeared on PBS 13. He has also scored several films as a freelancer, including two episodes of an anime TV pilot, Nine Tails Fox (Bang Music, 2007), Rick's Run (Entropic Productions, 2007) and The Apartment (Brooklyn Films, 2006).
DuBrock has written concert music in a variety of genres. In 2002, his string quartet piece Astral Zephyrs was premiered at the Sitka Chamber Music Festival's Autumn Classics series by Paul Rosenthal, Charles Castleman, Rainer Moog and Eugene Osadchy. In 2003, DuBrock received a BOCES commission for a band piece, Morning Star, commemorating the life of a student who died suddenly and tragically.
As an arranger/orchestrator, DuBrock's work ranges from orchestral hymns to jazz big band arrangements. He has also arranged and orchestrated tracks in various styles for independent record labels.
In the realm of performance, DuBrock has worked as a trumpeter in a variety of settings including the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Jacquet Big Band, Pinetop Perkins Band, and the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra. He has recorded trumpet solos on albums by ;The Infernos and The Max Graham Band.
Charles Evans is a professional trumpeter and arranger. He has performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Delaware Valley Philharmonic, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, Bach Festival Orchestra of Bethlehem, Pottstown Symphony and Allentown Symphony. He is a busy chamber music performer, playing frequently with brass ensembles in concerts, churches and ceremonial functions throughout the Delaware Valley and New Jersey. He is founder of Celebration Brass and a member of Brassworks. Mr. Evans is frequent recitalist in programs for trumpet and organ and also performs regularly in the orchestras of many regional theaters in the Philadelphia area and Lehigh Valley. He is an active composer and arranger, whose works for brass are published by Kendor Music, GIA Publications, Lorenz Music, and Grand Mesa Music. His volume entitled Hymn Descants for Treble Instruments, published by Lorenz Music, has become a standard work among church musicians. He has served on the faculties of Muhlenberg and Cedar Crest colleges. Mr. Evans was educated at Lehigh University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Moravian College, and the Tanglewood Institute.
Jane Frasier, a Colorado native, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music education and a Master of Music degree in Theory and Composition from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. Ms. Frasier is a former public school music teacher, private clarinet instructor, and currently has her own music copying company, The MusicPrinter. Jane was chosen as an Associate of the Rocky Mountain Women's Institute for the 1984-85 year. Her compositions include chamber works, an orchestral work, a cantata for chorus and orchestra, a piano sonata, a number of choral works, and several compositions for band. Jane was a resident at the Ucross Foundation in October, 1998.
Jerry Gerber has written orchestral and chamber music, songs, piano music, vocal music and music for electronic instruments. He has composed for film, concerts, dance and interactive media, and wrote all of the original music for the remaking of the popular children's television show, The Adventures of Gumby, now airing daily throughout the United States on Nickelodeon.
He was born in Los Angeles in 1951, began his musical studies at the age of nine, and received his Bachelor of Music in composition and classical music theory from San Francisco State University in 1982. He has studied with Wayne Peterson (Pulitzer Prize), Alex Post, David Ahlstrom, Matt Doran, and other composers and musicians in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Jerry has been a guest lecturer at Western Public Radio, Film Arts Foundation, Sacramento State University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Academy of Art in San Francisco. He has written and produced music for many projects including Loom, a Lucasfilm computer game and audio drama, the Concerto for Flute and Digital Ensemble which was commissioned for and premiered at the Sacramento New American Music Festival in November 1989, and the Gumby feature film, released in May of 1995. Soundtrack and computer game music work subsided in 1996 and Jerry began to focus on long-form composition, CD production and teaching.
For the past ten years he has concentrated on writing and producing for the virtual orchestra. In 2001 he produced his 6th CD and in 2002 released Moon Festival.
In May of 2003 The Art of MIDI Sequencing was released and is Jerry's 7th CD. In November 2004 he released In Praise of Poets, a collection of twelve new songs. Reviews of his work are at Classical Net and articles about his work have appeared in Electronic Musician, Keyboard and Virtual Instruments magazines. Time Shadows, Jerry Gerber's 9th CD, was released in August of 2007. He recently completed his newest recording, Waves, and is currently working on his 7th symphonic work for the virtual orchestra.
Jerry Gerber has recorded with musicians Tim Day and Karen Bentley, and singers Katy Stephan, Dale Tracy, and Janet Campbell. His music is eclectic and melodic, with dynamic electronic textures as well as sampled instruments and voices. He has been exploring the world of MIDI sequencing since 1982 and owns and manages an electronic music studio. When he is not composing he enjoys doing photography. His other interests include meditation, chess, astronomy/cosmology and reading.
Matteo holds a degree in music from NYU, a MA more Columbia University and a DMA from the University of Arizona. In his youth he studied under a full scholarship at the Conservatory of St. Cecilia in Rome, Italy. His compositions cover a range of instrumentation and a wide assortment of ensemble pieces as well as music for orchestra. His arrangement of "Overture" from "The Marriage of Figaro" By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was used for the 1999 film, the Runaway Bride. Matteo lives in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Matteo spends his winters in Costa Rica and also enjoys teaching English as a second language.
A product of a Michigan band environment of great vitality, Mike credits his early trumpet teachers Eric Payton and Clarence “Jake” Wade for establishing and inspiring high standards of technique and musicianship. Mike was a music composition major at Michigan State University, studied trumpet with Byron Autry, and later studied composing music for film at University of California at Los Angeles.
After several years of writing and arranging for bands and studios in Hollywood, he moved to New York City and became involved in composition work of a different sort: typographic composition, and the world of printing, graphic design and art direction. While working as a designer and art director, and maintaining his connection to music through writing and piano performance, eventually the call of the trumpet was heard again. Trumpet studies resumed, first with Jerome Callet and later with Vincent Penzarella of the New York Philharmonic. Currently, Mike maintains an active schedule in trumpet performance in a wide variety of venues: pit orchestras, bands, small jazz combos, church services, jam sessions, various brass ensembles and orchestras, and also jazz piano performance.
Josué Bonnín de Góngora was born in Madrid in 1970. At the age of eight he received his first piano lessons from his father. Soon after that, he starts writing his first compositions, like the "Waltz in C minor", a piece where his characteristic expressiveness can already be perceived, and two groups of works that he finishes during the next years: the "Poems" and the "Tales of Solitude". In 1992 he completes his formal piano studies and makes his debut at Madrid's San Juan Bautista concert hall, where he performs his own music along with works from Schubert and Chopin. By then he has already drafted two sonatas and the first movement of a piano concerto, and he devotes himself to composition.
Since his debut, he has been present in all the musical seasons of the Spanish capital, with concerts where he plays his own work as well as music of other composers, particularly Beethoven and Chopin. So far, he has given more than 300 concerts, participating in many Festivals around Spain, like the Pollensa Festival (Majorca), the Music Festival of Cartaya, Madrid's Christmas Concerts... Some of the concert halls where he has presented his music are Madrid's Centro Cultural de la Villa, Reina Victoria Theater, ONCE Foundation, Bohemios Theater, Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Casa de Vacas del Retiro, Príncipe de Asturias Theater, Canal Foundation, and the Ateneo. He has also given educational concerts at Madrid's major Universities. He has been awarded with the Candil Award 1995 for his work "Poem to Maria Luisa" and with the Cultura Viva Award 2006. He has also received several awards from Madrid's city council, thanking him for his close participation in the capital's cultural life.
His music has been published on three CDs, two of them with his piano work played by him, and the third one with his work "Poem to Maria Luisa Park", for piano, guitar and cello.
Scott Grimaldi, woodwinds specialist, plays a wide range of saxophones, flutes and clarinets and is also recognized as a producer, arranger, transcriber and copyist. He holds a B.M. degree from the Manhattan School of Music, NY, where he also did post graduate work, and is an alumnus of the Berklee College Of Music, Boston, MA. In addition, he studied privately with music icons Lenny Hambro, Adolph Sandole and Danny Trimboli.
Scott has performed with popular and iconic stage acts that include Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, The Manhattan Transfer, Vanessa Williams, Frank Sinatra Jr., Rosemary Clooney, Linda Eder, The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, The Temptations, Little Anthony & The Imperials and Etta James. He has also played in the orchestra for several Broadway musicals including “Steel Pier”, “Kiss Of The Spider Woman” and “Me And My Girl”, and joins the orchestra every summer for the Plays in the Park, Edison, NJ.
In the field of recording, Scott has worked for Grammy award winning record and jingle producers Tony Camillo, Jimmy Wisner and Bill Giant as a woodwinds player, arranger and copyist. His performances can be heard on various music projects including the soundtrack for the movie “Sprung”, the TV show “Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous”, Venture Music Group/T.C. Records recording artists Freda Payne, The Dramatics, The 5th Dimension and on independent jazz vocalist Sandy Sasso’s “Mixed Grill”, an album which Scott produced, arranged and performed all woodwinds. On Sandy’s album, he also had the privilege of conducting the Nelson Riddle Studio Orchestra.
In addition to performing and writing, Scott has analyzed numerous music copyright infringement cases for Music Research Consultants as a music transcriber. Janet Jackson, R. Kelly, Billy Joel, Madonna and Aerosmith are just a few of the noted artists whose litigation required his transcription work. Scott’s book credits through Abkco Music Inc. include his role as Transcription Coordinator in the song books “The Rolling Stones Singles Collection”, “Phil Spector, Back To Mono” and “Sam Cooke’s Night Beat”.
In the field of music education, Mr. Grimaldi has been an adjunct faculty member of the Fine Arts Dept. at Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY since 1989 as director of the jazz band and has taught various music courses, including one on the history of Rock and Roll. He is currently a faculty member of the music dept. at Princeton High School, Princeton, NJ. The Studio Band at PHS has won national recognition and has held the first place position in the NJ State Finals in 2008 and 2009 and the Jazz Ensemble won best sight reading in 2010. Previously, Mr. Grimaldi held a position as woodwinds teacher and director of bands at Cranbury School, Cranbury, NJ, working with beginners and middle school students. His private students have won auditions with organizations that include the CJMEA Regions & All-State Bands/Orchestras, NJ Youth Symphony, NJPAC Jazz For Teens, as well as acceptances at prestigious music conservatories/colleges.
Charles Hammell creates music relevant to our times. Very much at home in the post-modern era of classical music, Charles draws upon a wide range of influences. A graduate of The University of the Arts in Philadelphia(1982), he sought a fresh, new musical language. He assimilates the rich variety of music in his own culture, ranging from rock , world music, American church music, American minimalism, and even Renaissance music. Charles has written commissioned works for chamber ensembles, orchestras, large choruses, and church choirs. He also creates works for his mixed ensemble of synthesizers and acoustic instruments.
In 2003, Charles was appointed Composer In Residence for Schola Cantorum at Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia.
In 1995, New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman publicly honored Mr. Hammell for his musical contribution to the State’s Martin Luther King Jr. Commission. The State selected his handbell composition Loose the Chains for inclusion in the Commission’s Anthology of Bell Compositions commemorating the civil rights leader.
Charles also performs on keyboard. He has played with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Princeton Symphony, Princeton Pro Musica, Newtown Chamber Orchestra, West Jersey Chamber Orchestra, and several churches.
Ed Hirschman (b. 1967) is a graduate of Rutgers University (B.S.M.E.) and New York University (MBA). Like the archetypical brass composer Victor Ewald, Mr. Hirschman has formal training and a vocation based in engineering, with music a serious and lifelong pastime. While at Rutgers, he held down the lead trumpet chair in the Rutgers University Jazz Ensemble in a band that included some of today's strongest jazz talents such as Ralph Bowen, Harry Allen, Peter Bernstein, David Sanchez, Frank Lacy and Dion Parson (among others).
Mr. Hirschman was the 2005 winner of Ars Nova Brass Composition Contest for his piece "Four Bridges." He is the founder/leader of the Atlas Brass Quintet, freelances as a solo trumpeter and is a member of the International Trumpet Guild.
As a composer, Mr. Houghton has received awards for his large-scale musical documentary Pioneer Songs. The work, detailing the first wagon trains to California, was premiered in 1993. He was awarded the Meet the Composer prize for this work, and was subsequently elected to ASCAP. Houghton’s Victory Songs premiered in 1995 to much acclaim. The work, composed to honor our World War II veterans, commemorated the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. Recently Mr. Houghton completed his third historical song cycle, Passion Songs, depicting the passion and death of Jesus Christ. It was premiered in 2001 in St. Louis, MO.
Eric Houghton began his piano studies at an early age in the New Jersey shore community of Harvey Cedars. Over the past twenty years, he has performed more than 30 solo recitals throughout the Eastern United States, including New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Missouri. He has performed at Weill Recital Hall and Hubbard Recital Hall in New York and at the Sheldon Recital Hall in St. Louis, MO.
Mr. Houghton has won many local competitions and was the recipient of the Arthur Judson Freshman Award upon his arrival at Westminster Choir College, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree. He received a Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Currently, he is on the artist faculty at Westminster Conservatory, where he teaches piano and composition.
Dan Huffman is a middle school teacher from Mesa, Arizona, and also teaches private music lessons to brass students. Dan's background is varied, and has roots in multiple experiences. Beginning as a piano student at age 9, Dan found his musical interest widened greatly in Junior High School, where he took up French Horn. A rich and comprehensive music theory course provided though the unique program at Hilltop Junior High School in the middle 1980s led to a continued participation in the band program in high school, and finally a decision to become a band director.
Dan earned his Bachelor's of Music Education degree in 1995 from the University of Montana. Dan briefly taught in the Missoula public schools, then moved to Arizona where he served as a band director and music teacher for a small charter school and then for two different school districts in the greater Phoenix Valley area. Dan has served as a band director for 9 years, and another 3 years as a technology teacher, and is anticipating a return to music education in the near future. It was while serving as a band director in schools with challenging funding problems that led to Dan following his dream of writing music. In this case, necessity really was the mother of invention! Dan has written several pieces for use by his own bands, and also has written on commission for a local high school and for a high school in Texas, including two complete marching band shows, arrangements based on two different film scores.
Dan is also a professional musician and currently performs with the Symphony of the Southwest (formerly the Mesa Symphony Orchestra). In the Past, Dan has performed with the Missoula Symphony Orchestra and the Redlands Symphony Orchestra, in addition to the Wind Ensembles of both the University of Montana and Northern Arizona University, and the Symphony Band of the University of Redlands. Dan also performed with the San Diego Youth Symphony under Louis Campiglia.
Dan is currently persuing a Master's Degree at the American Band College in Ashland, Oregon each summer and anticipates finishing in 2009.
Brass instruments, and in particular the horn, feature strongly in the music of Australian composer David Keeffe. English-born, David Keeffe started composing when a student at Dulwich College, culminating in a performance of a trio for horn, violin and piano in a house music competition. He then attended Trinity College of Music, London and the University of York, where he studied composition with John Tavener, David Blake, and the late Berthold Goldschmidt, conducting with Bernard Keeffe and Graham Treacher, and horn with John Burden. While at Trinity he won the Prize for Brass Instrumentalists and the Chappell Composition Prize with the same performance! Moving to Australia in the '90s inspired David Keeffe to compose with renewed vigour, producing works for brass band, orchestra and solo horn, amongst others. In 2006 he won first prize with his slow march 'the Eleventh Day', at the Melbourne International Festival of Brass. More recently he has completed a substantial work for Symphonic Band and a setting of Wilfred Owen's "Strange Meeting" for Baritone and chamber orchestra. David Keeffe has a BA in Music from the University of York, a Fellowship of Trinity College London (FTCL) in French Horn, and has recently returned to University to complete a Master's degree in composition. Incidentally, he also has a PhD in computer science, also from the University of York.
Larry Kursar is a founding member of the chamber music ensemble, Crosswinds Trio, where his unique and innovative arrangements have helped establish the high brass trio (trumpet, horn and piano) as a viable chamber music ensemble. The Crosswinds Trio has performed Mr. Kursar’s works across North America and Europe and the group is represented by CMI Entertainment. His brass quintets arrangements have been played by the “President’s Own Marine Band Brass Quintet”, the Main Street Brass Quintet and the Appalachian Brass Quintet in prestigious venues such as the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.
Mr. Kursar is also widely acclaimed as conductor and performer. He is currently in his 20th year as Conductor and Music Director of the Hunterdon Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Kursar holds degrees in conducting, French horn performance and music education. His Bachelor of Arts degree was earned at the College of New Jersey and his two Masters degrees at New England Conservatory, where he received high honors in conducting.
Craig Levesque (1975 - ) is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire (B.A., Music Theory and Composition; M.A., Music History) and Rutgers University (Ph.D., Music Theory and Composition). His primary composition teachers were Niel Sir, Dr. Andrew Boysen, Jr. and Pulitzer Prize winning composer Charles Wuorinen. Dr. Levesque teaches Theory and Ear Training at Rutgers University and The Westminster Conservatory of Music, where he also teaches Horn and Composition. He is in demand as a composer and arranger, with numerous premieres and performances throughout the Northeast.
At twelve Bruce became friends with Leonard Bernstein, a friendship that lasted nearly thirty years. At fourteen his career as a composer and oboist, specializing on the English Horn, began simultaneously and skyrocketed in tandem. Within a year he was playing under such renowned composer/conductors as Gunther Schuller and Elie Siegmeister. At sixteen he played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood under Erich Leinsdorf and Sir Adrian Boult; seventeen on Broadway in the original cast of Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead; the National Symphony in New York; on call for the New York Philharmonic and, after a private audition with Leopold Stokowski, the American Symphony.
Steadily turning out new compositions Leonard Bernstein said of his early works that they evinced “real musicality!” and they rapidly began appearing on concert programs at Tanglewood and other venues around the U.S.
Marrying his classical work with the theatre his works have been performed at Lincoln Center, Broadway and Off-Broadway. His songs have been recorded in New York and London (with the London Symphony as the back-up orchestra) in addition to writing the feature song Five Fingers for Sesame Street as well as choral arrangements for Quincy Jones, Chuck Mangione, Barry Manilow and Stevie Wonder.
His work in the theatre has spanned nearly every discipline in one hundred fifty seven productions including for such legendary producers as David Merrick and Joseph Papp. At nineteen he became the youngest musical director in the history of Broadway and as a conductor/pianist he has worked with Allen & Rossi, Michael Amante, Claire Barry, Orson Bean, Laurie Beechman, Betty Buckley, Brett Butler, Red Buttons, Charlie Callas, Cab Calloway, John Carradine, Jack Carter, Arlene DeMarco, Teresa DeZarn, Joey Faye, Fyvush Finkel, Ian Finkel, Bob Fitch, Four Aces, Four Lads, Patricia Heaton, Allan Jones, Julius LaRosa, Liz Larson, Mal Z. Lawrence, London Lee, Peter Lemongello, Mayor John Lindsay, Avon Long, Joni Mitchell, New Chordettes, Paige O'Hara, Betsy Palmer, Cliff Robertson, Nipsey Russell, Richard Shull, June Valli, Fran Warren and Irwin C. Watson. Other co-performers, composers and conductors include: Henk Badings, Ara Berberian, Nico Castel, Phyllis Curtin, Anne Elgar, Candy Finch, Ezio Flagello, Dizzy Gillespie, Batyah Godfrey, William Hellermann, Gerald Humel, Robert Jones, Gene Krupa, Mike Longo, Ursula Mamlok, Jane Marsh, Jimmy Merrit, James Moody, Vladimir Padwa, Shulamit Ran, Judith Raskin, John Reardon, Jose Serebrier, George Shirley, Beverly Sills, Joanna Simon, Veronica Tyler and Pinchas Zuckerman.
A native of New York City, Bruce lives with his wife, actress Lydia Franklin, and their dog Walter.
Ingo Luis is an internationally renowned bass trombonist, composer and arranger. He has studied arranging with Jerry van Rooyen and Peter Herbolzheimer, and studied trombone with Jiggs Whigham, Erik van Lier and Michael Junghans, among others. He is a former member of the "Starlight Express Orchestra" in Bochum, Germany and "Beethovenorchester" in Bonn. Based in Pulheim, Ingo has played bass trombone for the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne since 1995 and is in demand as coach and performer at workshops and clinics for big bands and various brass ensembles. In 2004, he was a soloist and clinician at the prestigious "International Trombone Festival" (ITF) in Ithaca, NY.
Ingo is one of the finest arrangers working in any idiom for brass ensembles today, with an approach firmly rooted in the jazz tradition. His arrangements have a true jazz authenticity which is masterfully demonstrated through both a lushness of textures as well as a solid sense of swing. His works have been played and recorded by musicians worldwide including international euphonium virtuoso Steven Meade, with his recording of “Take 5” on the CD "Euphonium Magic Vol. 2 - The Music of Life" and the Boston Brass with their CD “Young Fogeys” featuring Ingo’s arrangement of “Laura.” Two of Ingo's CDs recorded with fellow jazz trombonist Ludwig Nuss ("Hornplayers Can't Eat Garlic" and "The Return of the Hornplayers") have gained international recognition and regularly appear on lists of "most recommended" trombone ensemble recordings. To learn more visit www.IngoLui.de.
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Spike Maiden Müller was born and raised in Worthington, Minnesota. He has a Bachelor of Music in Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Philosophy from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. He has worked variously as a music educator, musical instrument repair technician, and professional vocalist.
Spike’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by the St. Croix Valley Community Band of River Falls, Wisconsin, the Saint Croix Valley Woodwind Quintet, the In-and-Out of Luck Woodwind Quintet, the Elementary and Middle School Bands of Luck, Wisconsin, and by the choirs of Wesley United Methodist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Faith United Methodist Church, West Saint Paul, Minnesota, First Presbyterian Church, St. Croix Falls Wisconsin, and West Denmark and Luck Lutheran Churches of Luck, Wisconsin.
He currently plays Horn in the St. Croix Valley Community Band and Woodwind Quintet and is a tenor section leader with the Minnesota Chorale. He resides with his family in Luck.
Paul Nagle is a well-published composer-arranger of jazz-pop based small ensembles and other music. He a trumpet player and retired school band director from Princeton, New Jersey.
Paul was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania where he started playing trumpet at age nine and began arranging while still in high school. He later studied arranging with bandleader Ed McGuire, and noted jazz trumpeter-arranger Jon Eardley.
He graduated from the Pennsylvania State University (Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Music) where he was the co-first trumpet of the Penn State Marching Blue Band, and the leader of the Penn State Big Band. He did post graduate work at the Eastman School of Music, and was the winner of the Music Journal award at the Eastman Arrangers’ Lab-Institute in 1964. While there he studied arranging with Ray Wright, Manny Albam, and Fred Karlin. He later studied trumpet privately with Ray Crisara and Carmine Caruso in New York.
Paul taught for many years in the public schools of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, mainly in South Plainfield, New Jersey. He has been an adjudicator at school band events, and has taught at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey, and at Bucks County Community College in Pennsylvania.
He has played trumpet with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra under Paul Lavalle, for major entertainers with Atlantic City show orchestras, with the Tex Beneke Band, and the Harry James Orchestra under Art Depew. He leads his own Dixieland band, the Regency Ramblers, and enjoys playing occasional Dixieland tuba and jazz- cocktail piano. His beginning jazz improvising book, “Melodic Improvising” was published this year.
As a composer–arranger Paul has close to one-hundred fifty published works. He is the chief arranger and assistant first trumpet for the Garden State Symphonic Band, and is a member of ASCAP.
Michael A. Silvestri holds a Master of Arts for Teachers in Music Composition from Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he also attained numerous doctoral credits in the DMA program in Music Education. He attended the University of Bridgeport, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Jersey City State College, in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and was inducted into Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. A music educator for twenty three years in the Madison and Roseland Public School districts, Mr. Silvestri has arranged and composed numerous pieces for elementary, junior high, and high school orchestras in addition to arrangements and compositions for full orchestra, guitar ensemble, solo guitar, jazz ensemble, and SATB chorus. A guitarist since the age of six, he has performed professionally as a guitarist and vocalist for over twenty five years. In addition, he composed and performed a solo classical guitar piece “Remembrance” in the film “Jenny” by director John Travers that won the Academy Award for Best Student Film of 1986.
A native of New Hampshire, Neil graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance. After graduating, Neil freelanced as a music performer, composer, and educator in the seacoast area of New Hampshire. He later attended the University of Hartford Hartt School of Music where he graduated with a Masters in Music Education degree in 2001. Neil is currently a middle school music teacher at East Hampton Middle School in East Hampton, Connecticut and the minister of music at Asylum Avenue Baptist Church in Hartford, CT. Originally a composer and arranger of percussion ensemble music, Neil later began composing original music in college for small jazz combo. His most recent compositions are written for middle school and high school concert band and jazz band. Many of his compositions have been performed by concert bands, pep bands, and jazz bands throughout Connecticut. A jazz drummer and vibraphonist, Neil performs with musicians throughout New England and New York. His self - released debut CD titled Something I Know can be found on the independent music artist website www.cdbaby.com
Jim Stanton has performed with the Washington Brass, Annapolis Brass, Smithsonian Quadrille Brass, and the Hollywood Bowl Brass. He has been a member of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Little Symphony of New York, Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Georgetown Symphony Orchestra, McLean Symphony, National Gallery of Art Orchestra, and the Wheaton Symphony Orchestra.
After 5 years as a professional trumpet player, Jim returned to the business community keeping trumpet playing as an avocation. In 1979, Jim founded the Old Dominion Brass to provide a means for friends to get together, have fun, and explore the literature for brass quintet music. It didn’t take long to get somewhat tired of what was generally available for brass quintet, so Jim began arranging a variety of music for brass quintet. Arranging entire symphonies for brass quintet led to quintet members referring to Jim as “the fearless arranger”. Although many of the arrangements have been performed in public by the Old Dominion Brass, the original intent was to enjoy playing really great and challenging music with friends. The focus has been to make them ‘playable’ yet maintain the complexity and structure of the original work He has arranged and published over 50 pieces for brass quintet. Jim has a management consulting firm, Perception Management, Inc., (www.PerceptionMgmt.com) and lives in Barrington Hills, IL.
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