Pedro Maia
Brazilian violinist Pedro Maia has an extensive experience performing as a soloist and chamber musician. He has played in some of the most prestigious venues throughout Asia, South America, and North America including Weill Hall at Carnegie, Sala São Paulo, and Seoul National Theater. At the age of fifteen, Pedro debuted with the ArtBrasilia Symphony Orchestra, and he often performed both as concertmaster and soloist with many orchestras at the Brasilia School of Music and University of Brasilia.Recently Pedro made his Mexico debut soloing the Four Seasons by Piazzolla with the Orquesta Filarmonica Tlaxcalan. Pedro is a founding member of Cosmos New Music ensemble, which had their Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Hall in 2018. He is also a member of Trio Riva and was a member of Florida State University’s graduate string quartet Eppes String Quartet. He has won several chamber music competitions, such as Music Teacher National Association’s Young Artist String Ensemble Competitions, Mississippi Music Teachers Association String Competition and Great Composers Competition. He is often invited to judge youth string competitions in Florida.
As an orchestral musician Pedro is a member of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra and the Mobile Symphony Orchestra and holds the principal second violin position with the Asheville Symphony. Pedro has performed with some of the leading conductors in the world including Paul Tortelier, Ira Levin, Kurt Mazur, and Emil Tabakov. His orchestral and chamber music engagements have brought collaborations with artists such as Shlomo Mintzs, Itzhak Perlman, Roberto Diaz, Alex Klein, Yo-Yo Ma, Albrecht Mayer, Giles Apap, Igudesman and Joo, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.
An active pedagogue as well, Pedro has years of experience teaching students from diverse backgrounds. He maintained a private studio in Tallahassee, FL and has been on the faculty of festivals in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, USA, and Mexico. As a graduate teaching assistant at Florida State University, he taught chamber music as well as technique classes for undergraduate students. For the Tallahassee Youth Orchestra, he coached precollege students and founded and directed TYO’s first camerata. His private students and chamber groups have placed in competitions such as the NOLA Chamber Fest.
Besides these musical activities, Pedro is a Global Leaders Program’s alumnus, which helped him enhance his leadership, teaching artistry, marketing, and management skills. Pedro holds a doctoral degree and a master’s degree in violin performance from Florida State University and a bachelor’s degree in violin performance from the University of Southern Mississippi. Currently, he is an Iris Fellow for Germantown’s Iris Orchestra. His principal teachers have included Erich Lehninger, Katia Andrade, Nadia Nedialkova, Stephen Redfield, and Shannon Thomas.
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Hannah MacLean
American violinist Hannah Ruth MacLean is an avid performer of solo, chamber, and orchestral music and has performed throughout the United States and Canada. As a chamber musician, Hannah has collaborated with Rachel Barton Pine, Philip Chiu, Marina Thibeault, David Kalhous, Lambert Chen, Paul Zafer, and Julie Trudeau, and she is a founding member of the Cheng-MacLean Duo. Hannah serves as the Principal Second Violinist of the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, and regularly performs as a section violinist of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, the Venice Symphony, Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, and Sinfonia Gulf Coast. She served as concertmaster of the Florida State University Symphony Orchestra during its 2020-2021 season and she was the winner of the 2021 Doctoral Concerto Competition at Florida State University, performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto. Most recently, the Cheng-MacLean Duo made its debut at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in May of 2022.Hannah holds a Doctorate of Music in Violin Performance from Florida State University, where she was a graduate teaching assistant to Dr. Shannon Thomas. She completed her Master of Music in Violin Performance from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University and a Bachelor of Music Education from Wheaton College. Her primary teachers include Dr. Shannon Thomas, Violaine Melançon, Felicia Moye, and Paul Zafer.
Hannah has appeared at numerous summer festivals, including Bowdoin International Music Festival, Domaine Forget International Music Festival, Northwestern Summer Violin Institute, and Camp Musical des Laurentides. She has performed in masterclasses for esteemed violinists Midori Goto, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Ilya Kaler, Rachel Barton Pine, Paul Kantor, Martin Chalifour, and Régis Pasquier.
As a dedicated pedagogue, Hannah teaches undergraduate violinists and coaches chamber music ensembles at Florida State University. She coaches the first violin sections in the Tallahassee Youth Orchestras, and she maintains a private studio. In the summers, Hannah serves as artist-faculty for the Tutti Chamber Music Summer Festival Program in Wheaton, Illinois.
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Andrea Beltran Landers
Andrea Beltran Landers is a passionate chamber and orchestral musician with extensive teaching experience in cello and chamber music. She is founding member of the Kahlo Quartet, which recently collaborated with Canadian Brass trombonist Achilles Liarmakopoulos. Together they premiered A Nuvem Triste, piece by Alexandros Livitsanos dedicated to Kahlo and Achilles. As a member of this ensemble, Andrea has performed in various outreach and interactive recitals, and received special training in the 2019 Audience Engagement Intensive at Carnegie Hall. One of the goals of the Kahlo Quartet is to bring high quality chamber music performances to underserved communities to create new audiences for classical music.As an orchestral musician, Andrea has performed extensively in the orchestras of the Gulf Coast region of the United States. She is a member of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra, Meridian Symphony Orchestra, North Florida Symphony Orchestra, and currently serves as interim cello principal at the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra. She has worked under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, Benjamin Zander, Apo Hsu, among others.
Andrea’s teaching experience spans over fifteen years. She is comfortable teaching at all levels: from young beginners who are learning the basics of the instrument, to college level students who need guidance with the most complex aspects of cello playing. Andrea has taught at the graduate and undergraduate level at William Carey University and is currently adjunct cello instructor at University of South Alabama. As a guest lecturer, Andrea has taught masterclasses in the last two editions of Cellobration at University of Alabama, and the 2021 Bienal de Violoncello hosted by the Universidad Nacional de Música del Perú. In addition to running a healthy private cello studio, Andrea is Education Instructor with the Mobile Symphony Education Program.
Andrea holds a bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University and a master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, where she is also pursuing a doctoral degree in Performance and Pedagogy. Her main teachers include Annika Petrozzi, Moises Molina, and Alexander Russakovsky.
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Delara Hashemi
Delara Hashemi is Acting Principal Flute of the Memphis Symphony for the 2022-2023 season and has been Acting Second Flute since 2018, she is freelance artist, and teacher in the Mid-South region. She plays with the Memphis Symphony Woodwind Quintet, and plays in the Blueshift Ensemble, Shear Winds, Gemini Duo and River City Flute Quartet.Ms. Hashemi is currently pursuing her Doctorate in flute performance at the University of Memphis where she studies flute with Associate Professor Elise Blatchford, and also holds a degree from the University of Central Oklahoma where she studied with Professor Dr. Emily Butterfield.
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Grace Woodworth
Oboist Grace Woodworth is an active performer, teacher, and chamber musician currently based in the Nashville area. She has performed nationally and internationally, appearing with the Nashville Symphony, Austin Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, Symphony of the Mountains, Rapides Symphony, Genessee Symphony, and Louisiana Sinfonietta. Currently, she performs as principal oboist of the Paducah and Murfreesboro Symphony Orchestras. She maintains an active private studio, and has previously served on the faculties of Middle Tennessee State University, Belmont University, and Tennessee State University. In addition to teaching, Woodworth freelances as an orchestral and session musician. Her playing can be heard on the soundtracks for major motion pictures such as Home Again (2017), Beach Bums (2018), and My Little Pony (2017), the hit show Fargo, and video games including Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Destiny 2.Dr. Woodworth has participated in many prestigious summer music festivals, including the Banff Festival Orchestra and Masterclasses, Brevard Music Festival, Pierre Monteux Festival for Conductors and Instrumentalists, Marrowstone Music Festival, Hot Springs Music Festival, and most recently, at the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, CO. She is a three-time finalist for the Nashville Symphony’s Young Artist Concerto Competition, and first-prize winner in the NOLA Chamber Fest Competition in 2016 with her woodwind quintet, West Chimes Winds.
Originally from Cookeville, Tennessee, Woodworth received her Bachelor of Music degree in oboe performance from the University of Texas at Austin. While at UT, she was awarded “Outstanding Senior Recital” for her BM degree recital, which is chosen by faculty vote. Woodworth continued her studies at the Eastman School of Music, and received her Doctor of Musical Arts from Louisiana State University. Her principal teachers have included Richard Killmer, Rebecca Henderson, and Johanna Pennington. In her spare time, Dr. Woodworth enjoys practicing yoga and spending time with her friends, family, and her rescue dogs.
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Chris Piecuch
Chris Piecuch currently serves as the Director of Bands and Orchestra at Memphis University School, however he is perhaps best known for his 24 year tenure as Director of Bands at Overton High School for the Creative and Performing Arts in Memphis, TN. A native of Washington D.C., Mr. Piecuch began his musical studies at an early age with his father, Martin Piecuch, who is a former ‘President’s Own’ marine band member and an internationally known conductor. He furthered his studies receiving a Bachelors Degree in Music Education and a Masters Degree in Clarinet and Bassoon Performance from the University of Mississippi. Mr. Piecuch has studied conducting with Thomas Waggoner, Craig Williams, and John Whitwell.Mr. Piecuch is generally credited with reviving the instrumental music program at Overton High School where he developed a wind ensemble that received accolades on national and international levels as well as a championship marching band. Under the direction of Mr. Piecuch, the Overton Wind Ensemble was featured in performance at the 49th Annual Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, as well as the two Music Educators National Conferences and was twice chosen as an honor ensemble for the Tennessee Music Educators Conventions.
Mr. Piecuch frequently serves as a clinician and adjudicator throughout much of the United States. He has served as the President of the Tennessee Bandmasters Association and the West Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association. Mr. Piecuch has also been featured as conductor of the Memphis Youth Symphony on several European Tours performing in Switzerland, Germany, France, Czech Republic and Spain. He has been a featured conductor with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and the Germantown Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Piecuch currently holds the Contrabassoon position with the Memphis Symphony, and performs regularly as a woodwind doubler with other professional ensembles such as the Orpheum Theater, Theater Memphis, Opera Memphis, and the Tupelo Symphony. He currently spends his summers teaching at the International Music Camp in the International Peace Garden in North Dakota/Manitoba, Canada.
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Raquel Samayoa
Raquel Samayoa leads a multi-faceted career as a teacher, chamber musician, recitalist, adjudicator and solo performer. She joined the University of North Texas College of Music in 2018, where she is currently Associate Professor of Trumpet, and Co-Director of the UNT Brass Band. Dr. Samayoa is a founding member of Lantana Trio, a brass trio comprised of UNT Brass Faculty. Dr. Samayoa was previously on faculty at Tennessee Tech University and Northern Kentucky University.Raquel is principal trumpet with the Richardson Symphony Orchestra (TX) and a member of the award-winning Seraph Brass. As a member of Seraph Brass, she frequently tours the US and abroad performing concerts and engaging in educational outreach performances. Dr. Samayoa is a Yamaha Performing Artist and a Denis Wick Artist and Clinician.
As a pedagogue, clinician, and proponent of diversity in the arts, she is regularly invited to give masterclasses, recitals, and panel discussions at universities and professional conferences, most recently the College Music Society Southern Conference, Midwest Clinic, Historic Brass Society Symposium, International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) and the International Trumpet Guild (ITG) Conference. She has been 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, 2021 Interlochen Trumpet Intensive and 2022 Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain. She also recently served as a juror for the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Her articles have been published in The Instrumentalist, The Brass Herald and the ITG Journal. In January 2020, Dr. Samayoa released her first publication with Mountain Peak Music entitled Dueling Fundamentals for Two Trumpets. She released her 2nd solo album entitled, Trumpet Songs, with Summit Records in 2021. As a member of Lantana Trio, Raquel released Crossing Barriers with MSR Classics in the Fall of 2022. This album features works by women and BIPOC composers, including five new commissions. Raquel is a member of the IWBC Board of Directors and served as a co-host for the 2022 and 2014 IWBC.
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.
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Sarah Herbert
Dr. Sarah Herbert is on the faculty at Western Kentucky University as the Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Jazz where she teaches applied trumpet, brass techniques and directs the WKU Trumpet Ensemble and WKU Jazz Band. She has previously held faculty positions at the University of Wyoming, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Miami University Regionals in Hamilton, Ohio.Dr. Herbert’s recent performing career has been diverse and includes performances with jazz and commercial ensembles, as well as orchestras and chamber groups including Orchestra Kentucky, Gateway Chamber Orchestra, Western Kentucky University Faculty Brass Quintet, Evansville Philharmonic, Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Wyoming Faculty Brass Quintet. In the Cincinnati area she has performed with the Fillmore Brass Band and Wind Ensemble, Washington Ave Brass Quintet, The Belairs 1950’s Show Band, The Casino Players Ensemble, Bach Chorale Singers, and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra (Indiana). Additionally, she has played in numerous musical theater orchestras and performed as a cruise ship musician for Norwegian Cruise Lines based out of Miami, Florida.
In addition to teaching and performing, Dr. Herbert has created an innovative commissioning project made possible with initial funding from the Presser Foundation’s Graduate Research Award. Three new works for the unique instrumental combination of trumpet and guitar quartet have been commissioned and performed at both the 2017 International Trumpet Guild Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania with the Texas Guitar Quartet and at the 2019 International Women’s Brass Conference in Tempe, Arizona with the Albuquerque, New Mexico based Rio Grande Guitar Quartet. This project’s newest commission is currently being written by Albuquerque based composer, John Truitt. The piece is entitled, Three Paintings for Helen Hardin and will feature solo trumpet, guitar quintet and string orchestra.
A native of Portland, Oregon, Herbert completed her Doctor of Music in Trumpet Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 2017. She also holds a Master of Music and Certification in Music Education from the University of New Mexico and a Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
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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.Dr. Mannix has appeared as guest artist and clinician at colleges and conferences throughout North America, including the 2022, 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: Crossing Barriers with Lantana Trio, 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 Executive Board 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.
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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, Dallas Opera, 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 orchestras in Akron, Wheeling, Youngstown, Lansing, Dearborn, Southwest Michigan, La Crosse, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, and Dubuque. She is currently principal horn of Richardson Symphony Orchestra.
Mickens’ solo recorded album From the Great Lakes was released in 2020 and features new works composed for her by David Morgan and James Wilding. “Stacie Mickens’s playing is superb; her musicality has a sort of confidence that makes one feel entirely secure in her hands (given the precarious nature of the French horn, that’s no mean compliment). This is a most enjoyable disc, well recorded and presented.” – Fanfare Nov/Dec 2020. “Stacie Mickens…shows masterful control of her instrument throughout the CD, displaying the diverse sound quality of the horn with beautifully lyrical and melancholic playing…”– Brass Band World Dec 2020.
Mickens is a founding member of Lantana Trio with Raquel Samayoa, trumpet, and Natalie Mannix, trombone. Lantana has commissioned works for brass trio by Jeff Scott, Ivette Herryman Rodriguez, Shanyse Strickland, Dorothy Gates, and Erik Morales. These works will be featured on Lantana Trio’s debut album to be released in 2022. The group co-hosted the International Women’s Brass Conference at UNT May 24-28, 2022.
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.
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Leander Star
As a founding member of the avant garde wind quintet The City of Tomorrow, Leander Star has been at the forefront of modern horn performance and led the group into new directions of programming, producing seamless concept concerts that include lighting effects and creative movement to enhance the audience’s experience of the music. In the 2021-2022 season, Leander designed and choreographed their show, “Waves, Breaths, and Dead Cities,” a contemplation of music and isolation during the global pandemic, premiered by Crosstown Arts in Memphis, TN and enhanced with video by Memphis filmmaker Breezy Lucia as well as set design by Memphis carpenter Celeste Von Ahnen. Mr. Star has also led efforts to commission new works, landing the quintet a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant in 2014 for a new work relating to climate change written by Yale composer Han Lash. Leander and the City of Tomorrow formed a consortium to commission a new quintet with electronics by George Lewis in 2023.In 2019, Star gave the world premiere performance of Northlands II by Matthew Whittall in a performance with the Central Oregon Chamber Orchestra that also included Mozart's Horn Concerto K.447. Recently, Mr. Star has been featured as a soloist and chamber musician on the faculty series of both Rhodes College and the University of Mississippi, including a regional debut of David Byrd Marrow’s Meditations Vol. 1 for solo horn in 2021. In the 2016/17 season, he gave multiple recitals of the Brahms and Ligeti horn trios on series in the Memphis region as well as on the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Alumni Concert Series.
A Portland, Oregon native, Leander is a tenured member of the Oregon Ballet Theater and Portland Opera Orchestras and can often be found performing in the pit at the Keller Auditorium and in other venues in the Pacific Northwest. He commissioned and premiered a new work by Seattle composer Nat Evans at the 2015 Northwest Horn Symposium called How to Stay Dry in Western Oregon, based on Nat’s experiences and field recordings while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and has performed Fantasie for Horns II by Vancouver composer Hildegarde Westerkamp all over the United States, including performances in Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Tennessee, and New York City. When at home in Memphis, Mr. Star teaches horn at the University of Mississippi in Oxford and Rhodes College and performs as an extra with symphony orchestras including the Memphis, Arkansas, Huntsville, IRIS and PRIZM orchestras.
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Mark Bonner
Mark Bonner, Jr. is a music educator, composer, and clinician from Memphis, TN, and a professor at the University of Central Missouri, where he teaches courses in graduate conducting, graduate music literature, and high school music education. Mark also supervises the Symphonic Band and music ensembles relating to the athletics program, including the Marching Mules and basketball pep band. Dr. Bonner earned a Doctorate in Wind Conducting at UMKC Conservatory and is in high demand as a composer, transcriber for wind instruments, and arranger for some of the most recognizable marching ensembles in the country. Dr. Bonner's music is performed worldwide, and his work has been featured internationally on ESPN, showcased by the prominent cast members of "The Office,” and recently part of a collection of works nominated for a Grammy Award in Music.Mark holds a Master of Music degree in Wind Conducting from Louisiana State University, where he studied conducting with Damon Talley and Dennis Llinas and euphonium with Joseph Skillen. As a member of the LSU Band Staff, Mark performed in the LSU Wind Ensemble during their 2019 CBDNA tour. Mark also had the responsibility of guest conducting on concerts presented by the LSU, Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Winds, and Symphonic Band. The elite athletic band programs allowed Mark the opportunity to arrange for and work with the Bengal Brass Pep Band, and the Sudler- winning Golden Band from Tigerland. Mark also regularly performed with the LSU Brass Band, Tuba- Euphonium Ensemble, and the Four-Guys Tuba Quartet.
Before attending LSU, Mark was the Director of Bands at Cordova High School and Cordova Middle School in Cordova, TN. He grew the band from 40 members to 220 and guided the program in receiving superior ratings at all concerts, marching, and jazz festivals. Mark served as a clinician, music arranger, and musician in the Memphis area as a member of Big Band Swing, Mt. Moriah East Gospel Choir, and the Memphis Wind Symphony on trumpet, trombone, and euphonium, respectively.
Mark earned his Bachelor’s of Music in Music Education at the University of Memphis, where he studied euphonium under Dr. Kevin Sanders and music education under Dr. Albert Nguyen and Dr. Armand Hall. While attending the University of Memphis, Mark was drum major, trombone section leader, euphonium section leader, and a student arranger for the Mighty Sound of the South Marching Band. Mark served as Vice President and a Founding Member of the Theta Lambda Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi as well as Fraternal Education Officer of the Theta Rho Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Mark was a member of the Bottomline Tuba Ensemble as a euphonium soloist and music arranger on multiple CDs released on Spotify and iTunes. Mark was also a member of the “iTuba” Quartet, which competed as finalists for the International ITEA Chamber Ensemble Competition in 2012 and 2013. Mark holds membership in the National Association for Music Education, Tennessee Music Education Association, West TN School Band and Orchestra Association, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Tau Beta Nu.
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Allegra Wolff
Lauded as an inspiring educator and gifted musician, Allegra Wolff is the Assistant Director of Bands at Blue Valley Southwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas. She assists with all aspects of the instrumental music program and is co-director of the winter guard. Influenced by her mentors, Dr. Joseph Parisi, Steven D. Davis, and Dr. Julia Baumanis, Allegra is incredibly excited to inspire young musicians with the PRIZM ensembles this summer. Her recent staff experiences include working with the Pride of Branson High School Bands as a woodwind and guard instructor, the Blue Springs South Jaguar Pride as a woodwind instructor, and the University of Central Missouri as a graduate teaching assistant and director of color guard programs. Allegra holds a bachelor of business administration from the University of Missouri - Kansas City, a bachelor of music education from Missouri Western State University, and a master's in wind conducting from the University of Central Missouri. She resides in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, with her partner Mark Bonner, and their two cats, Ash and Phoebe.return to faculty
Victor Sawyer
Victor Sawyer is a freelance trombonist based in Memphis, TN. As a performer he has recorded at legendary studios such as Sun, Royal, and Ardent. Sawyer has also performed with Memphis legends such as 8Ball and MJG, Valerie June, Steve Cropper, and many more.As a Teaching Artist, Sawyer serves as a Fellowship Coach for the Memphis Music Initiative, supporting a team of 10-12 professional music Teaching Artists who support and enhance music programming in Memphis area middle and high schools.
Victor Sawyer attended the Manhattan School of Music for a Masters Degree in Jazz Performance.
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Guy Michel
Born in Port au Prince Haiti, Guy Michel grew up in a household surrounded by musicians and artists, so music has always been part of his DNA. At the age of 5, his dad wanted him to play the cello which he did not approve of at first until he saw the beauty of this instrument at a recital. On that day, he found his first love and has never looked back since.What started as a fun and joyous experience turned into an immense passion. He joined the Saint Trinite Music Program three years later and became part of the premiere orchestra in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti "The Orchestre Philarmonique de Saint Trinite".
After his primary and secondary studies at the prestigious Nouveau College Bird, Guy Michel emigrated to the U.S to further his musical studies at Florida International University where he received a bachelor's in Music Education.
Even though Guy Michel is classically trained, he believes that music goes beyond Bach and Beethoven, or simply playing complex notes to showcase an individual’s talent. It is a form of self expression; A vehicle in which to awaken and stimulate the imagination. He loves exploring new possibilities on the cello with a repertoire ranging from easy listening to Hip Hop and EDM. There is no limit to what can be accomplished on an instrument. He is currently working on original tracks which is set to be released early in 2020.
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