Steven Marx is an international competition winner and former Yamaha Young Artist, having performed throughout the United States and many foreign countries such as England, the Bahamas, Japan, Taiwan, and Macao. In 2002, Marx won second place at the National Trumpet Competition, and also was awarded first prize in the Mock Orchestra Competition at the International Trumpet Guild Convention in Manchester, England. Steven was awarded the National Trumpet Competition Lake Placid Scholarship in 2003, given to the individual most likely to make the biggest impact on the trumpet world.
After completing a Bachelor of Music in 2003 from Grand Valley State University, and a Masters of Music with a Performance Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, Marx began studies toward the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Music Education at the Eastman School.
Steven Marx has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rochester Oratorio Society, the Avatar Brass, West Shore Symphony, and had toured and recorded with the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Currently, Marx performs with the Plymouth Brass Quintet, the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, and is co-founder of the brass ensemble in residence at Nazareth College, the Wilmot Brass.
Jason Price is a trumpet performer, composer, and improviser. As a soloist and trumpeter he has performed in North America, Europe, and Asia. Jason has performed in the World Premiere of works by John Adams, Harrison Birtwistle, Steve Reich, Bernard Rands, Benedict Mason, Augusta Read Thomas, Michael Gordon, Misha Mengleberg, Willhelm Breuker, Wolfgang Rihm, Meredith Monk, and Kenny Wheeler. He has performed the American premiere of a solo piece by Peter Maxwell Davies. In 2001 he won 1st Prize in the National Trumpet Competition for his performance of Luciano Berio's Sequenza. For six years he worked and taught at the Eastman Computer Music Center at the Eastman School of Music where he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music in Performance and Literature in Trumpet. He also studied with Allen Bachelder at Virginia Tech, in his hometown of Blacksburg, Virginia.
Jason is the trumpet player for Alarm Will Sound, a new music ensemble based in New York. Recent performance venues include Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Conservatory of Amsterdam, the Whitney Museum, RadioKulturHaus in Vienna, the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, the Kitchen, and the Knitting Factory. He can be heard on the Nonesuch, Warner Brothers, Cantaloupe, AudioDrain, and Ace-Fu labels.
He has been guest artist and given master classes and talks recently at the New York University, California Institute of the Arts, Eastman School of Music, Dartmouth College, Carthage College, Virginia Tech, Nazareth College, and two International Trumpet Guild Conferences. Jason has also served on the faculty of Dickinson College and Susquehanna University.
As a composer he has written electronic and acoustic music as well as dance, film, television, radio, and multimedia. As a sound designer he recently created the interactive electronics for several theater productions and sound installations. His work centers on the evolution of communication devices into musical devices.
Nathaniel Willson is an active horn player and educator. After graduating from high school in India, Nathaniel came to the United States and completed a Bachelor of Music degree at the Juilliard School, and a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His primary teachers included Randy Gardner of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Jerome Ashby of the New York Philharmonic, and Julie Landsman of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
An active orchestral musician, Mr. Willson currently performs with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Principal Horn and has been heard around the country when the orchestra was featured on NPR’s Performance Today. In addition he has performed with the Seattle Opera Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, as well as numerous other orchestras around the country.
Mr. Willson has also had the good fortune to perform several concertos as a soloist with orchestra. His first opportunity was at age 17 with the Delhi Chamber Orchestra in New Delhi, India and since then he has performed several concertos with orchestras in New York and Cincinnati.
As an educator Mr. Willson maintains a studio in Portland, Oregon where he teaches privately and coaches at several high schools. He has also been involved with the International Horn Society, presenting a masterclass at the Western US Horn Symposium in 2006 and performing at the IHS Symposium in 2005.
Dr. Alexandra Zacharella, a native of New Jersey, is currently on faculty at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith as Assistant Professor of Music and Director for the U of A Fort Smith Athletic Band. She is a recent Graduate of The Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California. While at USC Dr. Zacharella completed a Doctorate in Trombone Performance with minors in Music Education, Conducting, Jazz Studies and was a Teaching Assistant for the Wind Ensemble Department. In addition to her duties with the Thornton Wind Ensemble Dr. Zacharella was also a Teaching Assistant in the Music Education Department serving as Brass Methods Instructor and University Supervisor in Student Teaching.
Dr. Zacharella holds Bachelor's degrees in Trombone Performance and Music Education from The Hartt School, The University of Hartford and a Masters degree in Trombone Performance from The University of Michigan School of Music. While at Michigan Dr. Zacharella was an avid performer as well as a music educator, serving as a Graduate Student Instructor for the Music Education Department. As a Principal Trombonist she recorded with The University Symphony Orchestra for the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music and was one of three featured trombone soloists to premiere Michael Daugherty's Rosa Parks Boulevard under the direction of H. Robert Reynolds, a work that she recently performed with the Idyllwild Festival Wind Ensemble in 2006 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
Dr. Zacharella has been an active freelance musician in Connecticut, Michigan and California and has been a successful chamber musician performing with various brass ensembles. In 2006 as a member of the Metroplex Brass Quintet she performed as a semifinalist in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
At the collegiate level Dr. Zacharella has won numerous awards for her dedication to performance and music education. As an educator she has been Director of Bands at L'Anse Creuse Middle School-Central in Harrison Township, MI and has served on faculty as Trombone Coach at Interlochen Academy of the Arts Summer All State Program. She has also been a private lesson instructor for 12 years, was a Wind Ensemble Clinician for the Idyllwild Arts Foundation and is currently on faculty at Idyllwild Music Festival as Festival Wind Ensemble Trombone Coach.
With over a decade of performing on the world's classical music stages tubist Kevin Sanders is known for his artistic style and pedagogical innovations. His musical instincts and creative flare began to develop while attending the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, a boarding school for aspiring young artists. After graduating from Interlochen, Mr. Sanders attended Indiana University where he earned a Bachelors degree in Music. He also holds a Masters degree in Music from The Juilliard School of Music, and is currently finishing his Doctorate of Musical Arts at Michigan State University under the tutelage of Phil Sinder.
Mr. Sanders is a founding member of the Apex Brass and has performed with the American Brass Quintet, New Mexico Symphony, Spoleto USA Festival Orchestra, New World Symphony in Miami, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Columbus Philharmonic, Evansville Philharmonic, Terre-Haute Symphony, and the Camerata Orchestra. In 1999 Mr. Sanders was selected as one of nine Americans to play with the Jeunesse Musicales World Orchestra for their North American and European tours where members of the Berlin Philharmonic coached the musicians. He has worked under internationally acclaimed conductors such as Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Frederick Fennell, and James Conlon, including performances in New York City's Carnegie Hall under the batons of Charles Dutoit and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Through the years Mr. Sanders has studied with legendary musicians Dan Perantoni, professor of tuba at Indiana University; Tony Kniffen, principal tuba of the Indianapolis Symphony; David Fedderly, principal tuba of the Baltimore Symphony; Joseph Alessi, principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic; and Matt Good, principal tuba of the Dallas Symphony.
Mr. Sanders has presented educational concerts in New York City's numerous elementary schools, hospitals, and businesses through Juilliard's Community Chamber Music program and lectured at the Arkansas Bandmaster's Association. He currently serves on the faculty of the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith and has recently been appointed to the music faculty at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Mr. Sanders also serves as director and artist faculty at the Apex Brass Summer Seminar.