Jen Hinkle

Jen Hinkle

As one of the most in-demand NYC freelancers, bass trombonist Jen Hinkle can be seen playing with the Grammy Award-winning Afro Bop Alliance Big Band, the Grammy Award-nominated Dan Pugach Nonet and has subbed with the legendary Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. She also regularly performs as substitute musician in many Broadway pit orchestras. As the bass trombonist and Artistic Director of Calliope Brass Quintet, Jen is constantly generating new creative ideas to engage people in the arts, on display with the group's signature piece "What's Your Story?". Jen formerly held the position of bass trombonist with the Spokane Symphony. She left to pursue her dream of starting new and exciting projects of her own, but continues to perform classically and has played with many orchestras – including the Seattle Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the New Haven Symphony.

Sara Mayo

Sara Mayo

Sara Mayo is a native of the Pacific Northwest who now splits her time between the West and the East Coast, and therefore now mostly lives in the sky. On the left side of the country, she is the principal trombonist of the Yakima Symphony, and has also previously performed with groups such as the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Symphony Tacoma, and the Spokane Symphony. On the right side of the country, she works as a freelancer in New York City. She is the tenor trombonist of Calliope Brass and regularly performs with other groups such as the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, the Chelsea Symphony, and anyone else who'll hire her. She has appeared as a featured soloist with the Yakima Symphony and the Tacoma Community College Concert Band.

Erin Paul

Erin Paul

Erin Paul is a New York based French hornist, known for a versatile performance career, as a co-founder of the nonprofit ensemble Calliope Brass, and host of the podcast Doublers. Her diverse performance career includes Broadway, Carnegie Hall, the Las Vegas Strip, and appearances with major artists including Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban. Additionally, she is the horn player and director of operations for Calliope Brass. Calliope’s recent educational workshop, “What’s Your Story?”, was developed in collaboration with creatives from Hamilton and Sesame Street; following successful live tours in 2018 and 2019, the quintet adapted the workshop for remote classrooms, dubbed “What’s Your Story? Online!”.

Kate Umble Smucker

Kate Umble Smucker

Dr. Kate Umble Smucker is a member of the nationally touring Calliope Brass Quintet and teaches music at The Grace Church School. Working with Calliope Brass as the education and curriculum coordinator, Kate contributed to the educational show, “What’s Your Story?” She is the founder and band leader of the 16 piece King Street Big Band based in Lancaster, PA. Kate holds a Doctorate in Trumpet Performance from the University of Missouri in Kansas City, a Masters of Music from the University of North Texas, and Bachelors of Music Education (K-12 instrumental) and Trumpet Performance from the University of Northern Colorado.

Olivia Pidi

Olivia Pidi

Trumpet player Olivia Pidi is currently a member of New York City quintet Calliope Brass, subtle cheetah brass, and 2nd trumpet of The Montclair Orchestra. In addition to performing, Olivia teaches a full studio of trumpet students. As a chamber musician and soloist, Olivia has received the Alsop Family Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Award and placed in the 2019 International Women’s Brass Conference audition competitions. Olivia holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music (MM) and Oberlin Conservatory (BM), where she received the Carmine Caruso Scholarship, the Cecil Collins Award for brass performance, and the James “Jimmy” Stamp Award for trumpet performance.

Rebecca Steinberg

Rebecca Steinberg

Based in New York City, trumpeter Rebecca Steinberg has a career marked by her warm, inviting sound and stylistic versatility. She performs regularly with staged productions, including Off-Broadway runs of “The Sorceress” and the renowned Yiddish-language production of “Fiddler on the Roof” (and can be heard on Fiddler’s 2018 cast album by Warner Music Group). Other notable performances include: City Center Encores! Production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Roadshow,” Symphony Space’s “Wall to Wall” Leonard Bernstein tribute, Adele at Radio City Music Hall, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She most enjoys her work with Calliope Brass, her ensemble that collaborates with creatives ranging from composers to Sesame Street puppeteers. Rebecca won the 2018 Liz Swados Inspiration Grant, an annual award honoring influential female music educators in New York City, on behalf of the ensemble.

Skyler Hill

Skyler Hill

 

Skyler Hill is a sound maker, performer, and improviser who is deeply interested in dissolving sonic, social, and performative boundaries.

Currently, they are pursuing research into interactive musical spaces and creating a new form of musical game, titled House, which questions the audience-performer binary and allows for experimental forms of participation. Under the name Wavy Enneper, they also recently completed a concept EP which documents the process of trans becoming through the musical embodiments of anxiety, euphoria, and self acceptance.

With backgrounds in jazz and improvisation, the making of sound in particular moments and environments is a lens through which many of their projects are focused. However, they are also active as a producer, electronic/electroacoustic artist, and mixing and mastering engineer, working with sound in unique ways through analog and digital means.

A recent piece of theirs which combines many of these methods is Mood, Irrealis, for string quintet, saxophone, voice, and electronics. Written, arranged, recorded, mixed, and mastered by them, this piece shows the beginning-to-end process of music making that they’ve grown to enjoy, as well as the combinations of song and experimentalism that informs much of their work.

 
 
 

Henry Mermer

Henry Mermer

Henry Mermer (b. 1999) is a drummer, improviser, and composer of instrumental and electronic music currently based in Ridgewood, Queens. As a collaborator and improviser, he has performed at venues including The Stone, The Jazz Gallery, The Blue Note, happylucky no. 1, Spectrum NYC, Public Records, and The Bar Next Door…

Aaron Quinn

Aaron Quinn

Aaron Quinn (Stamford, CT 1986) is a composer/performing living in Brooklyn, New York. As a performer, Aaron has given concerts internationally and has collaborated with a wide range of ensembles, including Realicide, Fields and Planes, Liver Quiver, and Team Players and artist such as Wadada Leo Smith, Ted Brown, and Miho Hazama. Notable performance and premiere locations for Aaron's compositions include the Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institution and The Manhattan School of Music.

Brad Linde

Brad Linde

Hailed as "the capital city's contemporary cool king" (Giovanni Russonello, Capitalbop), Brad Linde is a saxophonist, educator, bandleader, and impresario in the Washington DC metro area. He is the director of Jazz and Creative Music at Georgetown Day School and founder of the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra.

Lauren Cauley

Lauren Cauley

Violinist and improviser Lauren Cauley has quickly risen in New York’s avant-garde as an artist known for genre-breaking performances that expand the sonic possibilities of her instrument. Now a “mainstay of the local new-music scene” (New York Times), she’s built a reputation as an interpreter of “fierce precision” and “excellence uncompromised” (Cleveland Classical)…

Erika Dohi

Erika Dohi

Described as "virtuosic" (NY Times) and "barrier-defying artist" (Mix Magazine), Osaka-born and New York-based pianist Erika Dohi is a multi-faceted artist with an eclectic musical background. From highly polished traditional classical to bold improvisation, she is a dynamic performer whose timeless style and unidiomatic technique sets her apart in contemporary NYC avant-garde circles…

Michael Thomas

Michael Thomas

Saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Michael Thomas has been active in New York City since arriving in 2011. Michael has released three solo albums, and he has co-led the Grammy-nominated Terraza Big Band since its inception in 2015. According to the New York Times, Michael writes "energetic, tuneful music for both combos and large ensembles", and his compositions have been performed throughout North and South America, Europe, and Japan. As a sideman, Michael has performed on Grammy-winning albums by Brad Mehldau and Dafnis Prieto, and he has had the privilege of sharing the stage with Miguel Zenón, Nicholas Payton, Etienne Charles, and Jason Palmer. Currently, Michael is an Artist Teacher of Jazz Saxophone in the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music.

Jocelin Pan

Jocelin Pan

A sought after soloist and collaborator, violist Jocelin Pan enjoys a diverse career as a performer and teaching artist. She has played and recorded for film, television, pop, jazz, and contemporary classical projects. She currently holds the viola chair for Mrs. Doubtfire on Broadway and has performed in numerous theatrical productions. From Carnegie Hall to Madison Square Garden, she champions the music of living composers from all genres. Jocelin is currently on the viola faculty at the Music Advancement Program at The Juilliard School and the piano faculty at The Nightingale-Bamford School.

Hsuan Chen

Hsuan Chen

Hsuan Chen is an emerging violinist based in Chicago, performing both as a chamber musician and an orchestral member. An avid advocate of early music and contemporary sounds, Chen has performed with the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble regularly. Chen has also performed at the Carnegie Hall as the assistant principal with the Oberlin Orchestra. Graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory, Chen is now pursuing her Master's degree with Prof. I-Hao Lee at DePaul University School of Music, while serving as a regular member at the Civic Orchestra in Chicago.

Han Chen

Han Chen

Praised by the New York Times for his “graceful touch,” “rhythmic precision,” and “hypnotic charm,” pianist Han Chen has established himself in both the classical music and contemporary music worlds with his versatile programming and effortless technique…

Joe Tucker-Vikström

Joe Tucker-Vikström

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Joe is a performer, educator, audio engineer, repair tech, and general musical mercenary. A multi-faceted percussionist, Joe has performed with Talujon, Innovox, the Curiosity Cabinet, S.E.M. Ensemble, and others. He also plays in Gamelan Dharma Swara and Gamelan Yowana Sari, as well as playing in various jazz combos, Balkans groups, and accompanies Arabic dancers.

Nate Jasensky

Nate Jasensky

Nate Jasensky is a guitarist, composer, producer, arranger, and music educator born and raised in sunny Tucson, Arizona, and currently living in Brooklyn, New York. Nathan first started his music education at the age of three, when he was enrolled in regular music classes with musicians in the local symphony orchestra. Learning how to read music before written english, Nate quickly became proficient in the guitar and the saxophone…

Titilayo Ayangade

Titilayo Ayangade

Titilayo Ayangade, cellist, has spent more than two decades behind the instrument, enjoying performances in orchestras and chamber ensembles as well commissioning new music. Holding degrees in performance from University of Cincinnati-CCM and University of Texas at Austin, she has also worked closely with members of the Artemis Quartet at Queen Elisabeth Chapel in Belgium. Titilayo currently resides close to Washington, D.C. and is pursuing a D.M.A. at the University of Maryland as part of the fellowship ensemble in residence, Thalea String Quartet.

Alfredo Colon

Alfredo Colon

Dominican-American saxophonist and composer, Alfredo Colon is a proud New York City native. His distinct sound lives at the crossroads of a wide range of experiences and inspirations, from his upbringing in Upper Manhattan, to his Dominican heritage, to his love of musicians with melodic approaches to improvisation, including Sonny Sharrock, Ornette Coleman, and Pharoah Sanders…