a featured soloist with orchestras in the mid-Atlantic region and
has also performed in recital and at professional conferences and
music festivals in the United States, Europe and Africa. He has
served as host for regional horn workshops at Virginia Tech. Other
professional activities include residencies as artist/faculty for the
Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts, Skyline Brass Music
Festival, Roanoke Youth Symphony Summer Institute, and the Blue
Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. He is frequently asked to give
master class presentations at music schools and festivals. Recent
master classes have covered a wide geographic area from the
National Music Camp at Interlochen, MI, to the STTEP Music
School in Pretoria, South Africa. He has also been principal horn
of the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival since June 2000. He
has written and has been interviewed for articles in the
Horn Call,
the official publication of the International Horn Society. Mr.
Easter is featured on the most recent CD releases of the Hornists’
Nest. The album titled
The Fripperies
is frequently heard on
National Public Radio affiliates. The most recent release from the
Hornists’ Nest titled “
…ipperies”
came out in June 2009, featuring
more original music for horns by Lowell Shaw. Besides Mr. Easter,
this latest CD features the talents of Jeffrey Snedeker, Calvin
Smith, Timothy Schwartz and Wallace Easter III.
Judith Saxton, Principal Trumpet
,
University of North
Carolina School of the Arts Artist Faculty and Brass Coordinator,
performs internationally in the orchestral, solo and chamber
realms. She is principal of the New York Women’s Ensemble,
whose Carnegie Hall debut orchestra concert received critical
acclaim in a NY Times Review. Recently, she was guest principal
with the St. Louis Symphony and her ITG cd
Concert and Contest
Pieces for Trumpet
was issued free worldwide. She is on Eastern
Music Festival Faculty and is Principal and soloist with the
Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival. As a sought-after Conn-Selmer
soloist/clinician she averages ten concerts and clinics each
season. She concertizes actively with UNCSA colleagues Timothy
Olsen in their trumpet/organ duo, and with Allison Gagnon, piano.
For several season she was principal and soloist with the Hong
Kong Philharmonic, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, and Illinois
Symphony and with Wichita and Key West/South Florida
Symphonies concurrently. She performed with Chicago, Grant
Park, Sydney (Australia), Harrisburg and Milwaukee Symphonies.
Chamber credits include the Southeast Chamber Brass, CSO,
Wichita, Sierra and UNCSA brass quintets, Chicago Chamber
Musicians, Tromba Mundi, Millar and Monarch Brass ensembles.
She recorded for Crystal, Koss, Proto, Novitas, MSR and Moravian
Music Foundation. She was tenured Associate Professor at Wichita
State University and taught at Hong Kong Academy for Performing
Arts, Illinois Wesleyan and Northeastern Illinois Universities and
Lieksa Brass Week, Finland.
Saxton’s teachers include Vincent Cichowicz, Arnold Jacobs,
William Scarlett, Susan Slaughter and Michael Galloway. Her
degrees are from Mansfield and Northwestern Universities. Board
affiliations include ITG, National Trumpet Competition and the
International Women's Brass Conference.
Jay Crone, Principal Trombone
,
is associate professor and
head of the Department of Music, joined the Virginia Tech music
faculty in 1994. Mr. Crone has performed as a trombonist and
euphoniumist with many symphony orchestras and bands
throughout the United States, including the Roanoke (VA)
Symphony Orchestra and the Fresno (CA) Philharmonic
Orchestra. He is currently the Principal Trombone of the Roanoke
Symphony Orchestra, Opera Roanoke, and the Wintergreen
Festival Orchestra, the orchestra in residence at the Wintergreen
Performing Arts Festival. He also performs with the Shenandoah
Valley Bach Festival Orchestra in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
As a trombone and euphonium soloist Crone has appeared with
bands from California, Virginia and other states, in addition to
many performances as a featured soloist in concerts in the United
Kingdom. In 2011 he performed recitals in Bristol and Ipswich,
England that featured the music of Philip Wilby and the world
premier of a new work for trombone and organ,
Chaconne
Piangendo
, by James Sochinski. A frequent collaborator with his
Virginia Tech composition colleagues, Crone performed Ico
Bukvic’s
Derelicts of Time
for trombone and multimedia at the
2010 MusicAcoustica Festival in Beijing, China in addition to
contemporary music festivals in New York City, New York,
Cincinnati, Ohio, and Kansas City, Kansas in 2008 and 2009. In
2006 he premiered James Sochinski's
Fantasie-Variations on a
Dowland Ayre
for trombone and band with the CSU Fresno Alumni
Wind Ensemble during their tour of England under the direction of
Dr. Lawrence Sutherland. Crone is also a regular chamber music
performer and has been featured at many conferences and
festivals, including the Eastern Trombone Workshop, Southeast
Regional Horn Workshop, Wintergreen Performing Arts Festival,
and the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, in addition to
performances with the Kandinsky Trio and the Audubon
Quartet. He has performed as a trombone and euphonium soloist
and collaborative pianist in recitals in California, Virginia, West
Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, among others.
A unique aspect of Mr. Crone's musical career has been his dual
role as both a trombonist/euphoniumist and pianist. He has been a
collaborative pianist in voice and instrumental recitals throughout
the United States, most recently performing with Ronald Barron,
former principal trombone of the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
Tim Smith, second trombone of the Buffalo Philharmonic
Orchestra, Harold Van Schaik, bass trombone of the Florida
Orchestra, Wallace Easter, principal horn of the Roanoke
Symphony Orchestra, Brian Kiser, principal tuba of the Roanoke
Symphony Orchestra, John McGinnis, bass trombone of the
Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and Donna Parkes, principal
trombone of the Louisville Orchestra.
Originally from California, Crone received degrees from the
University of Southern California, Yale University, and California
State University at Fresno. As a trombonist, he has studied with
Terry Cravens, John Swallow, Larry Sutherland, Byron Peebles,
Ralph Sauer, and David Taylor. His piano teachers included Kevin
FitzGerald, Elizabeth Sawyer-Parisot, and the late Philip
Lorenz. Before coming to Virginia Tech Crone was a visiting
assistant professor of music at Humboldt State University in
Arcata, California.
Lynn Bernhardt, Principal Timpani
,
is an associate
member of the percussion section of the Metropolitan Opera
Orchestra. He performs with other musical organizations in the
New York metropolitan area, including the New York City Opera
Orchestra, the Opera Orchestra of New York, and the Long Island
Philharmonic. Mr. Bernhardt has also performed with the
American Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Lukes, the
Bard Festival Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. He is the
Principal Timpanist and Percussionist of the Wintergreen Festival
Orchestra in Wintergreen, Virginia.
Al Wojtera, Principal Percussion
,
is Chair of the Music
Department at Radford University. He has served as the Director of
