JAMES ACKLEY

James Ackley is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and has had numerous solo appearances with orchestras, wind ensembles and chamber groups in the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile, among other countries. Mr. Ackley has also performed as a recitalist in South America, North America and throughout Europe. On a recent tour of Venezuela, critics called James "one of the best trumpet players in the world." James Ackley is currently under Andes International Management.
James received his B.M. from Baldwin-Wallace College and his M.M. from the Cleveland School of Music. His D.M.A. is currently in progress at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. At this present time, Mr. Ackley is Professor of Applied Trumpet Studies at the University of Connecticut. He is also director of the Brass Department and conductor of both the UConn Trumpet Ensemble and the UConn Brass Choir. Previously he has held positions as principal trumpet and soloist with orchestras such as the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, and many Orchestras in Mexico including the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra and the Querétaro Philharmonic. He has also performed with the Dayton Philharmonic, The Northern Kentucky Symphony, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, the Youngstown Philharmonic, the New Britain Symphony and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
While a member of the Bogotá Philharmonic, James founded the National Trumpet Conference in Colombia. This Conference was held for the first time in April 2001. He has also performed with the Dayton Philharmonic, other orchestras in the Cleveland area and served as assistant principal trumpet of the Youngstown Symphony. As a member of the Youngstown Symphony he also served on the adjunct faculty staff at the Youngstown State University-Dana School of Music and performed throughout the mid-west with the faculty brass quintet.
James has recorded various CDs with the orchestras mentioned above as well as numerous television, radio and movie scores. He has performed with musicians such as Enrique de Patron, Placido Domingo, Fito Paez, James Levin, Zubin Mehta, and Jah-Jah Ling. Mr. Ackley has appeared as a guest artist on the "Music for Everyone" program of the Bogotá Philharmonic and on Venezuelan National Television.
Prof. Ackley has also branched out into the arranging field, where his arrangements of Latin American music for Brass Quintet with optional percussion are available through Solid Brass Music Publishing Co. (www.sldbrass.com) and the Hidalgo Music Co. (www.hidalgomusic.com). James maintains an active performance schedule, playing recitals in Universities and public outlets throughout the U.S. as well as performing with groups such as the New Haven Symphony and the Constitution Brass Quintet.

TODD CRAVEN

Todd Craven is currently Principal Trumpet of the Florida West Coast Symphony and the Florida Brass Quintet. A prizewinner in the Ellsworth
Smith International Trumpet Competition, as well as First Prize winner of the International Trumpet Guild Solo Competition, Todd has performed with
the New York Philharmonic and the Cincinnati Symphony. In addition, Todd has participated in summer festivals such as the National Repertory
Orchestra, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra and the A.I.M.S. Festival Orchestra in Graz,Austria. Todd received the B.M. from the University of
Michigan under Armando Ghitalla and his M.M. from Indiana University where he studied with Charles Gorham and Steven Burns. Todd performs in Trio per Due with his wife Laurie in Lithuania and Germany, with upcoming concerts
scheduled in Florida.

LARRY BIRD

Larry Bird has been bass trombonist with the San Antonio Symphony since 1981, and has also performed and recorded with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Summit Brass, Grand Tetons Festival orchestra, Pennsylvania ballet and the Philadelphia Opera orchestras.
Originally from southern California, his teachers included Jeffrey Reynolds and Roger Bobo. Larry graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Dee Stewart and Glenn Dodson.

COLIN WILLIAMS

Colin Williams has begun his appointment with the Atlanta Symphony Orchetra as the new Principal Trombone this season. Prior to this he played three seasons as Principal Trombone with the San Antonio Symphony. Colin took a strong interest in music in high school when under the instruction of Douglas Wright. He continued his studies in New York with David Finlayson at the Manhattan School of Music and Joseph Alessi at the Juilliard School. He was selected to participate in the Music Academy of the West and as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. Colin has won several solo competitions, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra Youth concerto competition, the Juilliard concerto competition, and the IWBC 2000 trombone competiton. He has appeared as soloist with the Boston Symphony, the Juilliard Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony, and the U.S. Military Academy Band. Colin has enjoyed spending the last two summers playing with the Grand Tetom Music Festival Orchestra

ERIC BUBACZ

Eric Bubacz was born March 17th, 1971 and bred in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. In 1989, he graduated from the Donegal High School and immediately enrolled for three years to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. During that time, he toured professionally with Keith Brion and his New Sousa Band and with the Eastman Wind Ensemble in Japan. In 1991, his brass quintet placed second in the New York Brass Conference's Quintet Competition.
He then transferred to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he remained for the following three years and received a Bachelor of Music Degree in May of 1995. In 1993 his quintet at Curtis, the Philadelphia Brass Works, also placed second in the New York Brass Conference's Quintet Competition. During his stay in Philadelphia he was seen with many fine Philadelphia and New Jersey ensembles, such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Concerto Soloists and Haddonfield Symphony, where he held the principal tuba position from 1992 to 1997. During his summers he has participated with the National Repertory Orchestra in 1993, the Rencontres Musicales d'Evian in 1994, the Sully Music Festival also in 1994, the Centre d'Arts Orford with a scholarship in 1995 and the Harmony Ridge Brass Seminar in 1995 and 1996. In 1996, he won second prize at the international tuba solo competition while at the Colonial Euphonium and Tuba Institute. He attended the Festival of Art and Musical Excellence in New Jersey on a full scholarship in 1995.
In May of 1996, he was appointed principal tuba with the Reading Symphony Orchestra. During the 1996-1997 school year, he also began the first year of a Master's Degree at the Peabody Conservatory while continuing his position with the Haddonfield Symphony and commenced his duties with the Reading Symphony. While in his first semester at Peabody, he performed alongside his professor, David Fedderly at Philadelphia's All-Star Brass strike concert. Later in the first semester, he toured the south west states with the Cornerstone Chorale and Brass. Immediately after his return, he was asked to perform in Shira's Festival Orchestra - "A Classical Winter in Jerusalem" during the Holiday breaks of both 1996 and 1997. For the International Tuba Day '97 at Millersville University (PA), Eric was asked to give a clinic and a recital for its festivities. In the summer of 1997, he performed throughout Europe as the principal tubaist of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and was the first tuba player ever in the history of this festival to win its chamber music prize from his performance of Tomasi's Etre ou ne pas etre. He is regularly utilized as an extra/substitute with Pittsburgh Symphony and has toured extensively with them and the River City Brass Band.
During the summer of 1998, he performed in the Philadelphia Insatiate of Brass Studies, an intensive orchestral program with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. In September of 1998, he was named the principal tubaist of the Canton, OH Symphony. In June of 2000, he placed first tuba in the International Women's Brass Conference solo competition. He then began as a member of Cleveland Orchestra's Blossom Festival Band in the summer of 2000 and has also been a substitute/extra with the Cleveland Orchestra since then. In November 2001, Eric replaced Sumner Erickson as the tuba player of Pittsburgh Symphony Brass and recorded a CD with them which was just released in October 2002; Cantate Hodie - Sing Forth this Day. Eric performs regularly in many musical groups in a multi-state area around Pittsburgh, PA, his residence.