VELVET BROWN

Velvet Brown enjoys a professional career as an international soloist and chamber ensemble performer, recording artist, conductor and orchestral player. She has made appearances throughout Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Finland, France, England, Hungary, Russia, Japan, Canada and the United States. Ms. Brown has served as principal tubist with the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra from 1989-1999, and as substitute or additional tubist with the Detroit Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, San Francisco Women's Philharmonic Orchestra and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. She has also garnered high praise as a founding and current member of the Monarch Brass Quintet and Brass Ensemble, and the Junction Tuba Quartet.
Velvet Brown will start her appointment as professor of tuba and euphonium at the Pennsylvania State University in Fall 2003. Prior to joining the faculty at Penn State, she taught at Bowling Green State University (Ohio), Ball State University (Indiana), and served as an associate director of University Bands at Boston University. Currently, Ms. Brown is serving as the secretary of the Executive Committee and the Journal Program Editor for the International Tuba and Euphonium Association (ITEA), and she is also a board member of the International Women's Brass Conference. Ms. Brown is noted for receiving the 1999-2000 William Fulbright Fellowship Vinciguerra Award.
She has released two solo CDs ("Velvet" and "Music for Velvet") on the Crystal Records label, a CD for the Nicolai Music Label performing music by the award winning composer Neal Corwell. Velvet Brown can also be heard on the soon to be released Bowling Green Philharmonia's "Composer's Voice - Volume IV" recording (Albany) in her interpretation of John William's Tuba Concerto.

PERCUSSION PLUS PROJECT

The Percussion Plus Project (PPP) is a unique contemporary chamber music ensemble which focuses on an unusual and exciting repertoire that is little-known to general audiences. Their programs consist of works for percussion and another solo instrument. No other ensemble devotes itself solely to this repertoire. Many of the works performed by the Percussion Plus were composed especially for them.
The PPP was founded in 1993 in Prague, Czech Republic, by Amy Lynn Barber, who was professor of percussion at the Prague Conservatory and a major catalyst in percussion and contemporary music in the Czech Republic from 1989-1995. From 1993-2000, the core ensemble was composed of outstanding central European percussionists, and some of the best musical artists from those countries have performed with the group as guest soloists. Now, as ensemble-in-residence at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, where Barber is the new Dean of the School of Music, the core percussion group has been re-constituted with American percussionists. The list of invited guest soloists, however, remains international.
The percussionists of the PPP involved in the program for the IWBC 2003 are the leader of the group, Amy Lynn Barber, Jimmy Finnie - Associate Professor of Percussion at Indiana University, and Craig Paré - Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands ad DePauw University.

DAN PERANTONI

Dan or “M. P” as his students call him is a legendary tuba artist, teacher and pedagogue as well as a trailblazer in a variety of genres including work as a sol recitalist, chamber musician and even jazz. He was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the executive board of T.U.B.A. A true legion of former students holds prestigious positions in major performing ensembles and music schools around the world. Their success is the best testimony to his abilities as a teacher, mentor, and friend. He is cited as a “tubist’s tubist,” featuring his playing a “lyrical, clear, and singing tone, along with his impeccable musical style.” Daniel Perantoni has been a featured artist in Carnegie Hall, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Spoleto Festival U.S.A., the Adelaide Festival in Australia, the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, the Montreux Brass Congress in Switzerland, and recently as a soloist throughout Japan. He is a founding member of the Summit Brass, a member of Symphonia, the St. Louis Brass Quintet, and the Matteson-Phillips Tubajazz Consort and has released numerous solo albums and chamber music CD’s. Along with Robert Tucci, he has designed the “Perantucci” line of low brass instruments and mouthpieces that has become the equipment choice of thousands of low brass players worldwide. He also serves as the vice-president of educational matters and consultant/clinician for Custom Music Company.

DEANNA SWOBODA

As a solo performer, educator, and recording artist, Deanna Swoboda tours around the United States, uniting people of all ages through music. She serves as adjunct faculty at UNLV, Las Vegas. Since 2000, Ms. Swoboda has been a full time member of the internationally renowned Dallas Brass. As a video artist for Silver Burdette-Ginn and tuba artist for C.G. Conn, Deanna shares her talents in schools across the country, performing "Brass Rap" and motivational workshops for music students. As a Summit recording artist, Ms. Swoboda's solo CD entitled "Deanna's Wonderland" is available through Summitrecords.com.
Ms. Swoboda earned degrees in Tuba Performance from Northwestern University and University of Idaho. She currently resides in Tempe, AZ.