The Shenandoah Conservatory Trombone Collective recently performed at the Eastern Trombone Workshop at Towson University along with the Peabody Conservatory Trombone Ensemble and the University of Maryland Trombone Ensemble. The collective also presented a fall concert at Shenandoah University during the Mid-Atlantic Trombone Alliance event with guest artist and Eastman School of Music trombone professor Mark Kellogg, a performance with a concert series at Rock Spring Church in Arlington, Virginia, and a performance at Shenandoah Conservatory’s Brass Day in November. The ensemble also performed at the Shenandoah University annual Holiday Gala. The group consists of 14 select trombonists from the conservatory. Brett Davey ’20 (Bachelor of Music in Music Education) and Noah Flanigan ’21 (Bachelor of Music in Music Education) are also assistant conductors.
Tyler Thompson ’21 (Master of Music in Performance) performed with the Franklin Parker Big Band and with the 8th Division Civil War Band.
Mason Duplissie ’21 (Master of Music in Performance) was a clinician for the West Virginia All-State Auditions Clinic with the 249th Army Band in West Virginia, of which he is a member.
David Humbertson ’22 (Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance) is a member of the Loudoun Symphony and he performed with the symphony in October and November.
The graduate trombone quartet The Valley Bones performed at Patriot High School in Nokesville, Virginia; the Shenandoah Young Artist Series in Charles Town, West Virginia; and at the Middleburg Christmas Festival in Middleburg, Virginia.
Director of Brass Studies and Trombone Artist-in-Residence Matthew Niess, D.M.A., performed and presented clinics with the Smithsonian Masterworks Orchestra in Hong Kong at the Freespace Jazz Festival with Hubert Laws; in Beijing at The Blue Note; and in Tokyo at the International Forum with Kurt Elling and the Kandajogakuen Junior / Senior High School. In December, Niess also performed at the Kennedy Center Honors Awards gala with his band BackStage, the American Festival Pops Orchestra Holiday Show at the Hylton Center and George Mason Center for the Arts, and with his group the Capitol Bones as it presented “A Stan Kenton Christmas” at Union Stage in Washington, D.C. The National Jazz Workshop All-Star Jazz Orchestra, a youth program that Niess directs, performed at Jammin’ Java, George Mason University and Union Stage. Along with Harrison Endowed Chair in Piano, Director of Jazz Studies and Associate Professor of Jazz Piano Robert Larson ’08, D.M.A., Niess also hosted several student jam sessions at Kava Java on the Old Town Winchester walking mall.
