Virtual ITG Meet the Experts June 4th-5th, 2020
Pacho Flores was awarded First Prize in the “Maurice André” International Contest, the most renowned trumpet Contest in the world, as well as First Prize in the “Philip Jones” International Contest and First Prize in the “Cittá di Porcia” International contest. Trained in the marvelous Orchestra System for Youth and Children in Venezuela, he received top recognition for his performances, recitals, and recordings as a soloist.
Capable of managing classical or popular styles indistinctively, Pacho Flores adds to his captivating interpretations a great deal of energy tinged with the most beautiful instrumental colors. As a soloist, he has performed with various orchestras and given recitals and masterclasses around the world. He has also held principal trumpet positions in various orchestras and is a founding member of the Simon Bolivar brass quintet.
Flores is extremely keen on promoting Contemporary Music and does so providing important contributions by means of the performance and interpretation of his instrument. His repertoire includes several commissions and premieres of works by both established and up and coming composers. He embodies the music he plays in both his live performances and his solo albums.
Karl Sievers was born in Boston, MA and grew up in Louisville, KY. His major teachers were Delbert Hoon, Leon Rapier, Louis Davidson, and most especially William Adam. Karl studied at Indiana University, where he was Mr. Adam’s associate instructor during his graduate degrees.
Karl’s performance career has been varied and rich, including many years of live TV, daily recording sessions, lead trumpet on many Broadway shows, chamber music, brass quintets, the Cincinnati Ballet orchestra, and for the past 21 years and counting, principal trumpet in the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
Additionally, Karl is a Presidential Professor of Excellence in the Arts at the School of Music at the University of Oklahoma. His students have won many national competitions, are in premiere military bands, in symphony orchestras, Broadway show pit orchestras, and teaching in public schools and in Universities around the world.
Jeff Purtle has given recitals in England, Wales, Scotland and the USA. He has spoken at the International Trumpet Guild Conference and hosted his own conferences. Jeff’s brass students are in all branches of the United States military, band directors, and players in the San Francisco Symphony, Charlotte NC Symphony, Greenville Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Augusta Symphony, Aiken Symphony, Jacksonville FL Symphony, and UK and Chinese orchestras. Some are touring in the USA, UK and Europe. Jeff was personally certified by master teacher and author Claude Gordon and studied ten years with him. Jeff’s ebook “Hit it Hard & Wish It Well” is published in the Apple Books Store and his website purtle.com is known as the most complete presentation of Claude Gordon’s teaching with a new free audio library of over 70 lectures and lessons.
John McNeil was born in 1948 in Northern California. At the age of 10 he taught himself to play the trumpet by listening to records, eventually going to music school and finally moving to New York in the early 70s. He became part of the New York jazz scene and in 1978 recorded his first album as a leader. He has been recording and gigging with his own groups ever since, embraced by critics and jazz fans alike. Unlike some jazz artists, John continued to evolve and re-invent himself musically. As a result, he is at home playing everything from post-bop to free jazz with no rhythmic or harmonic boundaries.
John’s friendship with Carmine Caruso actually saved his playing career more than once. His career has been interrupted several times by neuromuscular disease. The first time it happened, Carmine felt that efficiency was the answer and showed John how to get the most out of the physical resources he still had. Carmine was right and John made a successful comeback. Carmine passed in 1987, but John now had a blueprint for dealing with future challenges.
John McNeil also works as a composer, arranger and producer and is currently on the jazz faculty of New England Conservatory.
Roy Poper has for more than 30 years maintained an active performing career of a breadth rare among musicians. His engagements span every facet of trumpet performance including symphonic principal player (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and L.A. Opera), film studio work (over 500 major motion pictures), chamber music (founding member, The Modern Brass Quintet), and “popular” genres including jazz ensembles, Broadway shows, and even recordings with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.
Equally respected as a teacher, he was for more than 20 years a member of the faculty of the University of Southern California School of Music prior to moving to Oberlin, OH in 2002 to assume the duties of Associate Professor of Trumpet at the Oberlin Conservatory. His book, Roy Poper’s Guide to the Brasswind Methods of James Stamp (Balquhidder Music), which serves as a companion to James Stamp Warm-ups and Studies (Editions BIM) has become an acclaimed addition to the trumpet method-book literature, thoroughly explaining how to execute and effeciently utilize James Stamps’ teaching methods.
He continues to be in demand as a performer, performing frequently in the greater Cleveland Area and Los Angeles. He has commissioned numerous works, some of which appear on his forthcoming CD, L.A. Trumpet Works. Roy has been recorded on the Crystal, Orion, Nonesuch, and Dorian labels.
Roger Rocco is the former Principal Tuba of the Honolulu and Seattle Symphony Orchestras, and has taught at Northwestern University, VanderCook College of Music, Western Michigan University, and several other colleges and universities. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, notably on their Grammy-award-winning recording of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique under Sir Georg Solti. He was a longtime student of Arnold Jacobs and continues Jacobs’ legacy of pedagogical excellence. He gives regular summer courses at VanderCook on brass pedagogy, has given joint seminars alongside Brian Frederiksen based around Mr. Frederiksen’s “Arnold Jacobs Almost Live” presentations, was a contributor to Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind, and has published numerous articles in The Instrumentalist magazine. His students are members of premiere orchestras and bands throughout the country and the world.