Shelagh Abate, french horn

Born on Long Island NY, Shelagh completed her musical studies in New England.  After finishing her BA at Boston College, she went on to receive her MM at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and her GD at The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where she studied with Gus Sebring.  Shelagh spent 5 years as a busy and versatile freelance musician in the Boston area performing with the Boston Pops, Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, The John Allmark Jazz Orchestra, the Greg Hopkins Nonet, and all of New England's regional orchestras.  Shelagh has held the position of Principal Horn with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Jaime Laredo, since 1999.  She is also Principal of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra and City Music Cleveland, directed by James Gaffigan.  In 2005 Shelagh moved home to NY, where she was hired into the original Broadway orchestra of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White and has been freelancing in NY ever since.  She currently performs regularly on many Broadway shows, including Mary Poppins, The Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked.  Shelagh has made several television appearances with Barry Manilow, including A&E's Live! by Request, Good Morning America, and a PBS special set to air this fall.  In addition, Shelagh can be heard on Trey Anastasio's self-titled solo CD on Elektra Records and has performed live with Barry Manilow, Ian Anderson, Linda Ronstadt, Olivia Newton John, and many other noted artists.

Stephen Banzaert, trumpet

Since receiving his Master's degree from the New England Conservatory, Steve has been an active freelancer in the Boston Area, serving as principal trumpet of the New Bedford Symphony and performing regularly with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Emmanuel Music, Portland, Albany, and Vermont Symphonies, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and as acting principal trumpet of the Singapore Symphony.  As a two-time recipient of a trumpet fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he was awarded the Roger Voisin Trumpet Prize, Steve performed under conductors including Seiji Ozawa, Andre Previn, James DePriest and James Conlon, and presented recitals as a member of the Tanglewood Music Center Brass Quintet.  As a soloist, Steve has performed with the Concord Chorale, Rome Symphony, and Georgia Philharmonic, has recently completed several performances of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, and performed Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Trumpets with the Vivaldi Orchestra in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's New Year's Concert.  In his copious spare time Steve teaches engineering classes at MIT and is on the faculty of Hampshire College, where he teaches electromechanics.

Wesley Hopper, trombone

Wesley studied at the Boston Conservatory under the tutelage of Larry Isaacson.  He performs regularly with many local ensembles including the New Hampshire Symphony, Old South Brass, the Vermont Symphony and the Melrose Symphony.  As a soloist he has performed both the Wagenseil and Larson concertos with the Boston Invitational Chamber Orchestra and as quintet soloist with the New York Pops.  As principal trombonist of the Boston Metropolitan Orchestra, Wesley has appeared with Arturo Sandoval and Maynard Ferguson.  His extensive chamber music experience has involved him with many of the country's finest chamber coaches including the Atlantic Brass Quintet, Bibi Black, David Ohanian, Wynton Marsalis and James Jenkins.  As a freelance copyist Wesley has worked with the Boston Pops Orchestra and numerous artists including Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross, Mandy Patinkin, Ricky Martin, Linda Eder and the Chieftains. 

Andrew Sorg, trumpet

Andrew is an active freelancer in the Boston area and has performed with various orchestras such as The Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, The Indian Hill Symphony, Emmanuel Music of Boston, The New Bedford Symphony, The Berkshire Symphony and The New Hampshire Symphony.  While at Tanglewood he has performed under various conductors including Seiji Ozawa, Andre Previn, James Conlon, Hans Graf, Robert Spano and Roberto Abaddo.  As a chamber musician, he has performed with The Paramount Brass Quintet, The Atlantic Brass Quintet, The Boston Conservatory Faculty Brass Quintet and was a member of the 1998 New York Brass Conference Grand Prize winners, The Royal Brass Quintet. 

Jobey Wilson, tuba

Jobey Wilson's charismatic style of tuba playing has entertained audiences all over the United States, Canada, France and Japan.  Born & raised a prodigious golfer in Broken Arrow, OK, he retired his golf clubs at the age of 18 to pursue his new love of music.  After four crucial years with Oklahoma City Philharmonic tubist Ted L. Cox, Jobey completed his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Oklahoma and moved northeast to refine his skills with the legendary Chester Schmitz of the Boston Symphony.  Jobey earned his Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2001 and has since resided in Boston as a freelance performer and teacher.  As an orchestral musician he has performed under the batons of Seiji Ozawa, Michael Tilson Thomas, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, James Conlon, Roberto Abbado, and Gunther Schuller.  Jobey currently holds the principal tuba positions with the New Bedford Symphony, Hingham Symphony, Lexington Symphony and the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra.  He has also performed with the Boston Pops, Boston Ballet, Boston Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Portland Symphony (ME), New World Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Aspen Chamber Symphony. 

Triton, the first trumpeter

Son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphrite, a Nereid, Triton is depicted in Greek mythology as a mer-man, with the body of a man and tail of a dolphin.  Triton is credited, in mythology, with the invention of the trumpet, and would blow his conch shell both to announce the arrival of Poseidon and to control the waters in response to Poseidon's commands, blowing softly to soothe the waters and ease the passage of sailors, and blowing loudly to raise storms to smite those who offended Poseidon.