Dr. Glenn D. Price

Dr. Glenn D. Price has become recognized as one of the leading conductors of his generation. The performances from tours, recordings and broadcasts of his ensembles from Calgary such as the University of Calgary Wind Ensemble, Calgary Youth Orchestra and Calgary Wind Orchestra have received tremendous critical acclaim.

The University of Calgary Wind Ensemble is particularly notable for its accomplishments. In addition to its four CD recordings on the Unical and Arktos labels, this ensemble has been invited by the CBC to record for broadcast performances of notable premiers. The U of C Wind Ensemble has appeared regularly as guest performers at major festivals including the opening and closing ceremonies of the Esther Honens International Piano Competition as well as the major national music festivals in Canada and the biennial Conferences of CBDNA and WASBE.

Dr. Price is a very active conductor on the international scene as well, having conducted professional and student orchestras and wind ensembles throughout North America as well as in Europe, England, Israel and Japan.

As a percussionist, he has performed with the Calgary Philharmonic, New Works Calgary, Canadian Opera Company, National Ballet, Eastman-Dryden Orchestra, Alberta Theatre Projects and Alberta Ballet, as well as appearing as a soloist and recitalist. His performances have been heard on radio, television, recordings and film.

Following Master's and Doctoral degrees at the Eastman School of Music, Dr. Price completed post-doctoral studies in conducting at the Toho School of Music in Japan and at the Tanglewood Music Centre in Massachusetts as well as in Europe and Russia. He is the Director of the Graduate Diploma Program in Wind Conducting and Professor of conducting and percussion at the University of Calgary.

Dr. Reed Thomas

    Dr. Reed Thomas is an Associate Professor of Music and the Director of Bands at Middle Tennessee State University where he conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and University Chamber Winds, teaches undergraduate courses in conducting and instrumental methods, graduate courses in conducting and wind and orchestral repertoire, and guides all aspects of MTSU band program.  He is the founding conductor of the Three Rivers Wind Symphony, a professional group of wind and percussion players from Northeast Indiana and was the Conductor of the Littleton Chamber Winds in Littleton, Colorado from 1997-99. 

Prior to his appointment at MTSU, Thomas held similar positions as the Director of Instrumental Studies at Indiana-Purdue University Ft. Wayne in Indiana and as the Director of Bands at Adams State College in Colorado.  He also has served as the Assistant Director of the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band and Conductor of the North Star Band at the University of Minnesota.  Prior to Minnesota, he was Director of Bands for seven years at two public high schools in Utah. 

A native of Colorado, Thomas received his Ph.D. in Music with an emphasis in conducting from the University of Minnesota and both his Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Music Education from the University of Utah.  He has studied with such noted conductors as Craig Kirchhoff, Frederick Fennell, Alan McMurray, Loel Hepworth, Donald Schleicher, Tim Salzman, and John Whitwell.  He is also an active performer on clarinet most recently playing clarinet and bass clarinet with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.  He is retired from the US Army National Guard where he served for over 20 years as a conductor, clarinet and saxophone player.  His groups have been invited to perform at the Colorado, Minnesota, and Utah Music Educators conventions and he maintains an active schedule as a band, orchestra, and chamber ensemble conductor and clinician throughout the United States and Korea.  For the past two years,  Thomas has been an adjudicator at the prestigious Korean Band Association festival in Chuncheon and Gumi, Korea and will serve in that capacity again in 2004.  He has also been a guest conductor for the Soonshil Conservatory Wind Ensemble in Seoul, Korea, the Mokwon University Wind Ensemble in Taejon, Korea, and was featured as a guest conductor/clinician at the International Summer Band Festival in Jeju, Korea.

He is a member of the College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association, the Conductors Guild, Music Educators National Conference, Middle Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Kappa Kappa Psi.

THOMAS E. VERRIER

             Thomas E. Verrier is Director of Wind Studies and Associate Professor of Music at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music.  He serves as artistic director and conductor of the Vanderbilt Wind Ensembles and coordinator of the school’s five-year program in teacher education.  His duties include teaching both undergraduate and graduate level courses in conducting and education. 

Dr. Verrier is an active conductor and clinician who has been praised for his artistic approach as well as his pedagogical knowledge.  He is especially known for his creative programming, balancing both traditional and contemporary literature, as well as for his special interest in the commissioning of new music.  Dr. Verrier has won critical acclaim from composers such as Karel Husa, David Maslanka, Donald Grantham, Frank Ticheli, Loris Chobanian, and David Caffey for his interpretive conducting of their compositions.  His ensembles have performed at conferences of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), the North American Saxophone Alliance, the California Association for Music Education, and the International Society for Music Education (Tenerife, Canary Islands—summer 2004).  Dr. Verrier has conducted ensembles throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Spain (2004).  As an arranger, Dr. Verrier has won critical acclaim for his setting of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for wind band, which is published by Warner Bros. He also authored an article on the evolution of the scoring of the piece that was published in WindWorks, A Journal for the Contemporary Wind Band.  Dr. Verrier has presented lectures at the CBDNA

National Conference in Austin, Texas, the College Music Society in Tucson, Arizona, and the California Association for Music Education. 

 Recognized for his leadership in the field of wind ensembles, Dr. Verrier is an active member of the College Band Directors National Association.  He served three terms as CBDNA State Chair in California and currently serves as Chair of the CBDNA “New Era Think Tank,” a group of forward-minded conductors that serve in shaping the organization’s national agenda.

 Dr. Verrier holds a Bachelor of Music in Trombone Performance and Music Education from Ithaca College, a Master of Music in Instrumental Conducting from California State University, Long Beach, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Instrumental Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder.  His teachers include Allan McMurray, Rodney Winther, and Larry Curtis, and he has studied in master classes with John Bourgeois, Eugene Migliaro Corporon, Stanley Derusha, Donald Hunsberger, Craig Kerchief, H. Robert Reynolds, and Larry Rachleff.  Prior to joining the Blair faculty, Dr. Verrier served as Director of Bands at California State University, Los Angeles and taught public school in California and Colorado.

Geoff Collinson (Horn)

Geoff Collinson began his studies on the horn in Melbourne in 1979. In 1993 he moved to Canberra to study with Hector Mc Donald, one of Australia's finest brass musicians who is currently principal horn of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. From 1983- 1988 Geoff was a member of the Canberra Horn Consort and performed as a guest with many of Australia's premier orchestras.

 In 1990, Geoff was awarded the position of Principal horn with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, a position he held until 2000. During this time he was also guest principal horn of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

In 2000 Geoff left orchestral life and Sydney to pursue his two great loves, teaching and chamber music (as well as his third great love, wife, Zoe Knighton). He now holds a position as Head of Brass at the Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne. Geoff was invited to be a resident at the Banff Centre for Performing Arts in Alberta, Canada for the Winter Program in 2003.

Kunihiko Komori

Kunihiko Komori is an active performer in and outside of Japan, who has successfully  placed marimba along the tradition of the mainstream western music, programming only the literature composed exclusively for the instrument. All over the world, he has premiered works written for marimba in solo, chamber, and concerto settings. In 2004, Mr. Komori was invited to Wittener Tage fur neue Kammermusik 2004, and at WDR-Funkhaus Koln and Internationale Ferienkurse fur Nue Musik in Darmstadt for the premiere performances composed by Toshio Hosokawa, and in Japan he also world premiered “Illusion of the Forest” for marimba and string orchestra by Hiroyuki Ito at Takefu International Music Festival where he regularly appears especially for contemporary composers’ portrait concerts such as Roger Reynolds. Mr. Komori was the first marimbist selected to perform at the Tokyo Opera City for its “B to C (Bach to Contemporary) Recital Series” and has participated in the second World Marimba Festival, Osaka, as a guest recitalist. His performance of Toshio Hosokawa’ “Reminiscence” can be heard in a CD released by Fontec titled “Sound Space IX - Works of Toshio Hosokawa”. Mr. Komori frequently appears in master classes in and outside of Japan, giving lectures not only to percussionists but to composers as well, in order to promote the understanding of modern music for marimba. The highlights of upcoming season include the world-premiere concert dedicated to him by the composers’ association “First Performance” in New York, United States and releasing his first solo CD by Fontec.

Mr. Komori has already won many awards, including the first prize in the Crane New Music Festival competition and the Individual Artist Award in Instrumental Performance from the Maryland State Arts Council and was selected as one of marimbists from across the world to perform at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention 2000. Mr. Komori received Bachelors degree from Eastman School of Music with the Performer’s Certificate. Mr. Komori

also completed his Master’s degree and Graduate Performance Diploma program at Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University.

Kunihiko Komori is a performing artist for Vic Firth Inc. and Pearl Corporation and performs on an Adams marimba exclusively.

Denson Paul Pollard (Bass Trombone)

Denson Paul Pollard began as bass trombonist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2001. Pollard has played with the Chicago Symphony, the Houston Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony. He has also been the bass trombonist of the Cedar Rapids and Illinois Symphony Orchestras, and the principal trombonist of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra. His teachers have included Charles Vernon, Joseph Alessi, David Gier, George Krem and Jim Roberts.

During 2000, Pollard was Professor of Trombone at the University of Northern Iowa, and recently received his Doctorate of Music in Performance and Pedagogue from the University of Iowa. Dr. Pollard currently teaches at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

As a commercial musician, Pollard has played with numerous shows, including tours with the revival of Showboat, the off-Broadway production of Annie, an 18-month tour with Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Music of the Night, and the 2000 Barry Manilow Concert Tour.

Pollard is an active soloist and has performed in numerous solo recitals. Highlights include being a prize-winner and the only brass player finalist at the 1997 St. Louis Symphony Young Artists Solo Competition. In the same year, he performed Ellen Taafe Zwillich’s Concerto for Bass Trombone, Strings, Timpani and Cymbals with the University of Iowa Chamber Orchestra. In July 2000, Pollard became the first bass trombonist to ever play a concerto with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, after becoming the first bass trombone player to be invited to compete in the Ima Hogg-Houston Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. During the summer of 2001, he appeared as Guest Soloist with the West Point Military Academy Band at the Alessi Seminar in Nyack, New York. Pollard has recently released his first solo CD entitled Up From Below, available at www.cdbaby.com/dppollard.

A big band enthusiast, Dr. Pollard recently published an article in the journal of the International Trombone Association on the first bass trombone player in big band jazz, Bart Varselona.

He and his wife Karen, a teacher at the International Christian School, are active in their church, the Kowloon International Baptist Church.

Kenneth Tse (Saxophone)

Recognized as one of the leading young saxophonists in the world, Kenneth Tse [cheh] has been called "a brilliant saxophonist," and "worthy of any stage in the world" by his former teacher, world-renowned saxophonist and pedagogue, Eugene Rousseau. French saxophone master Jean-Marie Londeix praised his playing with these words, "I appreciate particularly the quality of the tone, the perfect tuning, and the musical intelligence..."

Upon his 1996 Carnegie Hall debut The New York Times heralded Tse as "a young virtuoso." The Herald Times described his playing as "virtuosic brilliance" with a "beauteous, ever-so-smooth voice."   The Saxophone Journal observed, "Every aspect of saxophone performance has been refined to the 'nth' degree: His ability to bring out the lyricism of any line no matter how active or convoluted is breath taking." And the Fanfare magazine praised, "Hong Kong-born Kenneth Tse is of the caliber of instrumentalists whose very sound is captivating." American Record Guide echoed with, "supremely elegant tone...sheer virtuosity."

As a Yamaha Performing Artist and Vandoren endorsed artist, Tse is an active international performer and clinician.   He has appeared as a soloist with the Des Moines Symphony, United States Navy Band, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia, Indiana University Wind Ensemble, Baylor University Wind Ensemble, Emory University Wind Ensemble, Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, University of Iowa Symphony Band and Symphony Orchestra, among others.   He has also given master classes/lectures at major universities and conferences, such as the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinics, in the United States and abroad.

Recent event highlights include: Guest soloist with the US Navy Band, featured solo performance at the 2006 NASA conference, guest professor at the 7th Faenza International Saxophone Festival in Italy, Recital at XingHai Concert Hall in GuangZhou, China, solo performance with Eugene Rousseau and the UI Symphony Band at the IBA conference in Des Moines, IA, featured guest artist at the Melbourne International Festival of Single Reed, Guest clinician at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Conference,Featured soloist at the 13th Asia & Pacific Band Festival in Jeju, Korea. Guest recital and master class at the 2004 Changchun International Clarinet and Saxophone Festival in China. The first classical saxophone recital/master class tour in Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

An active recording artist, Tse has released seven critically acclaimed commercial solo recordings on Crystal Records, RIAX Records, Enharmonic Records and Arizona University Recordings.
Paul Wagner, a critic of his recordings, wrote, "Kenneth Tse has established himself to be an outstanding saxophone artist.   His control over the instrument is incredible allowing material that seems impossible to sound like child's play.... the staccato notes are clear and clean points of sound and never sound rushed regardless of the tempo. The most exciting aspect of Kenneth Tse is the level of intensity he maintains throughout the performance. He takes the notes and creates a musical fantasy that engulfs the listener's imagination for the duration of the performance."

An advocate for new music, Tse has had many works dedicated to him.   They include saxophone concertos, sonatas, solo works, and chamber music by David DeBoor Canfield, John Cheetham, David Froom, Perry Goldstein, Ketty Nez, and Leonard Mark Lewis.   Tse has also premiered solo and chamber works by the famed Czech composer Jindrich Feld, whose music has become his specialty.

Kenneth Tse has received numerous awards and grants including the prestigious Hong Kong Jockey Club scholarship, New York Music Performance Trust Fund, Indiana University Marcel Mule Scholarship, Barlow Commission Fund (2003 and 2004), as well as an honorary life membership from the Contemporary Record Society.  As a winner of the Artists International Competition, Tse gave his acclaimed debut recital at the Carnegie Hall.  He made another appearance at Carnegie after receiving the Alex Award from the National Alliance for Excellence.

Tse is currently the professor of saxophone at the University of Iowa and serves as the Membership Director for the North American Saxophone Alliance. He holds degrees from Indiana University (BM, MM and AD) and Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and is finishing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Illinois; additional study is with Debra Richtmeyer.    He was the first saxophonist to receive the prestigious Artist Diploma from the Indiana University School of Music, and was the youngest winner of the saxophone concerto competition. His saxophone arrangements are published through Reed Music in Australia. His articles have been featured in the Saxophone Journal, Saxophone Symposium, Iowa Bandmaster Association Journal and Yamaha Education Series.