The Players  
 

Matthew Allison

Alto & Tenor Trombone, Bass Trumpet
Hometown: Christchurch, New Zealand
Member since: 2004

Matthew Allison was raised in a musical family in Christchurch, New Zealand. After forays into violin, piano and guitar he began trombone at the age of eight. He worked his way through regional youth orchestras and the National Youth Orchestra before beginning studies at Victoria University. During this time he worked frequently with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony and the Wellington Sinfonia. After one year at Victoria University, Matthew transferred to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he received his Bachelor’s degree under the guidance of Mark Lawrence. Matthew has since worked with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. He has also worked with the symphony orchestras of California, Monterey, Santa Cruz and Berkeley in the Bay Area and holds the position of Second Trombone with the Napa Valley Symphony. In 2004, Matthew won the Robert Marstellar Competition at the International Trombone Festival held in Ithaca, New York. He has previously won the Bernadette Richardson Instrumental Competition also. He has also placed second in the Pacific Chamber Symphony Concerto Competition (San Francisco) as well as the Wellington Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. In 2002, he toured Russia, Siberia, Armenia and the US as Principal Trombone of the Russian-American Young Artists’ Orchestra, a diplomatic initiative between the two countries. Matthew has appeared as a soloist with the Pacific Chamber Symphony, Christchurch Youth Orchestra and the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Symphony Orchestra and in 2003 was a recipient of an Arts Excellence Award from the Dame Malvina Major Foundation. His primary teachers include Mark Lawrence, Paul Welcomer, Marc Taddei, Karl Margevka and Paul Mayhew.

Chris Barnes

pic coming soon

Trumpet
Hometown: San Ramon
Member since: 2006

Chris  Barnes is a versatile trumpet player, crossing boundries of every possible style of music on a weekly basis.  In recent years he has played with Smash Mouth, Billy Preston, on the soundtrack to Sega Dreamcast Video Games NFL2K1 and The Phloigan Brothers, Cold Blood, Casino Royale, California Symphony-several performances, including on the soundtrack to the musical, Mountain Days, and with Diana Krall at the Concord Pavilion; Peninsula Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Masterworks Chorale; Berkeley and Fairfield Opera; Oakland, Sacramento, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Stockton, Modesto Symphonies.  He is a trumpet Understudy at Beach Blanket Babylon, and has played hundreds of  national touring and regional shows at Sacramento Musical Theater, Music Circus, Mountain Play, Woodminster Amphitheater, Saroyan Theater, Crossroads Theater, and the Regional Center for the Arts.  He has also played with Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, Mike Vax Big Band, Carma Big Band, Fazmania, Realistic Orchestra, Black Market Jazz Orchestra, Mood Swing Orchestra, and at the Jazz Festivals in  Montreaux, Umbria, Monterey, San Francisco, Fillmore, Concord, Santa Cruz and San Jose.

In his spare time Chris likes to spend time with his wife Chrsitine, there 3 cats-Cleatus, Cadence and Bubba, work on the house, get new piercings, pay the mortgage, and practice.

Matthew Brooks

Trumpet
Hometown: Toronto, Canada
Founding Member since: 2000
Email Matt

Marc Bolin

Bass Trombone & Tuba
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Founding Member since: 2000

Marc Bolin has performed with such organizations as the Guy Lombardo Orchestra, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey Orchestras, Carla Bley, the Virginia Beach Pops, Sheila E, Pete Escovedo, and the Ink Spots. Marc can be heard performing with the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orch, Oakland Opera, Realistic Orchestra, Avance, Paradigm Brass, Dream Kitchen, Joseph's Bones, Low-End Theory and the Mitch Marcus Quintet +13.

In addition to playing music, Marc is an experienced teacher and youth advocate who has worked with multicultural youth from diverse backgrounds at the elementary and high school levels in workshops and residencies stretching from one day to 10 months. His work as an arts-educator has included appointments throughout the Bay Area. He is also co-founder of Toones, After- school Music Enrichment program

www.music-enrichment.org.

Email Marc

Eric Garland

Drum Kit
Hometown: San Francisco
Member since: 2006
ERIC GARLAND  percussion (drum set). BA, Popstyles/Jazz Performance, SFSU. A Native of California, Eric has performed with Dave Leibman, Bobby McFerrin (with Brass Monkey Brass Band), Spencer Day, Will Bernard, Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, Mitch Marcus Quintet, 60’s icon Donovan and many more. Currently playing/writing with Realistic Orchestra, MarkStep Trio, Brass Monkey Brass Band, Joe Cohen Trio, The Lowdowns, Nick Rossi, and Karina Denike. More info at
www.myspace.com/ericgarland

Hall Goff

Tenor Trombone
Hometown: West Orange, New Jersey
Member since: 2002

Hall Goff, born and raised in NJ with three vital years in Wisconsin; B.A. from Oberlin college, studied with Thomas Cramer;  M.M. from Yale University school of music, studied with john swallow,  major music mentor was Otto Werner Meuller; S.F. ballet since 1977; S.F. contemporary music players since 1979; Paradigm Brass since 2003;  Prof. of trombone at Oberlin conservatory, 1982; some musical highlights include: Mexicali brass 1969-1970, New Haven Symphony, Wall St. brass quintet, Eastern Brass quintet, sub N.Y.C. ballet, Spoleto festival of two worlds 1974-1975, Macerata opera festival 1998, finalist New Orleans Symphony 1976, finalist Philadelphia Orchestra 1980. Performances with: John Lanchbery, Edo de Wart, Pierre Boulez, Kurt Masur, Lukas Foss, Thomas Schippers, Robert Shaw, Georg Solti, William Steinberg; performances behind:  Manhattan Transfer, Dihane Carroll, Vic Damone, Nelson Riddle, Frank Zappa, Ella Fitzgerald, John Pizzarelli (and more); occasionally recorded for film and T.V.   In his spare time Hall likes to spend time with his son, collect records, listen to jazz, tinker with things, make noise, teach, and spend time outdoors.
Email Hall

www.sfballet.org

John Hanes

Drum Kit
Hometown: San Francisco
Member since: 2006
Bio coming soon

Tyler Hornby

Drum Kit
Hometown: Calgary
Member since: 2006

 

Darren Johnston

Trumpet
Hometown: Ontario
Member since: 2007
Originally from Ontario, Canada, composer and
trumpeter Darren Johnston moved to San Francisco, CA in 1997, where he has been living ever since. As a performer, Johnston has performed, and/or recorded with such innovative musicians and composers as guitarist Fred Frith, clarinetist Don Byron, bassist Marcus Shelby, bassist Herbie Lewis, the ROVA
Saxophone Quartet, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, and others. He was recently listed last June by Downbeat Magazine as one of “25 Trumpeters of the Future.”

Johnston has received commissions to write for dance, most notably for the San Francisco based companies Robert Moses’s Kin, and Amy Seiwert's I'ij-re, but primarily he writes for his own various projects and those of others in which he participates, including new works for the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra. As a band leader Darren runs the Darren Johnston Quintet, Trio, and the United Brassworkers Front.

Jason Levis

Drum Kit & Percussion
Hometown: Virginia
Member since: 2005
Raised in Berkeley, CA, Jason began as a jazz and improvised music drummer, percussionist and composer.  His studies and love of composition led him to classical music after earning his BA from Naropa University in performance and improvisation.  His music has been performed extensively throughout the Bay Area, in concert halls, clubs, bars, cafes, museums and other art spaces, through his own ensembles, the Heftpistole Chamber Ensemble, the Walnut Chamber Ensemble, Duo B, Married Couple and Joseph’s Bones as well as featured in groups led by others, Four Flea Circus, Blowout and Noertker’s Moxie.  His music has also been performed by the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players and the Aaron Novik Chamber Ensemble.  He is currently working on a piece for the Worn Chamber Ensemble, led by bassist Richard Worn.  Jason is currently living, working, studying and playing in the Bay Area, performing with his own groups, drumming in numerous local bands, and is a PhD candidate at University of California, Berkeley.    

Todd Martin

Horn
Hometown: Winnipeg
Member since: 2006

Todd Martin is very active in the Winnipeg music scene, as a french Hornist, vocalist and teacher, he can be found onstage performing with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and various chamber ensembles. He is a member of both Camerata Nova and the Winnipeg Singers, the two premier choirs in Winnipeg. Todd is the horn instructor at Canadian Mennonite University, and is in demand as a clinician and private instructor. He has been a member of Paradigm Brass since 2006, and loves to rock your socks off!! Who says "CLASSICAL MUSICIANS" CAN'T ROCK?
Email Todd

Doug Morton

Horn, Baritone & Flugelhorn
Hometown: Detroit
Member since: 2006

Originally from the Midwest, Doug Morton began playing trumpet at the age of 7. In his teens he attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, played with the World Youth Symphony, Michigan Youth Orchestra and was soloist with the Dun Scotus Bach Festivals. He received his bachelor's degree in trumpet (Phi Beta Kappa honorary) from the New England Conservatory, studying with Armando Ghitala, Gunther Schuller, and Daniel Pinkham. He founded and directed the Scholarship Brass Quintet, and was principal in many of Schuller's ensembles and Boston area groups.

Since moving to the Bay Area, Morton has performed with the Sacramento, Berkeley, Monterey, and California symphonies, among others, including being featured with the Santa Rosa, Monterey, Bay Area Concerto and Concord Pavilion orchestras as soloist, and has been invited to perform at many summer music festivals. He has been principal trumpet in Santa Rosa Symphony since 1992. Morton continues to pursue his interests in music of all kinds, performing with such diverse groups as the Jazz Composer's Orchestra, CARMA, Mental Floss, The Grateful Dudes, the Clubfoot Orchestra, SF Mime Troupe, Beach Blanket Babylon, and the Bohemian Club Jinks Band. Morton also composes and arranges. His works have been commissioned and performed by the California Shakespeare Festival, ACT, SF Chamber Singers, Napa Valley Chorale, Santa Rosa Chamber Players and KQED. He currently performs with Paradigm Brass, Orient Express, a world-music group, CJQ, a cross-over jazz combo and the Epiphoné Brass ensemble.

Doug's Website

Email Doug

Jason Park

Trumpet
Hometown: Honolulu, Hawaii
Member since: 2003

Trumpeter Jason Park, a native of Oahu, started in music while studying the ukulele. His trumpet career began in the mid nineties working as a freelance musician with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, Hawaii Opera Theater, and Royal Hawaiian Band. He studied at the University of Hawaii majoring in music performance and education. He has numerous credits performing with musical stage productions and experimental contemporary ensembles in Hawaii and San Francisco. He has appeared as soloist with the San Jose Wind Symphony, Other Minds, University of Hawaii Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, King-Castle Alumni Band, and has been featured on Hawaii Public Radio performing music for solo trumpet during a live broadcast promoting contemporary music. Additional musical studies include participation at the Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Rafael Mendez Brass Institute, Pacific Music Institute, and Hawaii International Jazz Festival.

Now a San Franciscan, Jason is an active freelance musician performing and recording with numerous orchestras, chamber groups, and alternative music ensembles in the Bay area, some include; Paradigm Brass, Brass Act Quintet, sfSound group, Pocket Opera, Lamplighters Theater Company, Collaborata, Luminous Family Trust, and Return to Mono. He teaches trumpet to a wide range of students in San Francisco and Marin. In addition to music, Jason is a fine artist specializing in thermoplastic mixed media and cooks for a residential AIDS Hospice.

Email Jason

Andrew Poirier

pic coming soon

Alto Trombone
Hometown: Newfoundland
Member since: 2003

bio info coming soon

Richard Roper

Trumpet
Hometown: Palo Alto, California
Member since: 2006
Richard Roper, trumpet,  holds a Bachelor's degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, his M.M. from Yale School of Music, and his D.M.A. from the University of Maryland. Committed to arts education, Richard has served on the faculties of the University of Maine, the Washington, D.C. Youth Orchestra, and currently teaches music theory at the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View and also serves as a trumpet instructor for the preparatory department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  In addition to teaching, he plays with many of the ensembles around Northern California. As a Harriet Hale Woolley Scholar, Richard spent a year studying trumpet in Paris and was seen in recitals and performances at the American Church, La Fondation des Etats-Unis, and the Sorbonne. In addition, he has studied and performed at the Aspen Music festival, the Music Academy of the West, Tanglewood Institute,and the Norfolk Chamber Music festival.  Richard's major teachers are Chris Gekker, Mario Guarneri, Allan Dean, Antoine Cure, and Raymond Mase.

Erin Vang

Horn
Hometown:
Member since: 2007

Erin Vang holds degrees in horn performance from St. Olaf College and Northwestern University and has studied with Boris Rybka, Kendall Betts, and Dale Clevenger. She freelanced in the Chicago area for seven years, including performances with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Symphony II, and Symphony of the Shores, and tours of Korea and Germany with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra. Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, she has been appearing with the Oakland East Bay, San Jose, Marin, Monterey, Berkeley, Napa Valley, and Santa Rosa Symphonies; Symphony Silicon Valley, Sacramento and Women's Philharmonics, Festival and Pocket Opera companies, and the Foghorn Quartet. Erin and various beasts from the brass family have also been known to show up at Bay Area English country dance events and for several years perpetrated tuba for Bufflehead Northwest Morris.