John Lester

Megan has studied vocal technique for over 15 years receiving her vocal performance degree from the University of Utah. Megan is a performer, teacher, and vocal coach native to Salt Lake. She believes singing is one of the most gratifying and beneficial forms of communication and strives to integrate the whole body and self into the sung voice. As she has continued to explore vocal technique and its many capacities, she has performed in a wide range of settings, genres, and venues—including opera, musical theater, and liturgy, as well as jazz, pop, and funk. Megan can be seen performing with local music groups, cantoring for liturgical services, and coaching youth bands and choirs. She teaches based on a personal philosophy that freedom in singing translates into profound self-expression and discovery.

Braun Khan is Assistant Professor of Double Bass and Jazz Studies at Utah State University. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in bass performance from Central Michigan University, and a Doctor of Arts in Jazz Studies and Bass Performance from the University of Northern Colorado. After completing his master’s degree, he taught courses in jazz theory at Central Michigan University and served as Community Outreach Coordinator for the School of Music.

He is the recipient of several DownBeat awards for Best College Big Band as bassist with UNC’s Jazz Lab I, Outstanding Vocal Jazz Ensemble as a vocalist with UNC’s Vocal Lab, and for Outstanding Small Ensemble Composition for his original composition Airplanes. In 2014 he was also awarded the Hal Leonard Scholarship from the Jazz Education Network for exceptional talent and potential in jazz performance and education.

An active performer, he has extensive experience as a professional bassist in jazz, classical and various other musical styles, including performances with Howard Levy, Jeff Hamilton, the New York Voices, Greg Gisbert, Jake Shimabukuro, Groove For Thought, Clint de Ganon, Bob Christianson, and Clifford Carter, as well as the Cadillac Symphony Orchestra, and performances on electric bass and jazz bass with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. He can also be heard on UNC’s Romeo and Juliet Project.

Prior to moving to Colorado, he served as music director at a non-denominational church for 10 years. During that time he also organized a concert series which featured artists such as Billy Hart, Vincent Herring, Peter Zak, Tom Knific, and Phil Palombi. When not busy performing and teaching he enjoys spending time with his wife and five children.

Robyn Kemp’s powerful soprano and impassioned live performances have dazzled audiences from Boston’s Symphony Hall to the stages of New York City and thousands at outdoor festivals. Robyn earned her BFA from The Boston Conservatory and went on to become an accomplished musical theatre actress in NYC where her performances garnered praise from The New York Times and Variety. In NYC, Robyn continued her training with celebrity vocal coaches Don Lawrence (Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Bono) and Cari Cole (Journey, Diane Birch). Also a songwriter and pianist, she creates alternative/pop music under the name Robyn Cage, and her debut album Born in the Desert topped Music Connection Magazine’s list of 25 Best New Music Critiques of 2015. For the album, Robyn teamed up with Grammy-nominated Producer Darryl Neudorf (Neko Case, Sarah McLachlan) and Grammy-nominated and Juno Award-winning Producer Dan Burns (Rachael Yamagata, Lenka, Michelle Branch). When she isn’t touring the country, Robyn teaches voice lessons, where her emphasis is on pop and musical theatre singing and vocal health.

Leslie Hart is an active freelance horn player and music educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. She teaches on Horn Faculty at Santa Clara University and she is the Co-Founder and Director of Noise Lab Creative Music Community. She completed a dual Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Performance and Music Education from the Eastman School of Music in 2011. Leslie has written on cadenza improvisation (Horn Call May 2010 and May 2013) and her dissertation “Improvisation in the Collegiate Horn Studio” (University of Rochester 2011) describes college horn majors learning to improvise in orchestral horn excerpts.

She has presented clinics in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and the United States including 2009 and 2011 International Horn Symposiums, Mid-South Horn Workshops, Northeast Horn Workshops, Northwest Horn Symposium, and South Bay Horn Days. Leslie is also a member of Emerald Brass Quintet.

Leslie has performed and lived around the world teaching and playing Horn and it’s her greatest passion in life to do both—to share in the amazing history of music through horn and to make the world little brighter through music.

As an instructor, Kirk has been recognized with several awards including Childbloom’s Outstanding National Program of the Year (twice!) and National Teacher of the Year. Bella Corda, his student touring ensemble (ages 12-17) from the St. Louis Academy for Guitar was awarded first prize in a nationwide guitar ensemble contest in 2014.

Kirk serves on the music faculty for several colleges and universities, arranges music for events and publications, and acts as director for both the Childbloom Guitar Program and the St. Louis Academy for Guitar.

In 2014, Kirk Hanser and John McClellan were appointed to a teaching residency position at the Paris Conservatory, becoming the first guitar duo from outside of the conservatory to be given such an honor in the history of the school.

Kirk has given many other residencies and master classes in Europe and throughout the United States. In the winter and spring of 2016, Kirk and John gave a ten-school teaching residency throughout the city of St. Louis, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Regional Arts Commission, the Missouri Arts Council, by special arrangement with the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society.

Since 2002, he has directed the Mid America Guitar Camp for young guitarists from around the U.S. These camps bring young guitarists in from all around the country to participate in this unique week-long guitar event.

Mark Frandsen is an acoustic and electric bassist with the United States Air Force Band of the Pacific, stationed at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, Japan. He received his bachelor of music degree from Utah State University, master of music degree from Austin Peay State University, and PhD in Fine Arts with a concentration in music theory from Texas Tech University. He has studied with Mike Christiansen, Roy Vogt, Paul Sharpe, Matt Santa, Alan Shin, and Tom Kennedy.

Mark’s military music career began in the Army where he was stationed with the 101st Airborne Division Band at Ft Campbell, Kentucky. With the Air Force, he has been stationed at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois; Sembach and Ramstein Air Bases in Germany; Travis Air Force Base in California; and Yokota Air Base in Japan. He’s had the honor of playing music for people from all over the world and has enjoyed sharing the international language of music. Mark’s musical travels have taken him throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He has also deployed twice to play music for troops stationed in southwest Asia in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation New Dawn.

His current assignment has him playing music throughout Japan with recent trips to China and Australia. When he’s not out playing music and building partnerships around the world, he enjoys being with his family to experience new cultures and locations wherever they can.

Dr. Katherine Emeneth is an enthusiastic performer, collaborator, clinician, pedagogue, and teacher with a passion for education.

Katherine Emeneth’s expertise and enthusiasm for rigorous flute pedagogy balances with a style that is engaging and encompassing the whole person. She is the owner of the Georgia Flute Academy where she specializes in pre-college flute education in northeast Georgia. In her studio, she creates individualized curriculum, organizes studio events that range from guest artist masterclasses to student recitals at local retirement homes, prepares students for local and national flute competitions, designs unique project-based learning for music history, theory, and listening, and provides learning enrichment through other various activities including field trips and a summer camp. She is in demand as a clinician, adjudicator, and speaker at various middle, high schools, and colleges throughout the southeast and beyond.

Katherine Emeneth’s professional performances include both solo and ensemble appearances with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, Washington-Idaho Symphony Orchestra, Gwinnett Ballet Orchestra, Puget Sound Symphony, University of Washington Baroque Orchestra, Conservatorio d’Alessandria Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, and the Bay View Music Festival Orchestra. In 2015 she competed in the Gheorghe Dima International Music Competition in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. As one of two Americans selected for the finals of this competition, she competed with some of the world’s top flutists. She has also been a finalist or prize winner in the Atlanta Flute Club’s Young Artist Competition, the Philadelphia Flute Society’s Young Artist Competition, the Byron Hester Young Artist Competition, and the Domey/Gillespie Young Artist Competition.

Katherine Emeneth has served on the faculty of the University of Washington. She currently teaches at Georgia Gwinnett College where she was the recipient of the 2017 Outstanding Teaching Award. Katherine Emeneth holds degrees from the University of Georgia and the University of Washington. She lives in Sugar Hill, Georgia with her husband and Old English Sheepdog, Barney.

Brady Bills is a guitarist who is able to adapt to many different styles of music. Brady started playing the guitar at age five and had his first gig at age eight. Brady has performed and toured with jazz big bands, original pop bands, multiple country acts, rock bands, corporate entertainment top 40 bands, and has a degree in classical guitar performance. Brady has performed in Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Brazil and throughout the United States. Brady has a Bachelors degree in Music from Brigham Young University and is a certified Suzuki guitar instructor.

Brady is currently the guitarist and musical director of the band The Strike. You can hear his bands recordings on itunes, youtube, facebook and instagram. Brady also currently plays guitar and tours with David Archuleta.

Not only has Brady focused his efforts as a performer but also as a composer, producer and music educator. Brady composes and records for the music publishing companies Amphibious Zoo, Mood Media and Warner Chapell. His songs have been used on The Grammys (CBS), So You Think You Can Dance (FOX), Dancing With the Stars (ABC), Finding Carter (MTV) and by Nordic Track.

Formerly Brady worked as the music academy department head at Pioneer High School For The Performing Arts in American Fork Utah.

Well versed in many styles of music, Jarryd Wark has spent the last twenty years studying, playing, and teaching drums. Jarryd is a graduate from Berklee College of Music in Boston, with a bachelors degree in professional music. He has studied with the likes of Dave DiCenso, Mike Mangini, Ralph Peterson, Jon Hazilla, and many other notable drummers and artists. He is experienced in playing rock/pop, funk, jazz, blues, metal, and reggae. Jarryd is the Director and lead instructor for drums, EMP, and DJ at EA School of Music, located in Park City, Utah.

Colin Botts has a degree in guitar education and is a passionate and dedicated teacher. In 2013 Colin was awarded a master’s degree in Irish Traditional Music Performance from The University of Limerick, Ireland. He has had the privilege to teach and lecture in a variety of settings, from university classrooms to private lessons, as well as music camps and festivals. Additionally, Colin Botts is co-author of Mel Bay’s Killer Technique: Flatpicking Guitar. Music has taken Colin Botts around the world, having studied guitar from gauchos in Argentina, concertina and bouzouki from traditional musicians in Ireland, and fiddle from gypsies while traveling through Romania.

Colin Botts is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist. He is a former Capitol Records-Nashville recording artist (Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand) shared the stage with many artists including Keith Urban, Bob Dylan, LeAnn Rimes, Randy Travis, Trisha Yearwood, Trace Adkins, Montgomery Gentry, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Big & Rich. More recently, he has performed with artists such as Kristen Chenoweth, Matthew Morrison, and the Utah Symphony.  He has appeared on television in the hit music videos “Dream Big” and “Banjo Boy” as well as performing on NBC’s Three Wishes with Amy Grant. He has also performed live in hundreds of venues, both across the United States and internationally.

In addition to his busy teaching schedule, Colin regularly travels and performs with a variety of artists and groups. He also works as a studio musician and multi-instrumentalist.

Cindy Dewey, soprano, is the Music Department Head at Utah State University. From 1996-2015 Professor Dewey served as Voice and Opera Area Head at USU. She continues to teach Applied Voice and to direct the Marie Eccles Caine-Russell Family Opera Outreach Quartet. Before joining the music faculty at USU, Dr. Dewey was a tenured Associate Professor of Music at West Virginia University where she was the director of graduate and undergraduate programs in voice performance and pedagogy. Dr. Dewey earned her bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in Voice Performance at Louisiana State University where she was a student of master teacher Sandra Kungle, and Metropolitan Opera star, Martina Arroyo. She earned her master’s degree under the tutelage of nationally recognized voice teacher, Herald Stark. In addition, Dr. Dewey was a long-time student of Oren L. Brown of the Juilliard School, with whom she organized two international multi-disciplinary seminars on healthy voice use.

Dewey has an active concert career. She has performed with symphonies in the U.S. and Canada. She has been a frequent soloist with the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra under the baton of one of her favorite conductors, Dr. Craig Jessop. Recent performances include Cundick’s The Redeemer, the Bach B minor Mass, Mozart’s Grand Mass in c minor, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Haydn’s Creation, and Mozart’s Requiem. A versatile performer, Dewey also appears regularly in faculty recitals and concerts, performing everything from Broadway/Cabaret evenings to art song recitals to a performance of Brahms’ Two Songs for Alto and Viola with Bradley Ottesen of the Fry Street Quartet.

Dr. Dewey is recognized nationally for her voice teaching. Her students are currently performing at the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Santa Fe Opera and elsewhere. Her students have won a number of national honors and competitions. She was recently elected to the position of Cal-Western Regional Governor for the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She has also served as NATS District Governor in both Utah and West Virginia. Her students have gone on to compete at the national level in the NATS National Student Auditions and in the NATS Artist Award Competition. Dewey has been invited to present/perform at numerous national NATS conventions, and has served as both Program Chair and Conference Chair at two recent conventions.

Dr. Dewey recently completed her sabbatical during which she worked as a Research Affiliate at the National Center for Voice and Speech. In addition to her degrees in music, Dewey has a second Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Language Pathology, and plans to complete her second master’s degree once she has finished putting her children through college. Dewey has maintained a private voice studio for over three decades where she works to habilitate and rehabilitate singers at all levels of ability.

Corey currently is a Professor at Utah State University (Guitar) and has taught as an adjunct professor at the famed Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (2008-2013). He is becoming recognized as one of the world’s preeminent guitarists and educators. A recording artist, writer, educator, and performer, Corey has played and taught in literally every type of situation around the globe for the last decade. He has played with Dr. Lonnie Smith, Vic Juris, Danny Gottlieb, Jeff Coffin, James Moody, Steve Houghton, Jeremy Allen, and many, many other jazz greats. He is also an artist-in-residence at Atlanta Institute of Music (Atlanta, GA), and Broadway Music School (Denver, CO).

Per Danielsson is an Associate Professor of Jazz Piano and Composition at the University of Central Florida. Per completed his Master’s degree in jazz studies, composition and arranging, studying with one of the finest jazz writers/arrangers of today, Chuck Owen, at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Per also shares his knowledge in current publications by Mel Bay including, Essential Jazz Lines in the style of Bill Evans, Essential Jazz Lines in the style of Miles Davis. First Lesson – Piano, You can Teach Yourself Jazz Chords, Real Book DVD, and others.

Also, Per is active in jazz education outreach. He is currently the artistic director of the American Jazz Pianist Competition. In 2016’s competition, Per held the position of competition judge, along with Kenny Barron. He has served on the Presidential advisory board of the Jazz Education Network.

Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, writer, and educator, Per Danielsson, is a native of Stockholm, Sweden. Growing up with a jazz guitar-playing father, Per was exposed to the sounds of Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans at an early age. After formal piano studies in Sweden, which included lessons with Robert Malmberg and world-renowned jazz pianist Bengt Hallberg, his love of jazz brought him across the ocean to attend the internationally acclaimed North Texas State University. Per is an active performer, often appearing as a guest artist, soloist, clinician, and sideman. His career has included performances with many leading jazz artists and entertainers such as Louis Bellson, Clark Terry, Marvin Stamm, Bobby Shew, Maureen McGovern, to mention a few. As the pianist for Chuck Owen’s innovative and Grammy Nominated big band, The Jazz Surge, Per has performed and/or recorded with Slide Hampton, Gerald Wilson, Neena Freelon, Karrin Allyson, Bob Brookmeyer, Ingrid Jensen, Bob Mintzer, Randy Brecker, and Danny Gottlieb.   He has also performed with Swedish jazz legends Arne Domnerus, Jan Allan, and Georg Reidel.

Aaron Lington is a professor at San José State University where he serves as Coordinator of Jazz Studies. Dr. Lington is also the director of the San Jose Jazz High School All-Stars. He was named the 2011 “Jazz Educator of the Year” by the California Music Educators Association.

Aaron is a Grammy Award-winning baritone saxophonist and composer. He received his BM in music education from the University of Houston, Moores School of Music, and both his MM in jazz studies and DMA in saxophone performance from the University of North Texas where he studied with James Riggs.

His performing and compositional credits include collaborations with the San Francisco Symphony, Maynard Ferguson, the BBC Radio Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, Doc Severinsen, Bo Diddley, Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Jamie Davis, Tommy Igoe, Pacific Mambo Orchestra, and many others. In addition, he has won awards for both his playing and writing from Downbeat Magazine, ASCAP, and was the 2003 recipient of the Sammy Nestico Award.

Dr. Lington has been recognized multiple times in both the Downbeat Magazine Critic’s Poll and Reader’s Poll. In 2015 he was named as a Silicon Valley Artist Laureate. The San José Mercury News praises Dr. Lington’s playing as “revelatory…he obviously relishes the beautiful, blustery bark of his instrument…” and that he possesses a “…finely honed melodic sensibility…” Josh Davies from the International Trumpet Guild states that Lington “…[shows] a true command of his instrument with a very studied and soulful essence.” Cadence magazine declares, “Lington and compatriots come up with a wonderful and totally American jazz sound, [resulting in] a solid mainstream set based on some sweet melodic improvisation.”

Dr. Matzen holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (DMA, MM), as well as the University of North Florida (BM). His primary teachers include James Thompson, Doug Prosser, Robert Earley, Keith Johnson, and Jim Pandolfi.

Max Matzen is Associate Professor of Trumpet at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. Dr. Matzen has taught previously at Texas Tech University, the Eastman School of Music, the University of North Texas as well as privately throughout the north Utah region. His students have been accepted into several prestigious graduate and undergraduate programs throughout the United States. His duties at Utah State include trumpet instruction, trumpet studio class, chamber ensembles, high brass methods, Intro to Music (MUSC 1010), and jazz ensembles.

As a performer he has appeared with many groups in the eastern United States including (but not limited to) the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Syracuse Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, and the St. Johns River City Band. In Utah, he remains highly active with ensembles throughout north Utah including the Utah Festival Opera, Music Theater West, and the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra, among others. He is also a member of Aggie Music Project (AMP), the Utah State University faculty jazz combo. In summer of 2019, AMP performed at the Montreux, Vienne, and Umbria Jazz festivals. As a recitalist and chamber musician, Dr. Matzen has given performances in Florida, North and South Carolina, Texas, New York, Tennessee, Kentucky, Colorado, Califorina, Nevada, Illinois, and Ohio.

Internationally, Matzen maintains a highly active performance career with frequent engagements in Japan, Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland, and Italy.

Dr. Matzen is active in the International Trumpet Guild as a contributor to the Music and Recordings Reviews and Pedagogy sections in the ITG Journal. He is also an artist and clinician for the Bach division of the Conn-Selmer Corporation.

Kevin began studying music at age 4, and has been playing ever since. He currently attends the University of Utah and will graduate in Fall 2014 with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance. Over the years, Kevin has had the opportunity to play in many different groups, exposing him to numerous styles and genres. He sees music as a ubiquitous human experience, and believes that every person can benefit from studying it.

His priorities as an instructor, as well as a performer, are creativity, competency, and communication. It is his goal to help others experience the same level of joy and satisfaction through music that he has himself.

John began playing drums at age eight, after receiving a snare drum as a gift. With the support, encouragement and patience of his parents, John and Mary Ann, he played in the school band and began drum lessons with a good local teacher, Tom Sicola. While under Tom’s guidance, he gained control of the snare drum through work on the rudiments and reading. Eventually, he acquired a complete drumset and lessons expanded to include “beats of the day,” coordination and reading studies for the drumset. At age twelve, John began playing in rock bands and heard his first jazz recordings, the soundtrack to The Gene Krupa Story and Max Roach’s Conversation. Two years later, he played his first “professional” gig, which he obtained through an audition played over the telephone. John began studying with Joe Morello in 1971, after meeting him at a drum symposium. John went on to attend the University of North Texas, where he was introduced to a larger world of music and percussion. While at UNT, he played in, toured, and recorded with the famed One O’clock Lab Band. In 1976, he moved to New York City and was soon called to join the Woody Herman Band. Following that great experience, John returned to New York and began freelancing with a wide spectrum of world class musicians including Stan Getz, Milt Jackson, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Scofield, Bob Mintzer, Gary Peacock, Mike Stern, Joe Lovano, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, John Patitucci, Bob Berg, and many others.

John has a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz education from the University of North Texas and a Master of Music in jazz studies from Manhattan School of Music. He is on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music, and Kutztown University, and is an Artist in Residence at Amsterdam Conservatory, Holland. John is also the author of The Art of Bop Drumming, Beyond Bop Drumming, The Jazz Drummer’s Workshop, The Master Drummer DVD, and has taught master classes around the world.