Jim is a founding member of the Bay Colony Brass. He hails from St.Cloud, Minnesota where he studied trumpet with Dr. Albert Moore, at SCSU. In recent years he has performed in many ensembles in the greater Boston area including the Lakeside Bass Quintet, New England Brass Band, New England Philharmonic, and as a member of the trumpet section, has been a featured cornet soloist with the Metropolitan Wind Symphony. In addition, his other musical experiences include singing bass with the University of Wisconsin Choral Union, and Boston's Spectrum Singers. In his youth, Jim played bugle for eight seasons, ending his marching career on flugelhorn with the 1980 Madison Scouts hornline. Jim 's passion for brass instruments does not end there... For the past 27 years, Jim has been repairing brass instruments for professional musicians, and students alike. And, as senior technician for Osmun Music in Arlington, MA he has become the "go to guy" when players require expert repairs on their brass instruments, always making himself available when the need arises.
Bio coming soon...
Salvo Gaglio, was born in Sicily, and began his musical career at the age of 8, playing in the Wind Symphony in Montelepre Sicily. He received his degree in trumpet performance from the Conservatory of Palermo in 1987. After graduation, Salvo flew to France for a summer Master Class with the famous trumpeter, Pierre Thibeaud, and, upon his return, began performing throughout Sicily with the Palermo Opera and the Catania Opera and Symphony. With the Sicilian Jazz Orchestra, Salvo accompanied such jazz greats as Dizzie Gillespie, Gil Evans and many other Italian and American performers. It was with this same orchestra that he performed in the 1988 movie, “The Sicilian”. During his tour of duty with the Italian army, Salvo enjoyed playing with the Italian Army Band, performing all over Italy and Europe. In 1990, he performed the National Anthems of all the teams participating in the World Cup Soccer Tournament in Milan. Salvo came to the United States in 1993, and after a few summer classes, was invited to study with the legendary trumpeter, Armando Ghitalla. He auditioned, and was accepted into the Tanglewood Summer Institute for 1993, under the auspices of Boston University. Other teachers in the United States included Tim Morrison and Charles Schlueter. While studying and playing with the Beantown Swing Orchestra and the Metropolitan Wind Symphony, Salvo also continued to hone his culinary skills, garnered from experience in his family businesses. He presently plays with the Charles River Wind Ensemble and the Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra, and donates his services every Sunday to the music ministry at his parish community, St. Joseph’s in Medford.
A native of Minneapolis, Jason began his trek toward Boston about halfway in between, studying music composition and trumpet performance at Oberlin. While there, he was fortunate to be one of the last batch of students of Richard Hoffmann and took part in one of the final semesters in Vienna at the Schoenberg House that he organized. Besides being one of Schoenberg's last students and amanuensis, Mr. Hoffman taught many of the better known names to come out of Oberlin in the last few decades, including Christopher Rouse and Robert Spano. His trumpet teachers at Oberlin included Ryan Anthony and Roy Poper. Before Oberlin he took lessons with Alex Wilson (former principle trumpet of Buffalo) in Minnesota and after with Steve Emery in Boston. He is currently pursuing a masters in composition at Boston Conservatory and plays regularly with several local ensembles besides Bay Colony Brass including the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Brass Ensemble; New England Philharmonic; Concord Orchestra; Charles River Wind Ensemble; the Dudley House Orchestra and the Lowell House Opera and occasionally with the Metropolitan Wind Symphony. His website can be found at http://jsnfmn.net.
Ken Laing joined Bay colony in 2006. He studied trumpet at Humber College in Toronto before completing a degree in classical trumpet performance at McGill University in Montreal . As a free-lance trumpet player Ken has played in a wide variety of musical settings from Salsa Bands to Symphony Orchestras and everything in between. Originally from Burlington, Ontario, Canada he now resides in Newton with his wife Stephanie and is a stay-at-home Dad for his two kids, Daniel and Kayla.
Chris has been a member of Bay Colony Brass since 2006. A Boston native, he studied with Seth Hamlin (Brass Planet, Harvard University) and Jeff Luke (Atlantic Brass Quintet, Utah Symphony). He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison where he studied with John Aley and Alan Campbell. While in Madison, he was a member of the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps. Back in the Boston area he has played with Bay Colony Brass, Fanfare Brass, Metropolitan Wind Symphony and the Newton Symphony Orchestra. He is also a cast member of the Tony and Emmy award winning production of Blast!, with which he has toured the United States and Japan.
Cheryl A. Przytula, a native of Imperial, CA, has been a member of the US Air Force Band of Liberty since August 2008. She began studying trumpet at the age of seven under the guidance of her parents, Alex and Peggy Przytula, Jr. In 1991, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Trumpet Performance from California State University Long Beach. Her former teachers include: Boyde Hood, Dr. Richard Birkemeier, Anthony Plog, Dave Evans, and Joan LaRue. Prior to joining the Air Force she played with the UNAM Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mexico City Philharmonic, Santa Barbara Symphony, Coahuila Chamber Orchestra, and in the Toy Soldier Band at Disneyland. Cheryl has been awarded Musician of the Quarter at the Airman level (Travis), Airman of the Quarter (Sembach) and has been a Trumpet soloist with the bands at Travis AFB, Sembach AB and Langley AFB. In her spare time, she enjoys participating in various sports, learning about ancient and medieval cultures, motorcycles, and spending time with her family, friends, and cats.
Neil Godwin is a native of West Monroe, LA, where he began his horn studies with Dr. Gary Greene at Northeast Louisiana University. Neil holds degrees in horn performance and conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi, where he was a student of Dennis Behm in horn and Drs. Tim Koch and Jay Dean in conducting. In 2001, Neil came to Boston in order to pursue further horn studies at Boston University under the tutelage of Cleveland Orchestra and Empire Brass alum Eric Ruske. Additionally, he has performed in masterclasses and workshops with such noted horn players as Dale Clevenger, David Jolley, Roger Kaza, Jeff Nelsen, and Frøydis Ree Wekre. While in Boston, Neil has engaged in a busy and varied career as both a performer and pedagogue. In addition to Bay Colony Brass, Neil has served as the principal horn of the Newton Symphony, the Gardner Museum Chamber Orchestra, and the Anemoi Wind Quintet. He continues to be an active freelancer most recently in performances with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Simon Sinfonietta, the New Bedford Symphony, the Brockton Symphony, the Hillyer Festival Orchestra, and the Occasional Brass Quintet, amongst others. Neil is a member of the brass and ensembles faculties at the Community Music Center of Boston where he teaches horn, trumpet, and wind ensembles. Through the various outreach programs of the CMCB, Neil teaches at several Boston public schools such as the Boston Latin School, the Josiah Quincy Upper School, Roland Hayes, and Dever Elementary. Additionally, Neil serves as the horn instructor for the Norwood public schools and as the director of instrumental studies at the St. Paul School in Wellesley, and he maintains a private horn studio in Newton.
Hadley Reynolds started playing horn in the Chicago area in the late 1950's. Fortunately, he had many opportunities to attend Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts under Fritz Reiner, and to develop a lifelong appreciation for the exceptional sound being created by the CSO brass of the time, particularly Philip Farkas (horn), Adolph Herseth (trumpet), and Arnold Jacobs (tuba). In these years he played in the Evanston Symphony Orchestra under the CSO's Frank Miller, the North Side Symphony under the CSO's Milton Preves, the Youth Orchestra of Greater Chicago under Dr. Frank Powers, the North Shore Band of Wilmette under nationally renowned Northwestern University Band Director John Paynter, as well as winning state-wide awards for horn solo work with stage band, orchestra, as well as ensemble conducting. Hadley studied with Christopher Leuba, Principal Horn of the CSO, and K. Ethel Merker, the first nationally recognized woman symphony player and recording artist on the horn, and now designer of the Merker Model French Horns for Holton/LeBlanc. In the Philadelphia area, He studied with Ward Fern of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and performed solo concertos and conducted the joint orchestras of Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges. In the Boston area, Hadley has kept up his playing over the years with a number of groups, including the Newton Symphony, The Civic Symphony Orchestra of Boston, the Boston Summer Opera Theatre, Dover Foundation Community Theater, and a variety of classical and popular performing ensembles in the area. He currently plays in the horn cadre of Bay Colony Brass, Boston's leading independent large brass performing ensemble. Hadley also serves as a Trustee of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston.
Diantha Millott, originally from Las Cruces, NM moved to the Boston area in 1998. As a member of the Air Force Band of Liberty (1998-2002), she began her study of physical fitness. She is now a personal trainer focusing on helping people with chronic disease and disabilities in the geriatric population. She continues to enjoy subbing in various ensembles in the greater Boston area.
Drew Schroeder recently completed his Ph.D. in philosophy and is now conducting research as a bioethics post-doc at Harvard Medical School. From 2004 to 2008 he was music director of the Dudley Orchestra, Harvard's graduate student orchestra. Under his leadership, the orchestra doubled in size and earned a reputation for adventurous programming. Drew has also served as the assistant conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, and has played horn with the Spoleto Festival (USA) Orchestra, the Pottstown Symphony Orchestra, and the Kalistos Chamber Orchestra, among others. For several summers, he had the good fortune to work in Santa Barbara, as the administrative head of the voice department at the Music Academy of the West, Marilyn Horne's training program for young singers.
Alec Zimmer, horn, joined the Bay Colony Brass in 2005. Originally from Danville, PA, he began his private horn studies with C. Scott Smith at Susquehanna University and later studied with the late Rick Martin. While earning is BS in Engineering at Swarthmore College, he studied with Michael Johns, member of the Pennsylvania Ballet and Opera Company of Philadelphia horn sections. After a brief stint at Stanford University for graduate school, Alec moved to the Boston area. In addition to the Bay Colony Brass, Alec is assistant principal horn with the Newton Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Mercury Orchestra, Lowell House Opera, Civic Symphony of Boston, the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, the UMass Boston Chamber Orchestra, and the Charles River Wind Ensemble. Last year, he attended the Kendall Betts Horn Camp in Lyman, NH where his performance of Eugene Bozza’s “En Foret” earned him praise from the camp’s distinguished faculty. Alec is a registered professional engineer and works as a structural engineer for Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Consulting Engineers in Waltham. He lives in Watertown with his extraordinarily patient wife, Elisabeth.
Ed has played trombone, bass trombone—and, yes, even occasional euphonium when called for by some strange and/or British composer—in many of Boston's amateur orchestras, including the Brahms Society Orchestra, Brookline Symphony Orchestra, Longwood Symphony Orchestra, MIT Symphony Orchestra, MIT Summer Philharmonic Orchestra (in which he still participates every summer), New England Philharmonic, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Newton Symphony Orchestra, and Wellesley Symphony Orchestra. Ages ago he also played trombone for two years each in the MIT Brass Ensemble and the reggae band Pressure Cooker, both of which are somehow still thriving.
Bio coming soon...
Bill Griffin has been a trombonist of various styles in the Boston area for over 15 years. Classically, Bill has studied with the Empire Brass Quintet and with trombonist Lawrence Isaacson. Bill received an undergraduate minor in music performance at the University of New Hampshire, where he studied with Nicholas Orovich, principal trombonist for the Portland Symphony. Bill studied jazz techniques in high school and college and has studied and played with such jazz performers as Clarke Terry, Milt Hinton, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Lew Tabackin. Bill also plays in rock horn bands, in which he doubles on baritone sax. Outside of Bay Colony Brass Bill also freelances in local jazz, classical and rock groups. Bill works in the financial services industry and holds an MBA from the University of Massachusetts.
Roger Hecht was a trombone student of Emory Remington, Edward Kleinhammer, Byron McCulloh, and Douglas Yeo. Before coming to Boston, he was a member of the Syracuse Symphony and the Lake George Opera orchestra. In New England, he has been a member of the New Bedford Symphony, the Cape Ann Symphony, and the New England Philharmonic. He now performs as a freelance trombonist, and teaches trombone privately. In addition to his playing, Roger is a regular classical CD critic for American Record Guide, the oldest English language record reviewing magazine in the United States. He is also a contributor to Listener's Guide to Classical Recordings, a comprehensive guide to classical recordings (Backbeat Books, 2002). His reviewing specialties include English music, the early 20th Century post-Mahlerians, and neo-classical and neo-romantic Americans. (He wrote the major Overview articles on the English Symphony and Stravinsky for ARG.) Roger has penned articles on music for Positive Feedback magazine and The Elgar Society Journal of the British Elgar Society, of which he is a member. Roger's fiction includes two novels and several stories, including The Audition, a tale about a musician's experience auditioning for a major orchestra (in Positive Feedback).
Tom Spataro, Assistant Conductor of BCB, is a graduate of Boston College. He has been a Band Director at Boston College, built trombones for Steve Shires, and is currently the Executive Director of the Boston Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps. Tom is also one of Bay Colony's in-house arrangers, and doubles on Euphonium when needed. Tom lives in West Roxbury with his wife, Jackie and their dog Diego.
Cassandra Pattanayak joined the Bay Colony Brass in 2007. She is halfway through a Ph.D. in statistics at Harvard, where she is also a member of the graduate student ensemble, Dudley House Orchestra. She has also played in the Lowell House Opera orchestra. As an undergraduate at Harvard, Cassandra served as principal trombone of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra and also played with the Bach Society Orchestra, Harvard Pops Orchestra, Dunster House Opera, Gilbert and Sullivan Players, and a variety of other large and chamber ensembles. While growing up in Schenectady, NY, Cassandra studied with Michael Meidenbauer and was a member of the Empire State Youth Orchestra, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Orchestra, and the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Orchestral Studies.
Jonathan Staub, originally of Poughkeepsie NY, moved to the Boston area in 1997. Mr. Staub currently studies with Michael Milnarik at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Mr Staub has played with a variety of ensembles such as the Tufts University Brass Quintet, Merrimack Tuba Quartet and the Massachusetts Symphony.
Originally from San Diego, CA., Ken started on the tuba in 7th grade after previously studying piano since the age of 5. He attended the University of Redlands studying music with James Jorgenson, after which he continued at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff earning his Bachelors degree in Tuba Performance and served as Principal Tuba with the Flagstaff Symphony. After returning to San Diego for a brief period of freelance work in San Diego performing with the Sea World World Beach Band and various orchestras and wind ensembles, he moved to Boston to study with Chester Schmitz (ret.) of the Boston Symphony. After earning his Masters degree in Tuba Performance at the New England Conservatory, Ken kept busy freelancing with many local orchestras such as: The New Bedford, Melrose, Waltham, Concord, Jamaica Plain, and Cape Ann Symphony's, as well as the New England Philharmonic, the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra and numerous other ensembles. He has also performed with the Texas Wind Symphony, The Irving Symphony Orchestra and the Blue Bonnet Brass as well as privately teaching a studio of over 50 students in the Duncanville Texas school district. Ken has also spent time in Ohio helping to organize and conduct the 1st Annual Merry Tuba Christmas in Wilmington, OH. In addition to Chester Schmitz, Ken's other instructors include: Chester Roberts, Michael Thorton, Matt Goode, Richard Morrow, Dave Kirk and Dennis Miller. Ken currently resides with his wife Beth and his 5 children in Gloucester, MA.
Please inquire at the email below for more information about all openings.
[ About BCB ] [ Member Bios ] [ Calendar ]
Contact us at:
Bay Colony Brass
P.O. Box 76
Watertown, MA 02472