GUEST ARTISTS
BRENT PHILLIPS
University of Houston
United States Coast Guard Band (ret.)
Brent Phillips is an Affiliate Artist Faculty at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. Formerly, a professor of trombone at Baylor since 2004, he has now made his home in Houston to pursue creative performances, festival development, and develop a world class trombone studio. His students are welcomed by opportunities to be mentored in the professional musical arts, trained in entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavors, and are trained to compete nationally and internationally as performers and educators. He is the founding member and director of the Mountain Light Music Festival, committed to transforming it into a multi-week chamber and orchestral residency in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
In 2015, Mr. Phillips founded the Mountain Light Music Festival in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. This festival brings together a group of professional performers, artists, faculty, and students in a high-altitude wilderness setting. It culminates in a strenuous week-long music seminar that combines physical activity, intensive musical study, and pedagogical exploration. This intensive one-week music seminar serves as a creative cultural and professional mentoring endeavor, fostering collaboration among multiple faculty members who work artistically, spiritually, and academically. Fellows of the Mountain Light Music Festival receive training in creative business and executive arts leadership models from faculty currently leading non-profit development and performance. The University of Houston serves as the primary source of artistic and creative collaboration with students and faculty serving at the Mountain Light Music Festival.
Prior to his position at Baylor, Mr. Phillips held the position of assistant principal trombone of “The President’s Own” US Marine Band in Washington, DC. Additionally, he served as the principal trombone of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra for 15 seasons while concurrently performing in the Marine Band. He is currently the principal trombone of the Abilene Philharmonic and the Waco Symphony Orchestra in Waco, Texas.
Throughout the summer, Mr. Phillips is a faculty member at the Round Top Festival Institute, where he presents recitals, master classes, and participates in chamber music performances with his fellow faculty members.
Mr. Phillips’s performances extend beyond the “President’s Own” band. He regularly collaborates with the Dallas Symphony, having toured with them to the Netherlands, Germany, and Vienna in 2012. Additionally, he has graced the stage at the Vail Valley Music Festival with the DSO. Furthermore, Mr. Phillips has performed with the Houston Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Houston Grand Opera and Ballet, Dallas Opera, San Antonio Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, Annapolis Symphony, Fairfax Symphony, and the Washington Symphonic Brass.
Mr. Phillips grew up in Houston, Texas, and attended Westfield High School under the guidance of Director of Bands, Philip Geiger. His primary teachers were members of the Houston Symphony and the Houston Grand Opera, including Jim Pedigo, David Waters, and David Kirk. He also briefly studied with Alan Barnhill and John McCroskey of the Houston Symphony, as well as Per Brevig of the New York Metropolitan Opera and John Kitzman of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Phillips holds both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in trombone performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
JAMES JACKSON
University of Hartford
United States Coast Guard Band (ret.)
James E. Jackson III, Adams Musical Instruments Euphonium Artist, is a native of Lexington, Kentucky. He has completed course work towards the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Euphonium Performance with an emphasis in Instrumental Conducting at the University of Kentucky. He received a Master of Music Degree in Euphonium Performance in 1995 from George Mason University (Roger Behrend) and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education from the University of Kentucky (Dr. Skip Gray).
In addition to being Principal Euphonium of the U. S. Coast Guard Band, James is Conductor of The Hartt School Symphony Band at the University of Hartford, Professor of Euphonium at The Hartt School, Professor of Euphonium at the University of Connecticut, and was Music Director and Conductor of the Thames Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra from 2003-2014.
James was a featured soloist and clinician at the 2011 World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) held in Chiayi City, Taiwan and was featured soloist at Taipei's National Theater Concert Hall as a member of the US Coast Guard Band. James was principal baritone of the Lexington Brass Band and a featured soloist with the band at the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic.
He was a recipient of the Lyman T. Johnson Fellowship at the University of Kentucky, toured Spain as a member of The American Spiritual Ensemble, was the winner of the 1995 International T.U.B.A. Conference Tuba-Euphonium Quartet Competition, and the winner at the 1994 Leonard Falcone International Solo Euphonium Competition.
He has been a clinician throughout the United States at numerous universities, colleges and public schools. James is a founding member of the tuba and euphonium quartet Alchemy, which annually performs recitals, teach master classes, and conduct ensembles as Artist in Residence at the Horn-Tuba workshop in Jever, Germany.
James can be heard with Alchemy on their first CD release "Village Dances" and on their newest CD, "Prelude and Groove" released in February 2012.
BRIDGET CONLEY
St. Louis Symphony
Bridget Conley is the recently appointed principal tuba player of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
She has performed with ensembles including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, Britt Festival Orchestra, and Seraph Brass, among others. She was formerly a fellow with the New World Symphony, and was awarded the New World Symphony’s Judith Rodin Fellowship for an Outstanding Woman Musician.
As a soloist, Bridget was the winner of the 2021 Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Solo Artist Competition. She was also a finalist in both the 2022 and 2023 Yale School of Music Concerto Competitions, and was the winner of the 2020 Vanderbilt Wind Symphony Concerto Competition.
In addition to her experience as a performer, Bridget is also the co-founder of Sisters in Sound, an online platform that provides free access to professionally engraved arrangements and recordings of works by early women composers for brass ensembles. Bridget founded Sisters in Sound in 2023 with Abby Black, Principal Horn of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, with the goal of expanding the repertoire of brass arrangements to include works by women composers who were actively influencing the musical landscape of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Bridget holds a Master of Music Degree in Performance from the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Carol Jantsch of the Philadelphia Orchestra and was the recipient of the Dean’s Prize. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Tuba Performance with a minor in Brass Pedagogy from Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, where she studied with Gil Long and was a Lanier Leadership Scholar. In the fall of 2019, she spent a semester studying at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Perry Hoogendijk, principal tubist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Bridget has also served on various councils and committees, including the Yale School of Music Student Advisory Council, Vanderbilt Blair Student Council, and Vanderbilt University COVID-19 Response Committee.
Bridget is a native of Charleston, South Carolina. When she’s not playing tuba, Bridget loves cooking, exercising, and a good book.
HIGH SCHOOL MASTERCLASS CLINICIANS
LOW BRASS FACULTY
BRIAN KAUK
University of Houston
Houston Grand Opera & Ballet, ret.
Brian Kauk (Trombone) became an Affiliate Artist of Trombone at the Moores School of Music in 1995, and was a member of the Moores Faculty Brass Quintet for 13 years. As a student of Allen Barnhill, he earned his B. M. in Applied Music from the University of Houston. He has performed extensively with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, including two international tours and can be heard on various recordings. In addition, he has performed with the Utah, San Antonio, and Jacksonville symphonies, and for numerous summers with the Utah Festival Opera Company and the Grand Teton Music Festival. Mr. Kauk has taught at the Texas Music Festival for many years and, in 2004, led efforts to successfully establish the Al Lube Scholarship Endowment, in honor of his former teacher. After decades of service, he retired as Principal Trombone of both the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet orchestras. While a member of the HGO orchestra, Mr. Kauk participated in NPR broadcasts as well as HGO's commercial CDs of Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas and Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men.
PHILLIP FREEMAN
University of Houston
Houston Symphony
Phillip I Freeman joined the Houston Symphony in 2007 after six seasons with the Sarasota Opera. He has also performed with the Dallas Symphony, the Grant Park Music Festival, the Houston Ballet, the Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Sarasota Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony, and the Utah Symphony on bass and tenor trombones, euphonium and bass trumpet.
A graduate of the University of Houston, Freeman received his bachelor’s degree in composition. He went on to study bass trombone at the Manhattan School of Music and the Tanglewood Music Center.
Formerly on faculty at the Shepherd School of Music, he teaches at the Moores School of Music and the Texas Music Festival and has presented masterclasses and recitals at Baylor, McGill, Rice, UH, and UTSA.
Freeman is a MICHAEL RATH TROMBONES performing artist.
DR. KEVIN FENSKE
University of Houston
Texas Low Brass Academy
Dr. Kevin Fenske is the Professor of Practice in Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Houston where he teaches undergraduate and graduate applied lessons, as well as brass chamber music at the Moores School of Music. Dr. Fenske serves as the Director and Founder of the Texas Low Brass Academy, a summer music camp and educational series for young low brass musicians centered around the exposure to low brass chamber music, artistic and personal development, and accessible world-class musical instruction.
As a performer, he has won prizes at various solo and chamber competitions, including the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival, International Tuba-Euphonium Conference, The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” Tuba-Euphonium Workshop, International Women’s Brass Conference, and the Briggs Chamber Music Competition, among others. He has performed with groups such as the Houston Symphony, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Brno Philharmonic, and the Akron Symphony Orchestra.
He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in music education from the University of Houston, a Master of Music degree in euphonium performance from the University of Texas at Austin, and Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Michigan. His primary teachers include Danny Vinson, Charles Villarrubia, and David Zerkel. Dr. Fenske is a Willson performing artist.