Jeffrey Anderson joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Tuba, occupying the James Irvine Chair, in 2002. He holds a bachelor’s degree and performer's certificate from Indiana University, where he studied with Harvey Phillips, and he completed his master’s degree at Arizona State University as a student of Daniel Perantoni. As a member of the New Mexico Symphony from 1989 to 1998, he made several solo appearances. Previously a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, he was featured as soloist in Vaughan Williams’s Tuba Concerto with that orchestra in 2000. He has also performed with the National Repertory Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and he appeared as guest principal tuba with the Chicago Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic and in the 2009 Seattle Opera production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. With the SFS, he has been heard as soloist in David Lang’s are you experienced? in the SoundBox series, and in the North American premiere of Robin Holloway’s Europa & and the Bull.

Mr. Anderson is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he teaches tuba and coaches chamber music. He is in demand as a clinician and performer, making appearances at International Tuba and Euphonium Association international and regional conferences as well as in master classes at Indiana University, Northwestern University, Manhattan School of Music, and the Shanghai Orchestra Academy. Mr. Anderson is Buffet-Crampon Group artist and exclusively plays B&S tubas.

Mr. Anderson attended the Music Academy of the West in 1982.

Barbara Butler is a soloist with Music of the Baroque, Chicago Chamber Musicians, and Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra. She is a former member of Eastman Brass, Eastman Virtuosi, and the Vancouver and Grant Park Symphony Orchestras. She has performed, recorded, and appeared in broadcasts with the St. Louis, Chicago, and Houston Symphony Orchestras and the New York Philharmonic. She has made solo appearances with many major orchestras and festivals and presented recitals and master classes worldwide. She appears on recordings and international broadcasts with Eastman Brass, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Chamber Musicians, and CBC Radio. Her most recent recordings include “Carmen Fantasia” on Warner Brothers and “With Clarion Voice” on D’Note Records with Charles Geyer. She is a former faculty member of the Northwestern University, Eastman School of Music and University of British Columbia, and studied with Vincent Cichowicz and Adolph Herseth. Ms. Butler began as Professor of Trumpet at Rice University in 2013.

Principal horn with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for 25 years, Julie Landsman is a distinguished performing artist and educator. She received a bachelor of music degree from The Juilliard School in 1975 under the tutelage of James Chambers and Ranier De Intinis, and has served as a member of the Juilliard faculty since 1989 to 2024.  Her appointment to the faculty at USC Thornton School of Music began in 2020.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Landsman achieved her dream of becoming principal of the MET in 1985 and held that position until 2010. She has also shared her talent to many other ensembles within the city as a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and having performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic. Additionally, she has performed with numerous groups outside the city, including her co-principal position with the Houston Symphony, substitute principal position with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra as Associate principal horn, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

She has recorded for RCA, Deutsche Gramophone, CRI, Nonesuch and Vanguard labels, and is most famous for her performance of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle as solo horn with the MET Opera under the direction of James Levine. Landsman has performed as chamber musician at numerous festivals and concert series, including the Marlboro Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she appeared as a guest artist with the Guarneri Quartet. In the summers she currently performs and teaches at the Music Academy of the West, the Sarasota Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival.

World renowned as a master teacher, Julie Landsman held faculty positions at The Juilliard School and Bard College Conservatory. Her current position is adjunct professor of music at USC. She has presented master classes at such distinguished institutions as The Colburn School, Curtis Institute, Eastman School of Music, Mannes College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, USC Thornton School of Music, Cal State Long Beach, Rowan University, University of Oklahoma, and University of Southern Mississippi, to name a few. She is also a visiting master teacher at the New World Symphony in Miami. Her international presence includes master classes in Norway, Sweden, and Israel.  In 2016 Landsman was an honored jury member at the ARD horn competition in Munich, Germany.

Her students hold positions in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Opera and Ballet Orchestras, Washington National Opera Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Nova Scotia Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and the American Brass Quintet. She recently received the “Pioneer Award” from the International Women’s Brass Conference and was a featured artist at the International Horn Society Conference in 2012 and 2015.  She was featured in the International Musician magazine in February, 2022. https://internationalmusician.org/julie-landsman/  She was interviewed by Local 802 in 2013 https://www.local802afm.org/allegro/articles/telling-it-like-it-is/

Her series of Carmine Caruso lessons on YouTube have led to further fame and renown among today’s generation of horn players. Landsman currently resides in Santa Barbara, CA.

Hailed as one the greatest classical trombonists of his generation, Mark Lawrence has had a long and successful career as an orchestral musician, soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, he was Principal Trombonist with the San Francisco Symphony for 34 years . In that capacity, he traveled the world performing and giving master
classes. As a chamber musician, he has been a member of the world famous and groundbreaking Empire Brass Quintet, the Center City Brass Quintet, the Four of a Kind trombone quartet, the Summit Brass Ensemble, and San Francisco’s Bay Brass Ensemble. He was a featured soloist with the San Francisco Symphony on many occasions, and has been a frequent recitalist in this country and abroad. In 2005 Mr. Lawrence was asked to join Sir George Solti’s World Orchestra for Peace, comprised of orchestral musicians from all over the world. As a member of that group, he performed wildly successful concerts in New York, London, Moscow, and Beijing. Mr. Lawrence has also been guest Principal Trombone with the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and is currently a member of Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. Teaching has always been a big part of his life, and many of his students have successful orchestral and chamber careers in the U.S., Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Japan. In addition to The Colburn School, he has been on the faculty of Boston University, Northwestern University, Tanglewood Institute, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and currently, Music Academy of the West. As a recording artist, his impressive discography includes 3 solo recordings, 16 chamber music recordings with Empire Brass Quintet, Center City Brass Quintet, The Four of a Kind Trombone quartet, Summit Brass, and Bay Brass, and over 30 recordings with the San Francisco Symphony, including their Grammy winning recordings of Mahler Symphonies number 3 and 7.

“A GREAT VIRTUOSO ...DAZZLING” (LA PRESSE - MONTREAL)

JUNO nominated artist Paul Merkelo is recognized as “a spectacular soloist ...a most impressive master of his instrument” (Montreal Gazette) who “knows no limits” (Der Spiegel online - Germany) with “unusual lyrical gifts’’ (Gramophone). Principal trumpet with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 1995, he has been featured frequently with the OSM, including tours to South America and at the Lincoln Center in New York, and is the first member of the orchestra to be invited to record a debut solo album with the orchestra (French concertos - Kent Nagano).

In 1999, he was appointed Canadian musical ambassador to China for the inauguration of the Montreal Park in Shanghai, and as soloist with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in a national telecast. Mr. Merkelo made his New York debut at Lincoln Center with the New World Symphony Orchestra and Michael Tilson Thomas in 1998. He has worked with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Charles Dutoit, Lorin Maazel, Sir Georg Solti, Zubin Mehta and Valery Gergiev, and has been invited as guest principal trumpet in the Pittsburgh Symphony orchestra and New York Philharmonic.

Mr. Merkelo’s first solo recording, A Simple Song was ranked #1 in Quebec’s classical recording chart in 2000. In 2004, Analekta released a highly praised second CD, Baroque Transcriptions, which was nominated by ADISQ for Best Classical Album of the Year. French Concertos with OSM/KENT NAGANO was nominated by the JUNO Awards as Best Classical Album of the Year -Soloist with large ensemble in 2016.

In 2020, the English Chamber Orchestra featured him with the Haydn and Leopold Mozart concerti on a UK tour, and MediciTV released a DVD concert of his “Gershwin Romance Music” project showcasing his jazz and improvisation skills.

Also in 2020, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra commissioned Gabriela Ortiz to write a new concerto for trumpet featuring soloist and the principal trumpet of the orchestra.

Paul has been on the faculty at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara since 2005, and is also on faculty at McGill University in Montreal. He is on the board of directors for the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (Canada), and is the founder of the Paul Merkelo Scholarship, which helps young, gifted brass players with financial aid and career guidance.

Paul Merkelo is a Yamaha artist.

Grammy Award winner, Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, and Music Academy alum Jennifer Montone has been hailed by The New York Times for her "flawless horn solos... and warm and noble sound". The Principal Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, she has been on the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School since joining the orchestra in 2006. Previously she served as the Principal Horn of the Saint Louis Symphony and Associate Principal Horn of the Dallas Symphony. She regularly performs as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the National Symphony, the Polish National Radio Symphony, and the Warsaw National Philharmonic. Montone studied with Music Academy teaching artist Julie Landsman at The Juilliard School. Her recording of the Penderecki Horn Concerto, "Winterreise" with the Warsaw National Philharmonic won a 2013 Grammy Award in the category of "Best Classical Compendium”.

A prominent leader, performer, and educator in classical music, Weston Sprott is Dean and Director of the Preparatory Division at The Juilliard School, a Co-Founder of the Black Orchestral Network, and a trombonist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Weston Sprott’s work is based on mission-driven values developed over a twenty-year career in the arts. His approach to all elements of his career is steeped in basic principles—a commitment to excellence and fairness, an abiding sense of kindness and compassion towards others, and an unwavering sense of optimism that is not naive. Sprott grew up in Spring, TX, immersed in the fabric of sports, marching bands, soul and R&B music, hip-hop culture, and the Pentecostal church. From an early age, his parents raised him to take pride in his identity, cultivate an industrious spirit, and embrace the heritage of leaders in arts and culture who speak truth to power and understand the implications of being Black in America. In a visit to his office, one will find photos of several individuals he views as inspirations, like Muhammad Ali, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Wynton Marsalis, and Malcolm X.

Following studies at Indiana University and the Curtis Institute of Music, Sprott began a robust performance career that includes orchestral, chamber, and solo performances. Hailed as “an excellent trombonist” with a “sense of style and phrasing [that] takes a backseat to no one,” he has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. In addition to being a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, since 2005, he has held positions with the Zurich Opera and Philharmonia, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Delaware Symphony. He has performed with several of the world's leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, and the Oslo Philharmonic. He can be heard on numerous solo, chamber, symphonic, opera, and film recordings, from “Live from Lincoln Center” broadcasts to the recent “Lion King” live-action movie. His chamber music and festival engagements include Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Gateways Chamber Players, Classical Tahoe, Festival Napa Valley, Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, PRIZM Ensemble, and numerous others.

Growing up in a home of educators, the value and importance of teaching was reinforced from an early age and informs Sprott’s approach to his work. His commitment to working with young people is evidenced by his prolific teaching career. Sprott’s former students hold positions in leading ensembles across the world as well as others who have forged successful careers in other fields. He holds faculty positions at Juilliard, Bard College, and Music Academy of the West. He frequently appears as a guest teacher for the New World Symphony and The Orchestra Now, and has presented over a hundred masterclasses at conservatories and colleges around the world. Previous faculty positions include Mannes College, Rutgers University, Purchase College, Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program (MAP), PRIZM, Curtis Institute of Music’s Young Artist Summer Program, National Youth Orchestra-USA (NYO-USA and NYO2), Aspen Music Festival and School, and Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (SICMF).

The inclusion of arts administration into his career was inspired by a pivotal conversation with mentor Wynton Marsalis, who encouraged Sprott to "switch from the me agenda to the we agenda.” In 2019, Sprott was named Dean of the Preparatory Division at The Juilliard School—comprising the Pre-College and Music Advancement Program (MAP)—becoming the first Black dean in the institution’s history. During his tenure as Dean and Director, Sprott has played a central role in securing multiple transformative gifts for both the Pre-College and MAP, including permanent endowment and episodic funding to increase access to music education and build a more inclusive repertoire for young musicians. With this support, Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program, which actively seeks students historically underrepresented and underserved in classical music, now serves over 50% more students and provides full-tuition scholarships to all students in perpetuity. The Preparatory Division has contributed substantially to the creation of new work, having commissioned over 50 new works and counting—including etudes, solos, chamber, choral, wind ensemble, and orchestral works—with a focus on increasing the diversity of composers introduced to young musicians, creating a more inclusive future, and meaningfully elevating the work of talented creators from every walk of life. In 2020, upon receiving the Sphinx Medal of Excellence—the highest honor bestowed by the organization—and recognizing the importance of year-round educational opportunities, he established the “Weston Sprott and Anthony McGill MAP Summer Scholarship Fund'' in partnership with MAP Artistic Director, Anthony McGill. In 2021, he was awarded the Sphinx Venture Fund for “Composing Inclusion,” a partnership between Juilliard, the New York Philharmonic, and American Composers Forum that commissioned and premiered nine new works with flexible orchestration by Black and Latinx composers, performed side-by-side by Preparatory Division students and the New York Philharmonic.

In 2021, Sprott co-founded the Black Orchestral Network (BON), an organization that supports Black orchestral musicians whose mission is “cultivating community, lifting our voices, and telling our stories.” Since its inception, BON has released multiple open letters to the field shedding light on inequitable practices and policies affecting Black musicians in the industry and created the podcast Black Music Seen to capture the stories of important Black figures in classical music. Sprott’s advocacy efforts have also led to the creation of the National Alliance for Audition Support, Sphinx Orchestral Partners Auditions Excerpt Competition, and Classical Tahoe Academy, as well as numerous other initiatives that are shifting the landscape of the industry.

Regularly sought after as a speaker and panelist, Sprott recently delivered the keynote address for SphinxConnect and the alumni commencement address at his alma mater, the Curtis Institute of Music. He has consulted for various organizations, authored several articles in publications including Local 802’s Allegro, and been featured in the Wall Street Journal and on the cover of the International Musician, the national publication of the American Federation of Musicians. Sprott has been the recipient of the Atlanta Symphony’s Aspire Award and the Community Music Center of Boston’s John Kleshinski Award.

Sprott is the Board Chair of the Friends of Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, a member of the Sphinx National Advisory Board, and the Avery Fisher Artist Program's Recommendation Board. He has served as an advisory board member for Project STEP, the Community Music Center of Boston, and the Bronx Arts Ensemble. As an artist and clinician for the Antoine Courtois Instrument Company, Sprott performs exclusively on the Creation New York trombone, an instrument he designed.