All the Little Things a CV Doesn't Say

I grew up on Long Island, NY and my musical studies began at a relatively young age. I started singing in the church choir in the second grade and shortly after that I began playing cornet in the Bay Shore band program. Around the same time, I started piano llessons with Chuck Arnold. When I started high school, I learned that I couldn't play in the band, orchestra, jazz ensemble, and also sing in the school choir. 

Between my senior year of high school and freshman year of college, I really had my eye's opened as to what was required to be a trumpeter in the classical music world. Two words, or really one word and one name, transposition and Frank Kaderabic. That summer I took part in the School of Orchestral Studies at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, the summer home of the Philidelphia orchestra.  

While I never really stopped playing piano - more on that later - I had to focus on my trumpet studies when I started college at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Most semesters I spent performing in the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the Wind Ensemble, Brass Ensemble and the CWRU Jazz Ensemble. Some highlights of those years include performances with Andre Watts, PIerre Boulez, and Kurt Mazur. If I'm being honest though, the real highlight was getting to play day in and day out with my fellow trumpeters, many of whom were incredibly supportive through the years - in no particular order they are Greg Gilmore, Stan Curtis, Geoff Hardcastle, and Ryan Anthony.