Tuba Bach Week 2 – The Tuba Bach Quartet
Saturday, September 21, 2019 — 7 PM
Sunday, September 22, 2019 — 4 PM
Big Rapids High School Auditorium
21175 15 Mile Rd, Big Rapids
Saturday, September 21 – 12 PM Lunch Bachs Family Concert at Three Girls Bakery (106 N Michigan Ave, Big Rapids, MI 49307)
Phil Sinder, Charles Guy and Gail Robertson join Ed in a program looking to play “outside-of-the-box” and explore new possibilities for four musicians and an assorted collection of tuba-type instruments!
Philip Sinder is professor of tuba and euphonium at the Michigan State University College of Music. His students are found in performance and teaching positions throughout the United States, and have won awards in numerous performance competitions. Sinder has performed with many leading ensembles, including the Detroit Symphony, Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Mariinsky Orchestra, and Houston Symphony. He is a founding member of the Brass Band of Battle Creek, and also performs frequently with the Lansing Symphony, Michigan Opera Theatre, and the Beaumont Brass Quintet of MSU. His solo tuba recording, “Aerodynamics”, has received strong critical acclaim, and he has performed on over 20 large ensemble and brass quintet recordings. In 2009, Sinder was the recipient of the Withrow Excellence in Teaching Award at Michigan State University, and in 2017 he received the International Tuba Euphonium Association Excellence in Teaching Award. He currently serves as chairman for the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival, and since 2005 has been a Valade Teaching Fellow at the Interlochen Arts Camp. Sinder earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and a Master of Music degree from Wichita State University.
Charles Guy is Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the Crane School of 
Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam. He performs with the Potsdam Brass Quintet, Orchestra of Northern New York, and the Northern Symphonic Winds. Prior to his current appointment, Charles held a similar position at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music and performed with the Lawrence Brass, the Oshkosh Symphony and the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, he has performed recitals at several International Tuba and Euphonium Association conferences and in 1999 he won the prestigious Leonard Falcone Festival artist division solo tuba competition. He has also presented numerous master classes and clinics for music educators and tuba-euphonium students at conventions and in schools. His orchestral experience includes performances with the Syracuse Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Michigan Opera Theatre, and Midland Symphony Orchestras. He has published articles and reviews in the International Tuba and Euphonium Association Journal and has been recorded on the Mark and Bernel Labels. In the summers, he taught tuba and euphonium at the Interlochen Arts Camp for over ten years. He earned both the Masters of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Music Performance degree from the University of Akron. When not teaching or performing, he enjoys time with his wife, Lorie, and two boys, Ethan and Miles.
Dr. Gail Robertson serves as Assistant Professor of Tuba and Euphonium/Jazz at the University of Central Arkansas. In addition to teaching, she heads the Jazz area, conducts Jazz Ensemble I, and performs as tubist in the Pinnacle Brass. She earned her B.A. degree from the University of Central Florida and a M.M. in Euphonium Performance from Indiana University while serving as graduate assistant to Harvey Phillips. Gail postponed her doctoral studies at the University of Maryland with Dr. Brian Bowman to perform with the “Tubafours” at Walt Disney World, Orlando where she served as musical supervisor/chief arranger and produced a highly acclaimed CD, “Tubas Under the Boardwalk.” She completed her D.M.A. as a University Distinguished Fellow at Michigan State University studying with Phil Sinder, Ava Ordman, and Ricardo Lorenz. She has taught on the faculties of Eastern Michigan University, the University of Central Florida, Bethune-Cookman University, the University of Florida, and remains active as a teacher, adjudicator, jazz clinician, composer, arranger and free-lance artist, both nationally and internationally.
Robertson was elected Vice President/President Elect of the International Tuba and Euphonium Association (ITEA) for a six-year term that began July 1, 2017. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Leonard Falcone Tuba and Euphonium Festival. She is Past President of the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) and co-hosted two international conferences (2006, 2010). Gail was Chair/Chief Editor of the International Tuba and Euphonium Press (2012-2017). She also served as Euphonium and Membership Coordinator of the ITEA and was the featured artist on the cover of the ITEA Journal (Vol. 38:1, Fall 2010). Two of Gail’s original works have also been featured Gems in the ITEA Journal (Jazz Encounter No. 1 – Gem Series No. 22, Vol. 38:1, Fall 2010, and Allegro et Andantango – Gem Series No. 33, Vol. 41:3, Spring 2014).
In 2015, Gail was Euphonium Clinician for the American Band College in Ashland, Oregon. She was awarded the 2014 Clifford Bevan Award for Excellence in Research for her research manuscript, “Restoring the Euphonium’s Legacy as Cello of the Wind Band.” Her original work for brass quintet, Tower Guard Tribute, was awarded honorable mention by the 2014 International Alliance for Women in Music’s Patsy Lu competition. In May 2009, Gail recorded a CD with Dr. Stacy Baker, Alex Thio, and Dr. Deb Eastwood, called “SymbiosisDuo.” SYMBIOSISDUO released their second CD, “Playground,” in February 2015. Several of the works recorded by the duo were newly commissioned works written especially for the duo, including Composers: Franz Cibulka, Jim Self, James Grant, Christopher Marshall, Brian Balmages, Chris Sharp, Kimberly Archer, T.O. Sterrett, and Phillip Bimstein.
In 2016, Gail recorded another CD, The R.S.V.B. Quartet – Fanfare and Flourish, with Dr. Deanna Swoboda, Dr. Stacy Baker, and SFC Lauren Veronie-Curran. This recording includes several of Gail’s original compositions, Okto Flourish, Psychedelic Dances, and In A Funk. Gail is a recipient of Tau Beta Sigma’s highest honor, the “Outstanding Service to Music Award.” Gail has also been a clinician for the MIDWEST Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, the Florida Music Educators Association, the Michigan Music Conference, and numerous ITEA, IWBC, and United States Army Tuba and Euphonium Conferences. Gail recently served as judge for the Dardanelle Jazz Festival and was the state judge for the Florida Solo and Ensemble Festival. She has performed as tenor tubist for the Sarasota Orchestra/Sarasota Ballet performance of Balanchine’s “Stars and Stripes” and as principal euphoniumist in the Blossom Festival Band’s (The Cleveland Orchestra, 2017/2018) “Salute to America” conducted by Loras John Schissel.
Dr. Gail Robertson served together with Dr. Stacy Baker as Co-Instrumental Advisor and Co-Curriculum Designer for the Pro-Series Elite Practice Systems for Tuba and Euphonium providing all exercises, instruction, and quartet arrangements as well as performing as on-screen talent alongside some of their students for the revolutionary pedagogical series of 10 DVDs for tuba and 10 DVDs for euphonium. The project was fully funded and released by American Product Group, LLC (2013), along with similar series for each of the wind instruments. Gail has published articles, reviews, and compositions for the online magazine, Bandworld, and the International Tuba Euphonium Association, ITEA Journal. Robertson has toured the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan with Keith Brion’s “New Sousa Band,” the Brass Band of Battle Creek, the Monarch Brass, the Athena Brass Band, and the Brass Band of Central Florida. She has also performed as a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall with Jay Gephart (Director) and Purdue University’s Wind Ensemble. As tenor tubist/tubist/bass trumpet with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Arkansas Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony (2019). Other ensembles include: River City Brass Band, Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band, Euphoniums Unlimited, Symphonia, and SYMBIOSISDUO. Robertson has performed at the Midwest Clinic with The Monarch Brass (2016), The Brass Band of Battle Creek (2017) and Keith Brion’s New Sousa Band (2009 and 2018). Gail will be featured soloist in February 2019 at the United States Army Tuba-Euphonium Workshop and will be performing the orchestral world premiere of Barbara York’s Concerto “Creative States” for Euphonium with the U.S. Pershing’s Own Symphony Orchestra. Also featured at this workshop will be Walt Disney’s The Tubafours (30th Anniversary performance), the UCA Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble, and Robertson’s Another Eupher’s Dream will be premiered by Dr. Brian Bowman and the Armed Forces Euphonium Ensemble.
Dr. Robertson and Dr. Baker were honored to be the featured guest artists of the 2017 Leonard Falcone Tuba and Euphonium Festival where they commissioned and premiered Eric Knechtges’ double concerto for wind band, Twin Lake Reflections. Robertson will be the featured Euphonium Artist this summer for the International Women’s Brass Conference at Arizona State University. Her published works and arrangements are available through GAR MUSIC, Euphonium.com and Tuba-Euphonium Press. As a Willson Euphonium Artist, Robertson’s euphonium of choice is a Willson 2950TA with a bronze Warburton/Gail Robertson mouthpiece.