Guest Artists
Dr. Gail Robertson
University of Central Arkansas
Dr. Gail Robertson has a distinguished reputation as a euphonium artist and teacher, soloist, and clinician. She has also garnered worldwide attention for leadership, her work as composer/arranger, and as a musical talent. Robertson serves as Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Central Arkansas. She is the former head of the jazz area where she coordinated jazz events and conducted the top jazz ensemble. In addition to teaching, she performs as tubist in the faculty brass quintet, Pinnacle Brass.
Robertson earned her B.A. degree from the University of Central Florida and a M.M. from Indiana University and D.M.A. from Michigan State University where she was a University Distinguished Fellow. Robertson has studied with Harvey Phillips, Phil Sinder, and Ava Ordman. She performed for ten years with the world-famous Tubafours at Walt Disney World, Orlando, where she was musical supervisor/chief arranger and produced a highly acclaimed CD, Tubas Under the Boardwalk. Dr. Robertson has taught on the faculties of Eastern Michigan University, the University of Central Florida, Bethune-Cookman University, the University of Florida.
Dr. Robertson is President of the International Tuba and Euphonium Association (ITEA) and serves on the Board of Directors of the Leonard Falcone Tuba and Euphonium Festival. Robertson is a recipient of Tau Beta Sigma’s highest honor, the Outstanding Service to Music Award. She was awarded the ITEA’s Clifford Bevan Award for Excellence in Research for her research manuscript, “Restoring the Euphonium’s Legacy as Cello of the Wind Band.”
Kevin Day
Award-Winning Composer
An American composer whose music has been “characterized by propulsive, syncopated rhythms, colorful orchestration, and instrumental virtuosity,” (Robert Kirzinger, Boston Symphony Orchestra) Kevin Day (b. 1996) has quickly emerged as one of the leading young voices in the world of music composition today. Day was born in Charleston, West Virginia and is a native of Arlington, Texas. His father was a prominent hip-hop producer in the late-1980s in Southern California, and his mother was a sought-after gospel singer from West Virginia, singing alongside the likes of Mel Torme and Kirk Franklin. Kevin Day is a composer, conductor, producer, and multi-instrumentalist on tuba, euphonium, jazz piano and more, whose music often intersects between the worlds of jazz, minimalism, Latin music, fusion, and contemporary classical idioms. Day currently serves as the Composer-In-Residence of the Mesquite Symphony Orchestra.
A winner of the BMI Student Composer Award and other honors, Day has composed over 200 works, and has had numerous performances throughout the United States, Russia, Austria, Australia, Taiwan, South Africa, and Japan. His works have been programmed by the Boston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, and more. He was also selected as the 3rd Prize winner of the 2020 New Classics International Young Composer Contest of the Moscow Conservatory. His works have also been performed at Carnegie Hall, Rachmaninov Hall (Russia), The Midwest Clinic, TMEA, and other major venues. Day has collaborated with the likes of Jens Lindemann, Demondrae Thurman, and Jeremy Lewis on concertos for their respective instruments, as well as chamber ensembles like Ensemble Dal Niente, The Puerto Rican Trombone Ensemble, The Zenith Saxophone Quartet, The Tesla Quartet, and many more. He has worked with and has been mentored by distinguished composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Frank Ticheli, John Mackey, William Owens, Julie Giroux, Marcos Balter, Anthony Cheung, Matthew Evan Taylor, and Valerie Coleman.
Day will be starting his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music this coming fall, where he will study composition with Valerie Coleman, Lansing McLoskey, Charles Norman Mason, and Dorothy Hindman, as well as jazz piano with Shelly Berg. Day will be graduating in May with his Master of Music in Composition Degree at the University of Georgia, where he studied with composers Peter Van Zandt Lane, Emily Koh, and conductor Cynthia Johnston Turner. He received his Bachelor of Music Degree in Tuba/Euphonium Performance from Texas Christian University (TCU), where he studied tuba and euphonium with Richard Murrow and composition primarily with Neil Anderson-Himmelspach. His works are published with Murphy Music Press, Dev Music Publishing, Cimarron Music, and Kevin Day Music. Day currently serves as the Vice President for the Millennium Composers Initiative and is an alumnus of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America.
Tyler S. Grant
Composer and Music Educator
Holy Innocents' Episcopal School
Tyler S. Grant (b. June 23, 1995) is an Atlanta-based composer of music for concert bands, orchestras, and chamber groups; many of which have been performed around the world and by musicians of all levels. His works for wind band have been found on Editor’s Choice lists from various international music distributors in addition to being performed by many region and state-wide honor bands. His work Panoramic Fanfare was named a winner in the 2014 “Call for Fanfares” Competition hosted by the Dallas Wind Symphony. The fanfare has since been performed by collegiate and professional ensembles in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. Since 2010, he has regularly accepted commissions for new works and produced new publications for bands and chamber groups each year. While he has never formally studied composition, he credits his mentors Brian Balmages and Randall Coleman as being pivotal to his success as a composer and a conductor. Notable performance venues of his work include The Midwest Clinic, Carnegie Hall, Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas), The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and numerous state-wide, national, and international music conventions.
In addition to his writing, Tyler enjoys conducting and clinic engagements with ensembles throughout the United States. He has served as a conductor and clinician of university, district, and state level honor bands in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Louisiana, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Tyler was recently a contributing author in Alfred Music Publishing Company’s Sound Innovations: Ensemble Development series and has contributed interviews to numerous podcasts and articles including School Band & Orchestra Magazine and The Instrumentalist.
Tyler is a graduate of the University of Alabama where he earned a degree in instrumental music education. He is on the middle and high school music faculty of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School in Atlanta, Georgia and maintains an active composing and conducting schedule. His more than 25 published works are available through The FJH Music Company, Inc. and Tyler S. Grant Music Works, LLC
Drew Bonner
FivE Quartet
Drew Bonner (b.1991) is a composer, arranger, performer, teacher, and musical guru. He lives in Austin, Texas where he enjoys eating tacos, petting dogs, and working in the musical culture that the city has become known for.
Drew is a very active arranger creating 50+ arrangements per year for various ensembles. He regularly writes music for collegiate marching bands and loves cheering at college football games on Saturdays in the fall. Drew also writes original music for bands, chamber ensembles, and soloists. His compositions has been performed by groups across the United States including the Fountain City Brass Band and the Stiletto Brass Quintet.
Drew is a founding member of the euphonium quartet FivE, regularly giving performances and masterclasses around the United States. Their perspective on chamber music is influenced by creating an extramusical experience for the audience which includes not just euphonium playing, but singing, dancing, comedy, and other theatrical elements. Honestly, it’s hard to explain, but you’ll love it. Go see their shows.
Drew is currently finishing his Master’s degree at the University of Texas studying euphonium with Charles Villarrubia. In addition, he serves as a graduate teaching assistant with the University of Texas Bands. He enjoys listening to and singing barbershop quartet music and will gladly sing anything except bass as his voice doesn’t go very low. In his free time, he enjoys road trips and listening to podcasts. Drew is a Buffet Crampon and Besson performing artist and plays exclusively on a Besson Prestige 2051. His favorite pasta dish is carbonara.
