LSWO honors great women in music on April 24 in Dallas

Velvet Brown is profoundly passionate about teaching and is a Distinguished Professor of Music at the Pennsylvania State University. She teaches applied tuba and euphonium and coordinates the brass chamber music program. Many of her students have won prestigious playing and teaching positions and were prizewinners at various regional, national and international competitions. Brown also serves as the Associate Director of the School of Music for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Velvet Brown enjoys a career as professor, international soloist, chamber ensemble performer, recording artist, conductor, and orchestral player. She has performed and taught in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Finland, France, England, Hungary, Slovenia, Russia, Japan, Cuba, Canada and the United States. Ms. Brown is currently the principal tubist of the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra. Brown was honored to be principal tuba with the Hope and Harmony Ensemble which recorded a video of fanfares for the 2021 Presidential Inauguration conducted by Marin Alsop. She has served as principal tuba with the River City Brass band, guest principal with the Lahti Philharmonic in Finland and as substitute or additional tubist with the Detroit Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, San Francisco Women’s Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Having performed and worked closely with jazz and commercial artists regarded as some of the most influential musicians of all time, including Howard Johnson, Bob Stewart and Doc Severinsen, she felt inspired to explore new territories in her music career. As a consequence, influenced also by some personal experiences, she decided to explore in music how life events shape one’s creativity and thus started a veritable music renaissance, which involves soul-searching musical patterns and a more profound relationship with the audience. She is the co- founder of MOJATUBA: Tuba and Dance Fusion Project and is in her 15th year as lead tuba with Howard Johnson’s “Gravity” Tuba Jazz Ensemble.

Velvet Brown has been an invited solo artist or tuba solo artist adjudicator at the International Tuba and Euphonium Conferences since 1998. She has also served as guest conductor for festivals in the United States in Maine, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania as well as abroad in Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Japan, and Canada. Brown is also honored to be Visiting Artist Faculty at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to her tenure at Penn State, she also taught at Bowling Green State University (Ohio), Ball State University (Indiana), and served as an associate director of University Bands at Boston University.

Brown has garnered high praise as a founding and current member of Stiletto Brass Quintet, Monarch Brass Quintet and Brass Ensemble, the Quintet of Americas and the Pennsylvania Brassworks. Moreover, she is also a founding board member of the International Women’s Brass Conference.

She has released four solo CDs, and has collaborated on several other recordings as a soloist and ensemble member, such as Stiletto Brass Quintet featuring Doc Severinsen, trumpet, on one of her original compositions, Testimony (Howard Johnson and Gravity) as lead tuba, and a solo tuba jazz recording with the Cleveland Jazz Ensemble with Paul Ferguson, director. Velvet Brown is a Buffet/Crampon Performing Artist, performing on the MW 2250 and 2182 F tubas, and the MW 2000 and MW 3450 C tubas. She is also a performing artist for Denis Wick mouthpieces, mutes, and accessories.

The Lantana Trio was formed in 2018 by faculty members of the University of North Texas. Members include Raquel Samayoa on trumpet, Stacie Mickens on horn, and Natalie Mannix on trombone. Excited for this new opportunity to collaborate, they have presented recitals at UNT, performed as featured soloists with the UNT Wind Symphony, and performed a recital at the 2019 International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) and 2020 South Texas Brass Symposium. Advocates for diversity in the arts, Lantana recently recorded an album of works for brass trio with three new commissions by BIPOC and women composers. Members of Lantana are also excited to be the next co-hosts of the IWBC hosted at the University of North Texas in May of 2022.

Originally from South Lake Tahoe, California, Melissa now resides in Denton, Texas where she maintains a sizable private studio. She earned her Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Performance with a minor in Music Management at University of the Pacific with Dr. Matt Tropman. She then completed her Master of Music degree in Music Performance with Dr. Richard White at the University of New Mexico before attending the University of North Texas to study with Dr. Brian Bowman. Melissa served as a euphonium teaching fellow to David Childs during the final year of her Doctorate in Music Performance with a related field in Music Education. In 2019, the International Women’s Brass conference named Melissa the grand prize winner of the Susan Slaughter Solo Competition. She has also won concerto competitions hosted by University of the Pacific and the University of North Texas in addition to competing internationally as a soloist. Melissa Plays a Willson 2900 with a Schilke 51D euro shank mouthpiece.

Amy Woody is currently serving as a Doctoral Conducting Associate for the University of North Texas Wind Studies Program, a conducting student of professors Eugene Migliaro Corporon, Andrew Trachsel, and Daniel Cook. In addition to her studies, Ms. Woody conducts the UNT Concert Band. Prior to UNT, Amy Woody served as the Director of Bands (2014-2021) and Associate Director of Bands (2007-2014) at John H. Guyer High School in Denton, TX.  The Guyer Wind Ensemble was named a Commended Winner in the 2021 Mark of Excellence New Music Category, a 2018 Mark of Excellence Wind Band National Winner, and a 2018 Western International Band Conference Invited Ensemble in Seattle, Washington.

Amy Woody has performed in the clarinet section of the Lone Star Wind Orchestra since the fall of 2008.  In her time with the group, she has enjoyed a variety of concert experiences that include performing at the International Midwest Band and Orchestra Conference, WASBE, TBA, Clarinetfest, the OU Clarinet Symposium as well as other professional engagements in the DFW Area. Ms. Woody’s past performance engagements include the Richardson Symphony Orchestra, Waco Symphony Orchestra, and the Oswego Opera Orchestra.

Ms. Woody is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (MM Clarinet Performance and Literature) and Baylor University (BME). She is a native north Texan and a graduate of Marcus High School in Flower Mound.  She currently resides in Denton, TX and very much enjoys spending time with her friends, family, and her most loveable labrador pup, Russell.