Personnel

Nick Patsis (Cornet) has been an active music educator in the Palm Beach County schools for over thirty years. He received a Master of Arts in Teaching from Florida Atlantic University, a Bachelor of Music Education from Florida State University, and an Associates of Arts in Music from Palm Beach Community College. Mr. Patsis began his teaching career at Jupiter High School, where he served as Interim Band Director for a semester. In 1978, he accepted the position of Director of Bands at Congress Community Middle School, where he taught until 1987. In the fall of 1987, Mr. Patsis became the Director of Bands at Christa McAuliffe Middle School. He retired in May 2019 after teaching for 42 years.

Mr. Patsis is the Co-Director of the Palm Beach County Band Camps, which he co-founded in 2001. While a full-time music educator, he maintains an active career as a freelance trumpet player. He has performed with Palm Beach Opera, Palm Beach Symphony, Orchestra Delray, Orchid City Brass Band, Florida Wind Symphony, Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater, Jupiter Theater, Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, Holliday on Ice, The Boca Pops, and numerous other professional and community organizations.

Trudy Cavallo (Cornet) has played trumpet throughout the world in a wide variety of venues and styles of music. Her music travels have taken her from playing tours of Ecuador and Italy to engagements in Paris and the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo. She has performed with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Florence, Italy, the Dance Theatre of Harlem's inaugural Broadway season, in several Broadway shows, and as an on-stage performer in a revival production of "Sugar" with Joe Namath, Phil Ford, and Mimi Hines in Atlantic City, NJ. Other well-known performers with whom she has worked include: Cab Calloway, Bob Hope, and the Latin legend, Machito. In South Florida, she has performed with many different groups, including the Symphony of the Americas, the Wind Symphony of Florida, the South Beach Chamber Ensemble, and the Miami Oratorio Society. She has also soloed with the Hollywood Philharmonic and the Broward Symphony Orchestra.

James Estes James Estes (Cornet) has a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Southern Mississippi and a M.S. Degree from the University of Illinois-Urbana. Mr. Estes was a Graduate Assistant at the University of Miami and completed all the coursework and qualifying exams for the Ph.D. Degree in Music Education. In addition to his formal education, Mr. Estes was a private trumpet student of Vincent Cichowicz of the Chicago Symphony and later studied with Gilbert Johnson, formerly Principal Trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was co-Principal Trumpet of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra for 23 years. In his career Mr. Estes has performed with many of the most famous names in music, opera and ballet including Luciano Pavarotti, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolph Nureyev, John Williams, and Itzhak Perlman. In popular music Mr. Estes performed with Ray Charles, Peter Nero, Dionne Warwick, Doc Severinsen, Herb Alpert, and Frank Sinatra, Jr. among many others.

In November, 2008, Mr. Estes became certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. He is a member of the International Trumpet Guild and the American Federation of Musicians.

As a performer, Mr. Estes currently appears as Principal Trumpet in several orchestras, including The Academy Orchestra, The South Florida Philharmonic, and was recently appointed Principal Solo Cornet of the Orchid City Brass Band.

Rick Perez (Cornet) has over 20 years of musical performance, conducting, and brass band training experience. He began his musical journey as a teenager by participating in the Salvation Army music summer camp programs in Keystone Heights, Florida. By the age of 17 he was conducting his first brass band ensemble as bandmaster of the Hialeah Corps Band. His formal music education and performance studies continued at Miami-Dade College and as a private student of famed trumpet virtuoso and master teacher, Gilbert Johnson (Philadelphia Orchestra, Curtis Institute of Music and University Of Miami.). Rick's conducting and brass studies continued via various Salvation Army music programs with notable educators and performers including James Curnow, William Himes, Bram Gregson, Robert Redhead, Bill Broughton, and Stephen Bulla. As a performer and conductor, Rick has appeared and performed with numerous groups including: the Florida Philharmonic, Florida Southern College Brass Quintet, King’s Brass, Sunshine Brass, Southeastern University Wind Orchestra, the Florida Divisional Band, the Southern Territorial Staff Band of the Salvation Army, Triangle Brass and the Brass Band of Central Florida. In addition to conducting and performing with various ensembles around the country, Mr. Perez has been a regular clinician, conductor, and educator at various summer music camps and clinics. He performs exclusively on Smith-Watkins professional brass instruments. Rick and his wife of 26 years reside in Palm City, Florida."

Eb Cornet)has been a Palm Beach County music educator since 1974. He holds a Masters Degree from FAU . He was the Dean of the Palm Beach County School of the Arts and subsequently became the Dean of the Music Department of the Dryfoos School of the Arts.

Randy is a music clinician, conductor, adjuticator and freelance trumpet player . He is a long time resident of Jupiter.

(Cornet) joined the faculty of Florida Atlantic University in 1982. He has taught trumpet, music theory and history, composition and jazz courses. He is active in South Florida as a trumpeter and arranger, and leads the Jazz Rats Big Band and the Rattette, both Ensembles in Residence at FAU. His compositions and arrangements are available through the University of Northern Colorado Jazz Press..

(Tenor Horn) attended Florida State University and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Music Education and a Bachelor of Music in Horn Performance. She has performed as a member of the world-renowned Florida State University Marching Chiefs serving as the Head Drum Major, as well as the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps serving as Section Leader and Soloist. Currently she is the Director of Bands at Boca Raton High School.

(Euphonium) teaches brass instruments to a new generation of students from elementary beginners to advanced-level college students. Since moving to the Treasure Coast in 1999, he has performed as a euphonium soloist with a number of community and professional ensembles and also plays trombone professionally in area dance bands. Mr. Weber started a beginning band program at a local elementary school, which led to a program at a second school. He opened The Band Box, Inc. in 2004 filling the need for a store dedicated to brass and woodwind instruments and a local source for school band instruments. Mr. Weber retired after 23 years as principal euphonium and soloist with the U.S. Army Field Band, the premiere touring band for the Army. Mr. Weber received a Master in Music Performance from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Music Education from Illinois State University.

(Baritone Horn) is one of the founding directors of the Orchid City Brass Band, bringing over a decade of experience with British brass bands. His professional experience includes playing euphonium with the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus Band, the New Sousa Band, and various brass ensembles. As a music historian, he has a special interest in historical brass playing, which prompted him to found the Coates Brass Band (Civil War), Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band (late 19th century), and the Washington Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble. As a college student, he was principal euphonium for the acclaimed Tennessee Tech Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble. His teachers included R. Winston Morris, Daniel Perantoni, and Paul Ebbers. He currently serves on the faculty of Palm Beach Atlantic University as an Associate Professor of Musicology.

Manuel “Manny” A. Camacho II earned his Bachelors of Music degree in Music Education from the University of Miami. He studied euphonium with the late John Olah and studied tenor trombone with Tim Connor, and performed in all of the major ensembles at UM. After graduating, he was offered a Graduate Assistantship in Instrumental Conducting at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, under the tutelage of Eric Rombach-Kendall. He continued his euphonium studies with Dr. Karl Hinterbichler. Once he earned his Master of Music Degree, he moved back to Miami.

Manny taught for eight years in Miami-Dade County public schools. As the Director of Bands at Miami Coral Park SHS, his program received Superior ratings in Concert Band, Jazz Band and Marching Band. They were also awarded many accolades including the Grammy Signature Schools Enterprise Award and the Otto Kraushaar Award. During his Miami-Dade teaching years, he was twice awarded the College Band Directors National Association Conducting Fellowship Grant, which took him to the Hartt Conservatory to study conducting with Robert H. Reynolds and Glen Adsitt. The second time he was awarded this fellowship, he had the opportunity to study conducting with Michael Haithcock and Rodney Dorsey at the University of Michigan.

After Miami, Manny moved to Palm Beach County where he is currently the co-director at Independence MS teaching alongside Julie “Chris” Murray. The band program, founded under the direction of Randy Sonntag, has continued its Superior reputation. A notable achievement the band has recently earned, is the prestigious 2019 Grand National Adjudicators Invitational Middle School Honor Group designation.

Manny is also a current member of the Orchid City Brass Band. He plays euphonium and baritone, and has also been their guest conductor. During the summers, he has taught at the Palm Beach County Band Camp, First Presbyterian Church of NPB Music Conservatory, and beginning this year, the FAU Elementary Band Camp.

He has a wonderful family with his wife Josephine. Their children are Giacomo, Annabella, and Marina and they live happily in west Lake Worth..

This journey began in Jones’ hometown of Columbus, Georgia. While earning his Bachelor of Music degree at Columbus State University, Courtney performed with various Columbus State University ensembles and recorded with artists such as Jens Lindemann, Joseph Alessi, John Bruce Yeh, and the Columbus State University Wind Ensemble under the Naxos Music label. While completing his Masters of Music degree in Trumpet Performance at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia, Courtney studied under the instruction of J. Carlton Rowe, former Principal Trumpet of the “President’s Own” United States Marine Band, Craig Fraedrich of The U.S. Army Blues, and performed as Substitute Principal with the Loudon Symphony Orchestra of Leesburg, Virginia. He also had additional studies with Steve Hendrickson of the National Symphony Orchestra

Courtney conducted his doctoral studies at UCLA under the instruction of international soloist and former lead trumpet of the Canadian Brass, Jens Lindemann. During his time at UCLA, Courtney worked as a Teaching Associate for lecture courses and provided weekly lessons for university trumpet students under the direction of Lindemann. Winner of a Gluck Fellowship, Jones was then selected as the conductor of the UCLA Brass Ensemble during the latter part of his residency. His musicological research during this period explored 21st Century ideological and transcendental concepts of performance practice focusing on a lesser-known contemporary work of composer Frank Ticheli, The First Voice for Solo Bb Trumpet. The intention of this dissertation was to broaden the technical capabilities of 21st century performers and shed light on the ideological and philosophical foundations of Ticheli’s composition. While the study is largely analytic and interpretive, the main purpose and goal is to help modern trumpet players develop more confidence in performing Ticheli’s music and other contemporary compositions in related genres.

Before completing his doctorate, Courtney was appointed as the Visiting Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the Voxman School of Music at the University of Iowa. During this almost two-year residency he presided over a studio of 15 trumpet majors, served as the Principal Trumpet for the Iowa Faculty Brass Quintet, taught Graduate Brass Pedagogy and Literature, and served on recital and graduate committees. He was asked to lead the University’s top performing Jazz Ensemble (director on leave) and produced an engaging performance concert by the University’s Brass Ensemble (which had previously been inactive for a number of years) to showcase the importance of Brass Bands as an engaging training ground for solidifying technical and pedagogical facility for brass players. In addition to his applied obligations, Courtney performed with Orchestra Iowa, the Dubuque Symphony, and gave solo performances with both the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band and New Horizons Band. One of which was the Midwest Premiere of Kim Scharnberg’s Travelogue for Trumpet.

Besides performing with well-known jazz and popular artists, he has shared the stage with famous artists or groups such as Kenny Burrell, B.B. King, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Rihanna, Lalo Schifrin, Boy George and The Culture Club, and Stevie Wonder. In addition to his solo performance career, Courtney has performed classical music with the Golden States Pop Orchestra, the Southeast Symphony Orchestra, the Macao Orchestra (China), the Pasadena Orchestra, the Debut Orchestra, the Inspiravi Chamber Orchestra, the Long Beach Opera, the Chamber Singers of Iowa City, and the Los Angeles Trombone Collective in collaboration with James Miller. His feature film and television credits include music performed for “Glee,” “Notes from Dad,” “Cougar Town,” and “Criminal Minds” among other productions listed under the MEDIA tab of this website.

Prior to his appointment at Florida Atlantic University as the Assistant Professor of Trumpet & Artistic Director of Jazz and Chamber Ensembles, Jones was a Lecturer of Music at Columbus State University while recording his Solo CD project, “Between 2 Worlds,” at the Joyce and Henry Schwob School of Music. Between teaching and solo performing engagements, Courtney has promoted music education and instrumental performance in inner-city schools through the Music Outreach Program at UCLA, The Harmony Project of Los Angeles, and Trumpets 4 Kids in Dallas, Texas. Each of these programs offers schoolchildren art-in-education opportunities. These programs are essential because they provide underserved, inner-city students, and communities with musical training and mentorship that would otherwise be inaccessible.