June 17, 2015 8:00 pm, Third Coast Trombone Retreat faculty members John Sebastian Vera and Nicholas Schwartz invite you to experience an evening of music and drinks in a beautiful setting at The Block in downtown Muskegon.
Vera and Schwartz are faculty members of the Third Coast Trombone Retreat, an 8-day trombone intensive welcoming talented college, high school, and amateur trombonists from across the country to the shores of Lake Michigan. The retreat takes place annually in various locales in the Montague area.
Integral to the retreat are guest artist and faculty recitals, topical master classes, private lessons, ensemble coachings, a trombone choir, a mock orchestral audition and participant solo recitals. In addition to the performance elements, the curriculum is expanded to include a music business forum, faculty bonfire Q&A, discussions on the mental approach to auditions and performances, feldenkrais, meditation, and more.
About the Artists
Schwartz currently serves as Principal Bass Trombone of the New York City Ballet and began his trombone studies at the Interlochen Arts Academy. He went on to study at The Juilliard School and has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Ballet, Santa Rosa Symphony, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Stockton Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Sacramento Symphony, and Opera San Jose.
He is currently a member of the Huntsville Symphony in Alabama, has performed with the Jacksonville Symphony, the New York City Opera, the New York Philharmonic, The Malaysia Philharmonic, Festival Maribor (Slovenia), and the Festival Lyrique-en-Mer in France. He has recorded with Joe Alessi, principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic and the American Brass Quintet, and done multiple video game soundtrack recordings at George Lucas’ recording studio in Northern California, Skywalker Ranch.
Vera, a native of Texas, became the Principal trombonist of the Pittsburgh Opera in 2010. A dedicated chamber musician, he also was a founding member of the critically acclaimed Guidonian Hand Trombone Quartet in which he played from 2008-2014. He began his studies with Jon Bohls in Texas and continued his education at Southern Methodist University where he studied with John Kitzman of the Dallas Symphony. He then spent a year studying with Ed Zadrozny as a graduate assistant at the University of Akron, and finished his graduate work in New York City at the Mannes College of Music studying with David Finlayson and James Markey of the New York Philharmonic.
In addition to the Pittsburgh Opera, Mr. Vera has played with the symphonies of Dallas, Pittsburgh, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New York City Opera, Vermont, Charleston, Albany, Akron, Huntsville, Canton and Orquesta Sinaloa de las Artes in Mexico amongst others. In 2009, John was honored to be asked to play alongside the New York Philharmonic trombone section as well as members of the Metropolitan Opera to record two pieces for James Markey’s solo release, “On Base”.
About the Concert @The Block
The Wednesday evening faculty concert at The Block will include a wide variety of musical experiences from Renaissance pieces by Thomas Morley, Baroque classics by Telemann, Romantic melodies by Prokofiev, French impressionism by Debussy, and music by living composers using amplified stereo sound effects.
Concertgoers will hear the trombone in different configurations including solo, duets. and trombone with piano. Trombonists John Sebastian Vera and Nicholas Schwartz are featured with pianists Daniela Candillari and Salome Scheidegger.
Tickets for the June 17 concert are $20 and can be purchased by calling The Block at 231-726-3231. To learn more about the Third Coast Trombone Retreat, visit tromboneretreat.com.
We are happy to welcome Third Coast Trombone Retreat – a guest concert at The Block.