Third Coast Trombone Retreat Presents

The Third Coast Trombone Retreat is an 8-day trombone intensive welcoming talented college, high school, and amateur trombonists from across the country to the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan.

This concert features Metropolitan Opera Orchestra bass trombone Denson Paul Pollard, and pianist Daniela Candillari.

Tickets are general admission and can be purchased by calling The Block ticket office at 231-726-3231 and at the Ticket Office, 360 W Western Ave, 1st floor, Muskegon.

Third Coast Trombone Retreat is a guest event and is not part of the regular season at The Block.

Denson Paul Pollard
Bass Trombone, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Denson Paul Pollard began as bass/tenor trombonist/bass trumpet player with the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in September, 2007. Pollard was the bass trombonist of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for 2014-2015 and the Hong Kong Philharmonic from 2001-2007. Pollard has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony,
the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His teachers have included Dr. Jim Roberts, Dr. David Gier, George Krem, Charles Vernon and Joseph Alessi.

Pollard was awarded the Master of Musical Arts degree and the Doctorate of Musical Arts in performance and pedagogy from the University of Iowa, where he served as a teaching assistant in the areas of musicology, jazz and applied trombone. Pollard holds a Bachelor of Science degree in music education from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. Dr. Pollard is a member of the brass faculty at Mannes School of Music, Bard College and the Juilliard School and is a faculty member of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporro, Japan.

Pollard is a passionate champion of the bass trombone as a solo instrument. He has performed concertos and played solo recitals in various places around the world.Pollard has recorded three solo CDs entitled "Up From Below,” “Point in Time” and “Listening.” He can also be heard on three MET Opera Brass recordings and a recent collaboration CD with James Markey, bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, entitled “The Bass Trombonist’s Guide to Orchestral Excerpts. All of Pollard's recordings are available at cdbaby.com/dppollard and hickeys.com. Dr. Pollard is a Buffet Group artist and performs exclusively on Courtois trombones.

Daniela Candillari
Conductor/Piano

Daniela Candillari is a sought-after conductor, pianist and composer having worked with preeminent artists around the world. A native of Slovenia, she served the Slovenian National Opera as Assistant Conductor, Chorus Master, and Principal Coach for over twenty productions. She has served as Assistant Conductor for the European Opera Centre in partnership with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Sarasota Opera.

As a collaborative pianist, she performed at Carnegie Hall with Julian Wachner and Novus NY and has worked with artists including Bryn Terfel, Dame Felicity Lott, Håkan Hagegård, Carol Vaness, Martina Arroyo, Dominic Argento, and William Bolcom.

Ms. Candillari is the founder and Artistic Director of Gravity Shift, a New York based chamber orchestra, and has recorded for NPR, Austrian Radio Broadcast Television, Slovenian National Radio and TV, and Serbian National TV. Highlights in the current season include serving as music director for Extraordinary Measures, a play by Eve Ensler, covering Julian Wachner on his new opera, Rev. 23, during the Prototype Festival, and joining the music staff at The Chautauqua Opera as Assistant Conductor to Steven Osgood. Future engagements include her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut leading performances of Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers, conducting Michael Gordon's Acquanetta at the 2018 PROTOTYPE Festival, with Bang on a Can All-Stars as the orchestra, and leading the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonia in a concert including Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3.