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Owner, Arranger and Composer
Composers and Arrangers
Robert S. Wallace, II is well known throughout Delaware area as teacher and organist. He has been a high school music teacher for the Cecil County, MD Public Schools for 39 years and has been a church organist and music director for 48 years (currently at St. Mary Anne’s Episcopal Church in North East, MD). This past June, he retired after serving as a professional synagogue musician (choir director and accompanist) for 30 years.
He has studied at Wilkes University and the Peabody Conservatory of music and also with international organist John Rose (a student of the late Virgil Fox). His teachers have included Ferdinand Liva (Conductor of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic), Anne Vanko Liva (concert pianist), Clifford Balshaw (Conductor of the Wyoming Valley, PA Oratorio Society), Theodore Snyder (active 20th Century American composer), Frederick Fennell (Conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble), Julio Esteban (composer and concert pianist), and Nancy Gamble Pressley (concert pianist).
He is an active composer and arranger of all genres of music—choral, piano, organ, guitar, and instrumental. He completed a major arranging project on the Hebrew liturgical music from 18th Century Curacao for the late cantor Norman P. Swerling. The extensive work was published and released in 1999 Several of his arrangements have recently been published and are available through A.K. Brass Press. Wallace has been heard in solo recital and also with the Capitol Brass and the Atlantic Brass Quintet, both of which have premiered his arrangements. He is an active member of the Music Educators National Conference, Maryland Music Educator’s Association and the American Guild of Organists.
Wallace lives with his wife Rose of 30 years and has two daughters—Krissy Wallace-Goodchild of Fairfax, VA and Giuli of Newark, DE and a beloved cat Tiger Lily.
Kenneth Kemmerer can be heard performing throughout Pennsylvania on Tuba and Bass Trombone with numerous groups, including Basic’ly Brass!, the Reading Pops Orchestra, Hesse’s Nasty Nine, 2BAS2EU and whomever else will call. In 1986 Ken helped form the quintet Basic’ly Brass. 20 years later Basic’ly Brass is still busy performing in the PA, NJ, MD area. Ken has drawn from his extensive performing experiences to write dozens of arrangements for brass spanning every style period from Bach to Beatles and Beyond. His arrangements that are offered here have been performed extensively over the past 20 years and you can purchase them with confidence.
Ken holds music degrees from Rutgers University and Millersville University of PA, and has studied with the Empire Brass at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He is presently in his 20th year as Instrumental Music Director at the Muhlenberg Elementary Center and is the Assistant Band Director and Arranger for the Muhlenberg HS Marching Band.
Jay Lichtmann has been the Principal Trumpet of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra since the fall of 1982. (That’s approximately 147 seasons in dog years!) As an adjunct professor at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School, Jay expends a tremendous amount of energy trying to get his students (or anyone else, for that matter) to listen to him. Most of his colleagues in the HSO (and audience members attending symphony concerts) agree that he is a “pretty good” trumpet player, though he would be a better one if he spent more time practicing. Despite the fact that he is aware of this sentiment, Jay has many hobbies (including bicycling, running, hiking, swimming & music arranging) that most certainly impede his forward progress on the instrument.
Jay lives in Avon with his long-suffering wife Susan and his two extremely demanding French bulldogs: Bix and Lumpy.
Daniel Schwanger has taught and performed music on both sides of Pennsylvania. Daniel is a native of Berks County, Pennsylvania. He attended Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where he received his B.S. in Music Education. He has studied Horn with William Caballero, and conducting with Dr. Brady R. Allred and Dr. Robert C. Cameron. He has performed as a horn player in the Duquesne Brass Quintet, Symphony Orchestra and Wind Symphony, and toured Europe as a vocalist in DU Chamber Singers. He has performed with many other organizations in Pennsylvania, including the Williamsport Symphony, the Repasz Band, the Pittsburgh Opera Center, the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, and the Reading Pops Orchestra. In addition to teaching privately, He has taught choir and band in the Council Rock School District, Bucks County, PA, and currently teaches in the Williamsport area, where he resides with his wife, Carol, also a music teacher, and their rabbit, Mr. Lucy.
James Ackley received his B.M. from Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music and his M.M. from the elite Cleveland Institute of Music, both in the area of performance. Former teachers include Michael Sachs, James Darling, Mary Squire and Eugene Blee. Currently, Ackley is Assistant Professor of Music & Trumpet Performance Studies at the University of Connecticut. Formerly principal trumpet and soloist of the Bogotá Philharmonic, Ackley has previously held positions as principal trumpet with other orchestras throughout Mexico, the United States and South America. Presently, he holds the position of principal trumpet with the New Britain Symphony Orchestra.
Chris O’Hara, Trumpeter for the Synergy Brass Quintet, began playing at the age of 9 in Bensenville, IL. He has performed extensively throughout the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and the Federation of Russia including performances at music festivals such as Ravinia and Tanglewood. His playing has been described as having “blazing precision” and “dazzling articulation” by the Watertown Daily Times. In 1996, Chris performed as part of the American debut of works by Gabrieli and Bassano that were rediscovered at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. As an educator, he has served on staff at Maynard High School (Maynard, MA), Norwood High School (Norwood, MA), the Shenandoah Arts Academy (Winchester, VA) and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (Lenox, MA). He has also presented numerous master classes and clinics around the country with Synergy and as a soloist. Chris can be heard on recordings on the Paraclete and Aural Assault labels.
Bobby Thorp, Trumpeter for the Synergy Brass Quintet, was born in Norman, Oklahoma. Bobby first started his career in Washington, D.C. performing with jazz and rock bands. He has opened for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Patti Smith, Joe Strummer of the Clash and Adam “MCA” Yauch of the Beastie Boys. He has taught at the Shenandoah Conservatory, Shenandoah Arts Academy, Elizabeth Seton High School and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He has studied under Terry Everson, Chris Gekker and Rolf Smedvig.
Adrian Kelly graduated from the WA Conservatorium in with a Bmus(Jazz) where he majored in composition, studying with Graeme Lyall. His jazz compositions have been performed at the Manly International Jazz Festival on two occasions, and at Fox Studios during the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival in 2000, as well as numerous locations throughout Western Australia. His composition ‘Taking a Break’ appears on the West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra compact disc ‘Tom Terrific’. In 1998 Adrian returned to the WA Conservatorium to study classical composition with Lindsay Vickery and Nigel Sabin. Since then he has founded two new music ensembles ‘The Collective’, a 15 piece collective created as a vehicle for composers to experiment with crossing the boundaries of musical style in a large ensemble, and ‘Pantheon’, an improvising ensemble that in 1999 reached the finals of the ABC’s improvisation awards. A disc of The Collective, featuring the compositions of Graeme Collier has received rave reviews world wide. Adrian’s compositional work includes composing music for a collaborative project between the Australian Youth Orchestra and Theatre of Image, and the release of a compact disc by the Hip Mo’ Toast Big Band which features three original songs by Adrian, and one original arrangement, in addition to his work as a trumpet player. In his capacity as a trumpet player, Adrian has performed with a diverse range of artists, such as The West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Marina Prior, Tom Burlinson, Rhonda Burchmore, John Farnham, Olivia Newton-John, Anthony Warlow, Tommy Tycho, Mickey Tucker, Tim Rice, Ben Folds Five, Dave Weckl, Ellen Rowe, Gene Pitney, Wayne Newton, Shirley Bassey and Ray Charles, and he has performed in numerous jazz big bands and musical theatre productions. A compact disc, entitled “Intercontinental Drift”, of Adrian compositions featuring a Western Australian rhythm section and a powerhouse selection of New York and Chicago trumpet players is due for release in mid-2007. Adrian is also currently involved in postgraduate research into the manner in which musical theatre can reveal the workings and effects of ideology. This research is a component of a Master of Arts (Creative Arts) degree; the other component involves the composition of a new one act musical theatre work.