M. Dee Stewart is a professor of trombone and euphonium at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Mr. Stewart joined the faculty in 1980 after an 18-year tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra. In addition to countless recordings, concerts, tours, and telecasts with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy and Ricardo Muti, Mr. Stewart made five recordings with the Grammy Award-winning Philadelphia Brass Ensemble. Other recordings include Stewart Sounds: The CD and a Christmas recording, Trombones Under the Tree. Extensive teaching in the Philadelphia area included ten years on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music and led to the development of many outstanding trombonists.
Two degrees in music education from Ball State University and Northwestern University, and the tutelage of Arnold Jacobs, give Mr. Stewart a unique musical and pedagogical perspective. In demand as a recitalist, clinician, and orchestral musician nationwide, he plays the alto, tenor and bass trombones, euphonium, and bass trumpet. He has performed on special occasions with the Summit Brass and with the orchestras of San Francisco, Honolulu, Minnesota, Phoenix, San Antonio, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, and New York. He is the author of two books, Arnold Jacobs: Legacy of a Master and Philip Farkas: Legacy of a Master, as well as articles appearing in the International Trombone Association Journal, Euphonia and T.U.B.A. Organizer of the 2nd International Brass Conference, he is also the creator of the Stewart Stand for euphonium and tuba. At the International Trombone Festival in Boulder, Colorado, Mr. Stewart was awarded the 1998 Neill Humfeld Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Carl Lenthe, Professor of Music at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, was born into a musical family in 1956 and grew up in the Delaware Valley in Pennsylvania. His love of good music, inspired by concert bands and recordings of the great orchestras, was nurtured by both the school and church music programs in his hometown of Springfield. Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music led him to a career in music, which commenced at the age of 20 with his engagement as principal-trombonist under Wolfgang Sawallisch at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany. His 17 year tenure there, during which he was named "Bavarian Chamber Virtuoso" by the Ministry of Culture, was followed by his appointment as principal-trombonist with the Bamberg Symphony, where he also served on that orchestra's executive committee.
As a trombone soloist, Lenthe won first prize with special distinction at the international music competition "Prague Spring" and has appeared as soloist with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Prague Symphony and the Bamberg Symphony. His solo CD "The Audition Window" has met with critical acclaim, contains some of the most standard contest and audition pieces for aspiring trombonists, and is coupled with a pilot project in music distance learning, the LentheLessons.
Extensive chamber music and recital activities have not only kept him well versed in the literature for Brass Quintet, Brass Ensemble, Trombone Quartet and Solo Trombone but also led him to arrange and publish music for these combinations. He is a regular performing member of Summit Brass, serving also on their Artist Board. His journalistic efforts have met with encouraging resonance in professional circles. In addition to his activities in the brass world, he also served as church organist and choir director for the Lutheran Chapel of the US Military in Bamberg, Germany.
As an orchestral trombonist Carl Lenthe has been a frequent guest with the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Maggio Musicale in Florence and many other major orchestras in Europe. His expertise on the Wagnerian bass trumpet kept him in regular demand in many European opera houses. In the US, he has performed with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Having received high quality instruction from the start, he feels a commitment to teaching and, beyond his regular studio teaching, enjoys working with a wide variety of pupils both on an individual basis as well as in workshops, clinics and master classes in southern Germany, Austria, northern Italy and in the USA. Through his pedagogical and performance reputation he is frequently called upon to serve as juror for instrumental competitions at both regional and international levels.
Carl Lenthe lives in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife and four children, who ensure that he also pursues a great variety of non-musical activities.
Carl Lenthe
Jacobs Schol of Music MA315
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405
(812) 855-2828
Peter Ellefson joined the faculty of Indiana University in August 2002. Since his arrival in Bloomington, Mr. Ellefson has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic Brass Quintet.
He came to Bloomington from Seattle where he had been a member of the Seattle Symphony since 1992. During his decade in Seattle, he made dozens of recordings with the orchestra, playing trombone, euphonium and bass trumpet and served as principal trombone for Seattle Opera's renowned productions of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Mr. Ellefson has participated in hundreds of recording sessions for motion pictures, IMAX, television and video games, working with such composers as Elmer Bernstein, James Newton Howard, Basil Poledouris and Bill Conti. He has also backed entertainers as diverse as Linda Ronstadt, Burt Bacharach, Frank Sinatra Jr., Ray Charles, James Taylor, Manhattan Transfer and Yes. He also recently toured with the chamber ensemble Proteus 7.
Over the past 20 years, Mr. Ellefson has been fortunate to have studied with many of the finest low brass teachers including Joseph Alessi, Frank Crisafulli, Edward Kleinhammer, Jay Friedman, Arnold Jacobs, Mark Lawrence and M. Dee Stewart. His initial study was with Warren Baker at Linfield College, in McMinnville, Oregon, from which Mr. Ellefson graduated cum laude in 1984. Mr. Ellefson also holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University.
Peter Ellefson has a keen interest in chamber music and solo literature and has given concerto performances of works by such composers as Bloch, Bourgeois, Dorsey, Grondahl, Guilmant, Larsson, Pryor, Pugh, Serocki, Tomasi, Rimsky-Korsakov. He has extensive knowledge in the repertoire of both orchestral and chamber music and is also well acquainted with the commercial and jazz idioms.
Peter Ellefson
Jacobs School of Music, MA309
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405
(812) 855-9054
