— Members —
Trumpet player Olivia Pidi Weiss is an active freelancer in the Tri-State area. She can be found performing in a variety of settings, including orchestra, musical theater, and chamber music. From 2017-2020, Olivia was the trumpet fellow of APEX Ensemble (formerly The Montclair Orchestra), and she has performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Reading Symphony Orchestra, and National Concerts Orchestra.
At home in many genres, Olivia has enjoyed a number of musical performances at Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Regional theaters including the St. James Theater, The Public Theater, The Paper Mill Playhouse, and the MacHaydn Theater. Most recently, Olivia held the first trumpet chair at Paper Mill Playhouse's 2023 production of Fiddler on the Roof.
Olivia has established herself as a sought after chamber musician. In 2020, Olivia joined NYC quintet Calliope Brass, an ensemble committed to bringing evocative, story-driven concert experiences to audiences of all ages. In 2021, Olivia was invited to join the Garden State Philharmonic Brass Quintet, bringing performances that showcase the development of American brass music to audiences along the Jersey Shore and Bar Harbor, Maine. Since 2022, she frequently performs as a member of the New Jersey Symphony Brass Quintet.
Olivia holds a master's degree from Manhattan School of Music, where she was a recipient of the Carmine Caruso Scholarship and the Cecil Collins Award for brass performance, and completed undergraduate studies at Oberlin Conservatory, where she received the James "Jimmy" Stamp award for trumpet performance. Olivia's primary teachers include Tom Smith, Roy Poper, and David Krauss.
Olivia serves as trumpet faculty at the JCC Thurnauer School of Music and Virtu.Academy. In addition to performance, Olivia completed a bachelor's degree in musicology, with studies focused on early music and musical notation development.
Erin Paul Ozolins is a New York based French hornist, known for a versatile performance career and as a co-founder of Calliope Brass. Erin currently holds the horn chair at The Great Gatsby on Broadway.
With a mantra of “have horn, will travel,” Erin’s diverse résumé includes Broadway, Carnegie Hall, the Las Vegas Strip, barns in France, historic theaters in Eastern Europe, and with major artists including Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, and Marie Osmund. As a classical artist, she has appeared with the Sarajevo Philharmonic, Opera Tampa, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Palm Beach Symphony, Florida Grand Opera, and the New Haven Symphony.
Erin’s artistic flagship project is Calliope Brass: a nonprofit ensemble that presents innovative and exciting performances for all ages. Since its founding in 2015, the quintet continues to commission composers both established and new, along with collaborating with creatives from disparate genres and disciplines. She also produced and hosted the podcast Doublers, highlighting musicians with secondary careers in other fields. In addition to her horn playing career, Erin also works in product operations for a software company.
Erin holds degrees from The Hartt School (B.M.) and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (M.M.). She was previously on faculty at two elite secondary schools in the New York City area: Kent Place School and Horace Mann School. Her principal teachers include Daniel Grabois, Peter Reit, and Bill Bernatis.
Based in northern New Jersey, she lives with her husband, hornist Aleks Ozolins, and their dog Rudy.
Sara Mayo is an active freelancer in New York, and is originally from the Pacific Northwest. She is the Principal Trombone of the Yakima Symphony, and has been a featured soloist with both the Yakima Symphony and the Tacoma Community College Symphonic Band. She has also performed with a variety of orchestral ensembles such as the Chelsea Symphony, Spokane Symphony, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Tacoma Symphony, Northwest Sinfonietta, the Lake Washington Symphony, Ballet Bellevue, and the Olympia Symphony.
In addition to orchestral playing, Sara lends her talents to groups in a wide range of musical styles. She has performed in the pits of Broadway-style musicals with the Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society and has made frequent appearances with the Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra and the Jay Thomas Big Band. She has played new music with groups such as the Seattle Modern Orchestra, and also enjoys playing klezmer music, having made many appearances with the UW Klezmer Band.
Samantha Lake began her musical career with the study of classical piano at the age of five and continued to take lessons for 13 years. Unafraid to be different, Dr. Lake chose tuba in sixth grade and never looked back. Since then, she has been heard in venues as diverse as Carnegie Hall, the MetLife Stadium, and the streets of New Orleans.
While freelance performing tuba in multiple ensembles including Calliope Brass, the Pierre Monteux Music Festival Orchestra, Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, and the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, Dr. Lake has also earned recognition as a soloist. Her passion for solo performances was ignited when she won the Young Artist Solo Competition in New London, CT in 2012, resulting in a solo performance accompanied by the U.S. Coast Guard Band. In the past few years, she has won the Rutgers Concerto Competition, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp Staff Solo Competition, and University of Connecticut Concerto Competition, and placed second in the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra Instrumental Competition.
Also passionate about her work as an educator, she teaches at Kutztown University and works with many students of all ages with Calliope Brass. Previously, she has served as a Morse Teaching Artist fellow and Music Advancement Program Fellow. Holding leadership roles in university and high school ensembles, Dr. Lake has also conducted rehearsals and led by enthusiastic example. Dr. Lake has taught group and masterclasses at Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Ohio University, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and various public schools.
Dr. Lake is from southeastern Connecticut and graduated with a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Connecticut. She recently earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts from Rutgers University and her doctoral research led to presentations at VTEC 2021 and IWBC 2022 on the exclusion of high voices in tuba multiphonic repertoire and the commission of two works for unaccompanied tuba. Her principal teachers are Alan Baer and Gary Sienkiewicz.
Blair Hamrick is a freelance horn player in New York City, performing in Broadway shows, orchestras, new music ensembles, chamber music festivals, recording sessions, and was most recently the chairholder of the Off-Broadway show, “Three Houses” by Dave Malloy.
Blair’s recent orchestral experience includes the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Modus Operandi Orchestra, Riverdale Sinfonietta, New Jersey Festival Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of New York. Blair is also a member of the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass and plays regularly with groups such as Sigur Ros and the Little River Band. Dabbling in the jazz world, Blair has performed with jazz musician and composer Joseph Daley as well as Bobby Spellman’s “Revenge of the Cool Nonet” performance.
Blair is a member of chamber groups Metropolitan Horn Authority and Nu Quintet. With these ensembles, Blair has given masterclasses and concerts at the University of Florida, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech University, and the Pierrot Chamber Music Festival, working with both horn and composition students.
As an advocate of new music, she has commissioned several pieces for solo horn, horn and piano, horn quartet, and brass quintet. She has presented and performed horn and piano piece, “Folkvangr” by Jayce Mulligan at the 2019 International Horn Symposium in Ghent, Belgium.
Blair recently completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts at Stony Brook University. Her principal teachers include David Jolley, Michael Walker, and J.D. Shaw.
Blair’s Website - www.blaironhorn.com
Based in NYC, trumpet player Rebecca Steinberg has a career marked by her warm, inviting sound and stylistic versatility. You can find Rebecca in the pit of New York City’s many theater productions, performing alongside her brass quintet Calliope Brass, and teaching music both privately and in the classroom.
Rebecca currently holds a trumpet chair in the Tony winning Broadway musical SUFFS. In 2023 Rebecca held a trumpet chair in the Broadway musical New York, New York. Other notable appearances include SUFFS (The Public Theater), Sound of Music, Sister Act, and Jolly Holiday (Paper Mill Playhouse), City Center Encores! Off-Center production of Stephen Sondheim’s Road Show, Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish at Stage 42, and two National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene productions: The Sorceress and The Golden Bride.
Rebecca’s most passionate and impactful work is with Calliope Brass, an ensemble who collaborates with the world’s most prominent creatives to build evocative, story-driven concert experiences. Rebecca won the 2018 Liz Swados Inspiration Grant, an annual award honoring influential female music educators in New York City, on behalf of Calliope Brass. In addition to playing the trumpet with Calliope Brass, Rebecca also served as Executive Director for the 501c3 organization 2020-2023. Additionally as an arts administrator, Rebecca serves as program director of Maestra Music’s First Takes program.
Besides theater and chamber music, Rebecca enjoys a variety of freelance work with other ensembles including Contemporaneous, TILT Brass, Metropolis Ensemble, Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, and Isle of Klezbos, to name a few. In June 2023, she performed the world premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s “Concertino for Trumpet and Orchestra” with The Chelsea Symphony. Television credits include Adele at Radio City Music Hall, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Good Morning America, The Tony Awards, and on-screen in the Emmy-winning television series Mozart in the Jungle (orchestra member throughout seasons 2 and 4).
Rebecca studied at Manhattan School of Music and serves as the Director of Brass at the Dwight Englewood School.
Rebecca’s website: www.rebeccasteinbergmusic.com
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