New Hire: James Hicks, Towson University

James Hicks is the Adjunct Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Towson University. He began serving in this role in September 2017. At Towson, James teaches private lessons and master classes, performs with the faculty brass quintet, and conducts the Tuba and Euphonium Ensemble. James is the principal tuba of the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C. and performs with the United States Navy Band Brass Quintet and the United States Navy Band Tuba Quartet. He has also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and many other prestigious ensembles. In addition to his work at Towson, James has presented lectures at various universities and international conferences. From 2015-2017, he served on the Board of Directors for ITEA and has written or assisted with several articles for the journal. James received a B.M. from the University of Georgia and an M.M. from DePaul University. His primary teachers include David Zerkel, Floyd Cooley, and Gene Pokorny.

New Hire: Tom Lukowicz, University of North Alabama

Dr. Tom Lukowicz has been named the Assistant Professor of Low Brass at the University of North Alabama beginning in the Fall 2018 semester. Prior this appointment, Lukowicz was serving as a visiting faculty member at North Alabama. Dr. Lukowicz will be responsible for all aspects of the entire low brass studio, including lessons, studio class, trombone quartets, and tuba/euphonium quartets. He also serves as the Principal Tuba of the Canton Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of New York, and on the faculty of the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps.

New Hire: David Earll, Ithaca College

Dr. David Earll has been appointed as the Assistant Professor of Tuba/Euphonium at Ithaca College. He will begin teaching there in Fall 2018, and his primary duties will include teaching applied tuba/euphonium, conducting tuba/euphonium ensemble, teaching tuba/euphonium literature and pedagogy courses, coaching chamber music ensembles, and performing with the faculty brass quintet. David currently serves as the Assistant Professor of Tuba, Euphonium, & Trombone at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He also currently performs with Sam & Dave's Brass Extravaganza, the UW-Platteville faculty chamber group Ensemble Nouveau, the Tallgrass Brass Band, and has also performed with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, the University of South Dakota Faculty Brass Quintet, the Boston-based Nautilus Brass Quintet, and the Paris-based Opus 333 - Quatuor de Saxhorns. David also maintains a busy schedule as a soloist, chamber musician, and clinician throughout the United States and abroad. His most recent tours have included appearances in New York, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, the greater Midwest, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong. David completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Tuba Performance at Arizona State University under the tutelage of Dr. Deanna Swoboda and received the 2016 Clifford Bevan Award for Excellence in Research for his dissertation. He also holds a Master of Music in Tuba Performance from Arizona State University, where he served as a Teaching Assistant for Professor Sam Pilafian, and a Bachelor of Music in Music Performance at the University of South Dakota. David Earll is a Willson Tuba Artist, and performs exclusively on the Willson 3200 F Tuba and the Willson 3050 CC.

New Hire: Matt Hightower, University of Kentucky

Matt Hightower has recently accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Tuba/Euphonium at the University of Kentucky. He will begin teaching there in Fall 2018, and his primary duties will be teaching applied tuba/euphonium, conducting the tuba/euphonium ensemble, teaching tuba/euphonium methods, and performing with the faculty brass quintet. Hightower is currently on the faculty of Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Prior to his appointment at TAMUK, he held positions at Murray State University and The University of Texas at Austin. As a professional tubist, Hightower’s performance experience covers a wide range of chamber, orchestral, and solo music that spans three continents and nine countries. Recent solo recitals include Baylor University, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, the 2017 & 2018 South Central Regional Tuba/Euphonium Conferences, and The United States Army Band Tuba/Euphonium Workshop in Arlington, VA. He is the tubist with the Corpus Christi Brass Quintet and a founding member of the Atlas tuba quartet. Hightower has also performed with the Bloomington Camerata Orchestra, The Columbus (IN) Symphony, The Evansville Philharmonic, The Iceland Symphony Orchestra, The Jackson Symphony, and David Baker’s 20th Century BeBop Band. In addition to performing, Hightower is an award-winning composer. In 2010 he was named the winner of the KMEA Intercollegiate Composition Contest. Many of his arrangements and original works are published through Potenza Music and Absolute Brass Publishing. Hightower earned a B.M. in Music Education from Murray State University, and an M.M. in Tuba Performance from Indiana University, and a D.M.A. in Tuba Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. His primary instructors were Ray Conklin, Daniel Perantoni, and Charles Villarrubia. Hightower is a B&S Performing Artist.

New Hire: Matthew Shipes, Angelo State University

Dr. Matthew Shipes has been appointed to the position of Assistant Professor of Music at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas as of August 2017. His main duties include serving as the applied instructor for tuba, euphonium, and trombone majors, teaching weekly studio classes, coaching brass chamber groups, as well as teaching sections of Brass Methods and Introduction to Music. Matthew was previously a euphoniumist with The United States Air Force Band in Washington, DC, where he had the opportunity to perform for President Obama, several foreign leaders, and for hundreds of ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery. In addition to winning and being a finalist for several international and national competitions on euphonium, tuba, and trombone, he has appeared as a guest artist and given world-premiere performances at events like the US Army Band’s Tuba-Euphonium Workshop, and both regional and international ITEA conferences. Matthew received his D.M.A. from The University of Georgia in December 2014.

New Hire: Fletcher Mitchell, Queensland Conservatorium

Fletcher Mitchell is the new Lecturer in Euphonium at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music - Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. He began serving in this position in February 2018. Fletcher is an Australian-based euphonium soloist and low brass educator. He has given recitals, master classes, and workshops at international brass festivals and conferences as well as performed as a guest soloist with wind ensembles, brass bands, and orchestras across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia. He has been a full time euphonium player with the Royal Australian Navy Band for 11 years and is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Southern Queensland researching Australian euphonium works. Fletcher is a Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician.

2018 ITEA Teaching Award Recipient Donald C. Little

The Board of Directors of the International Tuba Euphonium Association is pleased to announce that Donald C. Little, Regents Professor of Tuba at the University of North Texas, is the recipient of the 3rd annual ITEA Teaching Award. 

Donald C. Little, Principal Tuba and Cimbasso of the Dallas Opera Orchestra, performs frequently in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with many orchestras and ensembles including the Sundance Brass, Texas Winds Brass Quintet, and UNT Faculty Brass. During summers he performs with the Summit Concert Band and Blue River Brass of Summit County, Colorado. Little has performed and recorded with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Dallas Symphony and the German Radio-Symphony Orchestra of Berlin. He is a former member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Colorado Festival Orchestra and York (PA) Symphony. He has also performed with the Chicago, St. Louis, San Antonio, Baltimore, and Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestras as well as the Dallas Wind Symphony. He retired from the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in 2001 after serving as Principal Tuba there since 1980. Now in his fortieth year of full-time university teaching, Little is Regents Professor of Tuba at the University of North Texas College of Music and was previously a faculty member at the University of Northern Iowa. Former students hold or held teaching and performance positions throughout the world, such as in the Hague Orchestra of Holland, the Orquesta del Principado de Asturias of Spain, the Mississippi Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Oklahoma City Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Breckenridge Festival Orchestra, Disney World, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Band, the U.S. Navy Band of Washington, DC, and numerous universities and colleges.

Donald Little has been active in the International Tuba Euphonium Association throughout his career and has served the association in many capacities since 1975 including the offices of President, Past-President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer, Conference Coordinator and Chairman of the Board of Directors. He presently serves the association as a member of the Honorary Advisory Board.

Mr. Little has transcribed, arranged, edited and/or composed numerous published works for the tuba, euphonium and brass ensembles with Belwin Mills, Southern Music Company, Kagarice Brass Editions and other publishers. His solo and chamber music publications continue to receive thousands of performances annually at professional, faculty and student recitals, contests, competition and other venues throughout the US and the world. A respected pedagogue and low brass specialist, he contributed instructional materials and solo editions for the tuba and euphonium to Belwin Mills', Medalist Band Course and Contemporary Band Course, which includes his text for high school and college tubists, Practical Hints on Playing the Tuba.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Donald grew up on the southern New Jersey seashore in Wildwood Crest where his first tuba teacher was Bernard V. Switzer, Jr., who was also his band director at Wildwood High School. He received his B.M.E. at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with John Melick, and M.M. at Northwestern University where he was a student of Arnold Jacobs. He has also completed further graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music as a student of Cherry Beauregard. Don is married to Laura Bruton, principal violist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. They reside with their family in Argyle, Texas.
The ITEA Teaching Award is presented annually to an ITEA member who has been teaching for at least 10 years. Letters of nomination are submitted accompanied by letters of support from current and former students and professional colleagues. Members of the ITEA Board of Directors review the submitted materials and vote to determine the recipient.

The inaugural (2016) recipient of the ITEA Teaching Award was Prof. David Zerkel, of the University of Georgia. Prof. Phil Sinder, of Michigan State University, received the 2017 ITEA Teaching Award.