New Hire: David Saltzman, Oberlin Conservatory

David Saltzman is the new Visiting Associate Professor of Tuba at Oberlin Conservatory. The appointment began in July 2022. His duties include teaching weekly undergraduate tuba lessons, coaching small ensembles, and leading a repertoire class. David is also the Associate Teaching Professor of Tuba & Euphonium at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, and he will be continuing in this role while teaching simultaneously at Oberlin. David is the Principal Tubist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the Glimmerglass Opera Festival. He lives at home with his amazing wife, three children, two standard poodles, and two adorable but mischievous cats.

New Hire: Jacob Fulkerson, The King's Brass

Jacob Fulkerson is the new tubist of The King’s Brass. He joined the group in March 2022. His duties include performing music with choreography from memory, assisting in live sound, and helping in other supportive roles. The King's Brass is a touring sacred brass group and has been performing for over forty years. Jacob is a student at the University of North Texas pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Tuba Performance. He holds a Master of Music degree from Bowling Green State University, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, with honors, from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a licensed music educator, published composer, and his primary tuba instructors are Craig Knox, Dave Saltzman, and Don Little.

New Hire: Ross Knight, Haute École de Musique de Genève

Ross Knight is the new Professor of Tuba at the Haute École de Musique de Genève. He will begin serving in this role in September 2022. His duties will be to teach and mentor the tuba students to guide them in their musical careers, whether that be as an orchestral musician, soloist, chamber music player, teacher, etc. In addition to this new position, Ross is the Solo Tuba player of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva. Before joining the OSR, he was an Academist of the prestigious Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic and has performed with several of the world’s top orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Tonhalle Orchestra, to name a few. He has also performed as soloist with some of Europe’s top orchestras and brass bands including the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the BBC Concert Orchestra, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, and Tredegar Band, with whom he recently recorded Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Tuba Concerto on an album to be released in August this year. Ross is also an instrumental artist with B&S, Melton, and Yamaha.

New Hire: Fabien Wallerand, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris

Fabien Wallerand is the new tuba teacher at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. He will begin serving in this role in September 2022. His duties will include teaching tuba students pursuing Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the conservatory. Unanimously awarded first prize for tuba at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon (the class of Melvin Culbertson), Fabien Wallerand won prizes at the international competitions of Guebwiller (France) and Markneukirchen (Germany). He has played in the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, the Orchestre National de Toulouse and the Orchestre de Lausanne (Switzerland). He was appointed as Tuba soloist to the Orchestre of the Youth Academy "Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival,” led by Mstislav Rostropovitch and Christoph Eschenbach. Permanent guest member of the Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Lyon 2000 to 2004, he has also performed in concerts throughout the world and given masterclasses in Colombia, Venezuela, China, Japan, USA, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Mayotte, New Caledonia. Tuba Soloist with the Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Paris (Musical director Gustavo Dudamel) since 2004, he is also a member of the brass quintet of the Opéra National de Paris. In 2015, he was appointed professor of tuba at the High Music School in Geneva. After recording his first disc, "Art of the Tuba" (Indesens label), he released his second disc, "Vibrations" (Momistri) in 2014, for tuba and string quartet with original works and creations. Along with his activity as an instrumentalist, Fabien composes works for tuba (Éditions Billaudot) and received a commission for the international competition of Tours (France) in 2015 (Éditions Klarthe). Since 2013, he has developed his knowledge with the MELTON brand of tubas and has just created his own TITAN 2 model of tuba (2250FW).

New Hire: Michael Waddell, Longwood University

Michael Waddell has recently accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Music at Longwood University. He will begin serving in this role in Fall 2022. His duties include conducting the Longwood University Wind Symphony and teaching applied lessons on euphonium, tuba, and trombone. Prior to joining Longwood’s faculty, Michael served as Director of Bands at Hiram College since 2018, where he directed the Wind Ensemble, Pep Band, Jazz Ensemble, taught low brass lessons, and many other courses, such as music entrepreneurship. Active as a performer, he can be heard on several recordings, including Sweet Appalachia by the Keystone Quartet, Versatile Southern Rock and Roll by Rye, Chronicle by Zach Collins, and several recordings with the Keystone Wind Ensemble. Michael holds a DMA in Low Brass Performance from West Virginia University, MM in Euphonium Performance from Georgia State University, and BS in Music Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His primary studies have been with Mark Mitchell, Zach Collins, Christian Dickinson, Carson McTeer, Hakeem Bilal, and Adam Frey.

New Hire: Mason Soria, Los Angeles Philharmonic

Mason Soria will be the new tubist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and he will begin performing with the orchestra in September 2022. Mason is originally from Burbank, CA but grew up in Frisco, TX where he began his tuba studies at the age of 10. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Music Performance from the University of North Texas and a Master’s degree in Music Performance from the University of Miami. His main teachers include Dr. Aaron Tindall, Donald Little, Matthew Good, and Warren Deck. Before winning the LA Phil tuba audition, Mason held the principal tuba position with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony.

New Hire: Alec Mawrence, West Point Brass Quintet

Alec Mawrence has recently won a position as tubist with the West Point Brass Quintet at the United States Military Academy. He will begin serving in this role in November 2022. The West Point Brass Quintet is the ceremonial brass quintet for the West Point Band. The quintet provides support for West Point ceremonies as well as other outreach events throughout the greater New York City area. Alec received a master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 2022 and a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 2020. He spent three summers at the Aspen Music Festival, where he studied with Warren Deck, and he toured Europe with the National Youth Orchestra of the USA in 2016. His past teachers include David Zerkel, Gene Pokorny, Matthew Gaunt, Rex Martin and Jared Bulmer.