UNO Brass Day

• Prof. Jason Johnson, Trumpet & UNO Brass Area Coordinator
• Dr. Jesse McBee, Trumpet & UNO Jazz Faculty
• Prof. Ross Snyder, Horn
• Dr. Pete Madsen, Trombone & UNO Jazz Area Coordinator
• Prof. Alex Serwatowski, Euphonium & Tuba
• Dr. Joshua Kearney, UNO Director of Bands

Important Links (all events to take place on UNO's Dodge Campus)

• Click here to register for Brass Day.
• Click here for Brass Day Schedule.
• Click here for a parking map of UNO's campus.

Special Guest Artists

Brett Hodge

Brett Hodge, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, is currently the principal horn of the Omaha Symphony, a position he has held since 2016. In addition to this position, he also serves as the third horn of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, Illinois, where he now spends the majority of his summers. Hodge has appeared as a soloist with numerous organizations, including the Omaha Symphony, Omaha Chamber Music Society, and the Kansas City Symphony. He also frequently appears as a guest artist and lecturer at universities across the country. Notable opportunities have included the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, the University of Kansas, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Columbus State University, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Karlee Kamminga

Michigan native Karlee Kamminga is a horn player in the United States Air Force Heartland of America Band, stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, NE. Prior to joining the USAF Bands, Karlee was a freelancer, teacher, and arts administrator in Boston, MA. Karlee has an extensive resume, performing with orchestras throughout Nebraska, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Montana. She also participated in many summer festivals such as Miami Music Festival, Kendall Betts Horn Camp, and Domaine Forget, where she was selected as the featured soloist, Karlee completed her Master of Music degree in Horn Performance at New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in 2023 with academic honors. She primarily studied with BSO 2nd horn, Rachel Childers, and received extensive coaching from Gus Sebring and the entire BSO horn section. Graduating magna cum laude from Western Michigan University (WMU) in 2021, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Horn Performance under Dr. Lin Foulk-Baird. Prior to WMU, Karlee studied with Dr. Paul Austin of the Grand Rapids Symphony & ICSOM.

Federico Montes

Federico is the Associate Principal trumpet of the Omaha Symphony. Born in Caldas, Colombia, Federico Montes started to play the trumpet when he was twelve years old at his high school in Villamaria. At the age of 15, Montes was invited to perform with Banda Municipal de Manizales and was offered a job with this institution after finishing high school a year later. In May of 2016 he finished his undergraduate studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa. In May of 2018 he obtained his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School as a William Vacchiano Fellow in New York, the first student born and raised in Colombia accepted in Juilliard's 111-year history as a Masters student in trumpet. Montes holds a Doctoral in Musical Arts degree at the University of Miami. Federico has also held the position of Assistant Principal trumpet of the Florida Orchestra.

Scott Quakenbush

Scott joined the Omaha Symphony as principal trumpet in 2008 and maintains a position in the Music of the Baroque in Chicago. He has also performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival and with the Britt Festival. Scott holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with the world-famous teacher Charles Geyer. In 1998, he moved to Evanston, Illinois where he attended Northwestern University under the instruction of Barbara Butler. He was awarded his Master of Music degree in 2000. Scott received additional training from the Aspen Music Festival and the National Orchestral Institute.

Christopher Torrisi

Airman Christopher Torrisi joined the United States Air Force Heartland of America Band, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska as the tuba player in 2021. A native of Houston, Texas, A1C Torrisi received his Bachelor of Music in Tuba Performance from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and his Master of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has made numerous appearances with the San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, and Santa Rosa Symphony, and has been on the substitute list for the New World Symphony for the past four years. He has attended several music festivals as the tuba fellow, including the Texas Music Festival, Chautauqua Music Festival, and Brevard Music Festival. His primary teachers are David Kirk, Jeff Anderson, and Jason Harvey.

Jay Wise

Jay Wise has been the bass trombonist of the Omaha Symphony since 1987. He also performs on tenor, alto trombones and contrabass trombones, euphonium and tuba. He has also served as Principal Trombone of the Lincoln Symphony, and has performed with orchestras in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Midland, Texas, and festivals in Flagstaff, Arizona and Fayetteville, Arkansas. He earned his Bachelor and Masters of music from Northern Arizona University, and his Doctorate from the University of Iowa. As a free-lance musician, he has performed with Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Steve Allen, Lou Rawls, The Temptations, Natalie Cole, The Four Freshmen, Frank Sinatra Jr., Joel Gray, Pam Tillis and many other entertainers, in addition to recording with the Las Vegas Lab Band, The Nebraska Jazz Orchestra and various American Gramophone artists. Other recording collaborations include Columbia Records artist Pete Yorn and the soundtrack for the PBS documentary “Most Favorite Son”.

*Schedule subject to minor revisions. All changes will be posted on this page.

Brass at UNO

In the brass area, students have the opportunity to study with experienced teachers that maintain careers as active professional musicians.

UNO brass teachers have varied backgrounds including extensive experience in symphony orchestras, jazz, chamber music, and professional wind bands. In addition to private lessons, students participate in a weekly brass masterclass presented by UNO faculty or guest artists.

Click here to learn more about the UNO Brass Area.