American Trombone Workshop
The American Trombone Workshop is one of the largest annual events for trombone in the world, featuring recitals, concerts, workshops, and competitions for musicians of all ages.
Mar 12, 2025 - Mar 15, 2025
American Trombone Workshop 2025!!! MARCH 12-15, 2025
American Trombone Workshop 2025 Schedule of Events
Gracie Potter
Principal Trombone Detroit Symphony
Principal Trombone Detroit Symphony
Gracie Potter
,
Group: American Trombone Workshop - Featured Artists
Joined the Band:
Alum:
Gracie Potter is currently Acting Principal Trombone for the Richmond Symphony and will be joining the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as their new Principal Trombone in the Spring of 2025. She graduated from The Colburn School with her Bachelors Degree in Trombone Performance studying with David Rejano and recently made her Solo Debut with the Whittier Regional Symphony. She has performed with several orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, LA Phil, The Phoenix Symphony, and the London Symphony Orchestra. She won the 2024 ITA Frank Smith Competition as well as the Whittier Regional Symphony Young Artists Competition. Gracie was a winner in the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle's Frances Walton Competition where she performed live on KING-FM Radio and toured the State of Washington with her twin brother, Caden Potter accompanying her. She also won the ITA Robert Marsteller Competition and in 2022, she attended Music Academy in Santa Barbara, winning the Keston MAX Competition which sent her to London for a 10 day residency with the LSO. The same year she placed first in the International Women's Brass Conference Trombone Category and won the Phoenix Brass Collective competition. She has attended numerous world class festivals such as NYO, Music Academy, Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, and Aspen Music Festival where she was the recipient of the New Horizons Fellowship and won their Concerto Competition. For the past two summers, she has attended the Tanglewood Music Center where she has worked with the Boston Symphony Members. In her free time, Gracie enjoys traveling, trying new foods, playing pickleball, and playing card/board games with her family.
Ronald Wilkins
Broadway Musician
Broadway Musician
Ronald Wilkins
,
Group: American Trombone Workshop - Featured Artists
Joined the Band:
Alum:
New York City based musician Ron Wilkins has been performing on tenor and bass trombones, euphonium, tuba, bass trumpet and vocals for over forty years. He has performed at the highest levels touring around the world with his own groups as well as premiere artists. Ron is a member of the Count Basie Orchestra, Birdland Big Band, Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, and runs his own New York City big band alongside trombonist Rebecca Patterson which features their writing and includes some of New York City's premiere musicians.
Ron has performed with many theatrical productions including subbing on the Broadway shows Wicked, Motown, Shuffle Along, Frozen, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. He has also play with The Big Apple Circus, Ringling Brothers, touring Broadway shows, including West Side Story, The Lion King, Showboat, The Producers, Kinky Boots, Book Of Mormon, and many others.
He was a featured artist on bass and tenor trombones at the International Trombone Festival in 2002 at the University of North Texas.
Ron is a veteran of the USAF Band of the West at Lackland AFB in San Antonio.
Ron also has an extensive background as an educator. He has performed as a guest artist at from the elementary to university levels, jazz festivals, and has maintained his own private studio for decades. He has held positions at several colleges including the University of Texas at San Antonio, University of Incarnate Ward, Texas State University, Texas Lutheran University, Northwest Vista College, St. Mary’s University, teaching low brass, jazz studies, and vocals.
Ron has three cd's as a leader, Trombocalist (2021), A Tribute To The Masters (2000), and The Bundee Brothers Bone Band"(2005) with former Ringling Brothers lead trombonist, Bill Gibson. As of October 2012, he was featured on a live recording with the Frank Wilkins trio (Boston, MA) at the Fishmonger Café in Cape Cod, MA. Ron currently maintains his own private teaching studio and remains a sought after clinician.
Ron is a Shires trombone artist and plays Greg Black Mouthpieces.
Christine Purdue Jones
SMSgt, United States Air Force Band
SMSgt, United States Air Force Band
Christine Purdue Jones
,
Group: American Trombone Workshop - Featured Artists
Joined the Band:
Alum:
Senior Master Sgt. Christine Purdue Jones is the Assistant Drum Major for The United States Air Force Band, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C. Originally from Lafayette, Indiana, her Air Force career began in 2013 as a trombonist in the Ceremonial Brass. Jones was named Assistant Drum Major in 2022.
Sergeant Jones holds degrees from Stetson University, The Juilliard School, and the University of Miami. Her primary teachers include Joe Alessi, Tim Conner, and David Schmidt. Prior to joining the Air Force, Jones was Second/Assistant Principal Trombone with Florida Grand Opera and the Palm Beach Symphony. She has also performed with the Jacksonville, Richmond, and Roanoke Symphony Orchestras, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Seraph Brass, the New World Symphony, and Palm Beach Opera.
An active soloist, Jones was an Artist at the 2021 International Trombone Festival. Additionally, she has been featured on multiple occasions at the American Trombone Workshop, most notably in 2019 where she performed the U.S. premiere of Elgar Howarth’s Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra with the United States Army Orchestra.
Air Force career highlights include playing for the departure ceremonies of President Obama and President Trump, performing in the Air Force’s 75th Birthday Tattoo with guest artist Andy Grammer, and leading the Band in a funeral for one of the last Tuskegee Airmen, Brigadier General Charles McGee.
Brett Baker
Solo Trombone Cory Band
Solo Trombone Cory Band
Brett Baker
,
Group: American Trombone Workshop - Featured Artists
Joined the Band:
Alum:
Englishman Brett Baker is viewed as one of Europe’s leading brass performers and educators. He is passionate about encouraging new composers to write pioneering new repertoire for the trombone having been involved in over 100 solo commissions for tenor trombone. Brett is Sales Director for Denis Wick & Alliance Products, an Artist for Michael Rath Brass Instruments and was a long serving former Principal Trombone of the world-famous Black Dyke Band and now Solo Trombone with the Cory Band.
He was previously the Course Director of the Singapore and Thailand Low Brass Festivals, and Musical Director of the Bolsover International Brass Summer School. He is a past Chair and past President of the British Trombone Society (2010-2012), and a past Programme Leader and Music Lecturer at the University of Salford (2013-2019).
Brett is one of the most recorded brass soloists in his genre, and as well as making numerous broadcasts, videos and TV appearances. He is also a former Trombone Solo Champion of Great Britain and an Associate of the Royal College of Music, London.
In May 2000, Brett was invited to join Black Dyke Band under the direction of Dr. Nicholas Childs. At ‘Dyke’, he has played on over 100 CDs, and highlights include trips to the USA, Bermuda, Japan and Australia. Brett Baker, has had some impressive contest successes, gaining first at Brass in Concert, with Fairey’s whilst being the featured soloist, winning the North American Brass Band Association (NABBA), the Grand Shield and the All-England Masters. The Australian ‘Nationals’ and the European Championships. He has won the English Nationals, British Open Championships, the National Championships of Great Britain and Yorkshire Area on a number of occasions.
Brett was Chair and Vice-President of the British Trombone Society (BTS), in 2010 he became the societies President. Brett was Chair of the Awards Committee of the International Trombone Association (ITA) for 12 years, previously serving as the Executive’s Secretary from 2005-2010. He is currently Chair of the Research Advisory Council for the ITA.
As a brass clinician he has toured from Brazil to the USA and from the Antipodes to Western Europe. He has given workshops and recitals at numerous educational establishments, and he has been a guest soloist with bands in Australia, New Zealand, Western Europe, South America, North America and Japan.
As an adjudicator, Brett, is a member of AoBBA serving on its executive as the Vice Chair and has judged many competitions and festivals including the International Trombone Association in the USA and the National Solo Championships in Switzerland. He has adjudicated at the British, North American, Swiss, Dutch, Australian and New Zealand National Finals and many association and regional championships.
For over 20 years, Brett Baker has been keen to promote new music for the trombone, commissioning over one hundred works from composers and arrangers such as Edward Gregson, Nigel Clarke, Rob Wiffin, Gavin Higgins, Oliver Waespi, Darrol Barry, and Jan Van Der Roost to name a few.
In 2020, Brett was awarded the ITA ‘Presidents Award’ for his solo performances, recordings and service to the ITA and has premiered substantial trombone concertos by Philip Wilby, Nigel Clarke, Oliver Waespi and Dorothy Gates over the past three years.
Jonathan Whitaker
Professor, University of Illinois
Professor, University of Illinois
Jonathan Whitaker
,
Group: American Trombone Workshop - Featured Artists
Joined the Band:
Alum:
Dr. Jonathan Whitaker joined the faculty of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Music in fall 2024. From 2009-24, he served as trombone professor at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where his students were tremendously successful in national and international solo competitions, as well as being placed in some of the nation’s top summer music festivals. The University of Alabama Trombone Choir gave performances at the 2010 Eastern Trombone Workshop, the 2011 International Trombone Festival, the 2013 International Trombone Festival, and the 2018 American Trombone Workshop. Dr. Whitaker has also appeared twice as a performer and clinician at the American Trombone Workshop and two International Trombone Festivals. He is in great demand as a guest artist and has appeared at some of the most prestigious music schools in the country including The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, Yale University, Indiana University, and many more.
As a soloist, Dr. Whitaker can be heard on numerous recordings including the 2018 release of his second solo recording entitled “Paceline” and his debut solo recording entitled “Nature’s Gift” with pianist Kevin Chance. He is a featured soloist on two recordings with the University of Alabama Wind Ensemble that include Anthony Barfield’s Red Sky and David Maslanka’s Concerto for Trombone and Wind Ensemble. These recordings are available at www.jonathanwhitaker.com.
Dr. Whitaker holds degrees in trombone performance from Murray State University (BMUS) and the University of Minnesota (MMUS), and the Doctor of Music in Brass Pedagogy from Indiana University. Dr. Whitaker’s primary teachers include Ray Conklin, Tom Ashworth, M. Dee Stewart, Peter Ellefson, and Joseph Alessi with additional studies with Arnold Jacobs, Edward Kleinhammer, Michael Mulcahy, Charlie Vernon, and Douglas Wright.
MSG Samuel Woodhead
trombone / Principal
trombone
MSG Samuel Woodhead
Northport, ME
Group: The U.S. Army Concert Band
Joined the Band: 2001
Alum: University of Southern Maine / Yale University / University of Maryland
MSG Sam Woodhead is the solo and principal trombonist and trombone section leader of The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” Concert Band, a position he has held since 2004, and a member of the Concert Brass. Prior to winning the position in concert band, Woodhead served as a trombonist in the Ceremonial Band of "Pershing's Own". In addition to his duties with the concert band, he has performed with the Brass Quintet, Blues, Orchestra, Chorus, Herald Trumpets, and DownRange, with whom he toured Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan as part of the Sergeant Major of the Army's Hope and Freedom Tour in 2006. He is also chairman of the Eastern Trombone Workshop, founder and director of the Washington Trombone Ensemble, and is currently serving on the board of advisors for the International Trombone Association. Woodhead is in great demand as a freelance musician in the greater D.C. area, performing with groups from the National and Baltimore Symphonies to the Washington Symphonic Brass and musical productions at Signature Theater. He has appeared as soloist with "Pershing's Own" on the tour of California in 2005 and at concerts on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Woodhead has also presented masterclasses and solo appearances at Boston University's Tanglewood Institute, Bowling Green University, Brown University, and Yale University. His primary teachers were John Swallow, Milton Stevens, and Mark Manduca and has also studied with Matthew Guilford, Craig Mulcahy, and David Taylor.
Service Member Seminar
The American Trombone Workshop’s Service Member Seminar is an opportunity for Active Duty, National Guard, And Reserve Military Personnel to experience the Workshop to its fullest potential. Seminar attendees will attend a prescribed number of the workshop’s events, attend dress rehearsals and gain special access to the visiting artists including exclusive question and answer sessions and a private one hour lesson, all free of charge. All seminar members will receive a certificate upon completion.
Who is Eligible: Active Duty, National Guard, and Reserve Military Personnel
Requirements: Seminar members must attend the required events as listed on the "Required Event Planning and Signature Sheet" and obtain signatures from the designated United States Army Band representative or designated visiting artist at each event.
To register and for more information contact SFC Katie Thigpen .
ATW Contacts
ATW Call for Proposals 2025
Due to the high volume of requests to be invited as a guest performer and/or presenter at The United States Army Band "Pershing's Own" American Trombone Workshop, we ask that you email SFC Adam McColley your proposal to provide us the opportunity to better serve you. In your proposal email, please include the following:
"ATW Proposal 2025" in the subject line Full name (including title/position) Phone Number Email Address Describe your presentation/recital Any other information that may be helpful to the selection committee
DUE DATE to submit this proposal is SEPTEMBER 30, 2024. NOVEMBER 1, 2024.
Email your proposal here . We look forward to hearing from you and hope to see you at the American Trombone Workshop held at Fort Myer, Virginia.
