Instrument Festivals at Interlochen Arts Academy

Dr. Annie Bosler

Freelance horn player, former faculty at the Colburn School for Performing Arts, co-author of College Prep for Young Musicians, author of In Tune: Exercises to Improve a Musician’s Performance and Quality of Life

Dr. Annie Bosler wears many hats in her career as a Los Angeles freelance horn player. She has toured with John Williams' Star Wars in Concert and with Josh Groban, and performed on Dancing with the Stars, The Ellen Show, and PBS's Live from Lincoln Center.

Bosler shared the stage with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney on CBS's The Beatles: The Night That Changed America. She performed with Ariana Grande and Chance the Rapper at The Grammy’s and Wu-Tang Clan at Coachella. Bosler can be heard on many motion pictures, video games, theme park rides, and TV shows as well as seen playing horn on Fox's TV show Glee.

Named a TED Educator in 2017, Bosler co-wrote "How to practice…for just about anything." The video went viral receiving over 50 million views on social media. In May of 2015, Bosler also gave a TEDx talk about facial rehabilitation and brain plasticity titled "Elissa’s Song: The Power of Face Exercises." She specializes in wind pedagogy, specifically teaching facial anatomy and symmetry as it relates to the embouchure, injury rehabilitation, creative ways to educate beginning students, and audition preparation for high school and college students.

Having taught in the Colburn School for Performing Arts for nearly a decade. Bosler has a 100% track record of helping students get into a school of their dreams. She co-authored College Prep for Musicians, a book for high school students, parents, teachers, and counselors. Also, Bosler produced and directed 1M1: Hollywood Horns of the Golden Years, a one-of-a-kind documentary film about the history of Los Angeles studio musicians told through the eyes of the legendary Hollywood horn players. In 2022, Bosler has enjoyed working as a writer for Tianjin Juilliard’s Music Discovery curriculum and is excited to publish a book called In Tune: Exercises to Improve a Musician’s Performance and Quality of Life.

Bosler is professor of horn at California State University, Northridge. She served as the secretary/treasurer of the International Horn Society Executive Board for five years. In addition, she cohosted the largest International Horn Symposium, bringing over 1,000 musicians to Los Angeles in 2015. Bosler holds a B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University where she played varsity tennis, and a M.M. and D.M.A. from the University of Southern California. She is married to studio hornist Dylan Skye Hart. She has a love for teaching, writing, producing film projects, Instagram, agriculture, traveling, playing tennis, and watching college football. For more information, visit 1M1hollywoodhorns.com, IHSLA2015.com, and collegeprepformusicians.com.

Member of: International Horn Society (IHS), Performing Arts Medical Association (PAMA), International Women's Brass Conference (IWBC), College Music Society (CMS), American Federation of Musicians (AFM), Recording Musicians Association (RMA)

Elmer Churampi

Fourth Trumpet, Utility Trumpet, and Graham & Brenda Gardner Chair, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Interlochen Alumnus

A native of Lima, Peru, Elmer Churampi began playing the trumpet when he was four years old with his father, who is also a trumpet player who plays on street bands. Churampi was invited to be part of the National Youth Orchestra of Peru when he was seven years old and was a soloist three times with the National Symphony of Peru at the ages of 7, 8, and 9 performing "Carnaval de Venecia," the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, and the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto. When he was 10 years old, he was accepted to the National Conservatory of Music from Peru. Churampi was invited to be part of the professional orchestra of the Conservatory of Peru as a second trumpet when he was 12. At the age of 13, he played concerts with the Orquesta de los Reyes, the Opera Orchestra from Peru.

In 2010 he attended Interlochen Arts Camp with a full scholarship, playing first trumpet in every concert. Churampi was accepted to Interlochen Arts Academy with a full scholarship and studied for three years with Ken Larson. During that time, Churampi won competitions including Young Artist in 2013, Jack Kent Cooke Award in 2013, and the Interlochen Young Artist Award in 2013. Churampi was also interviewed and featured on the radio program From the Top. He was invited by Mark Gould and Jen Lindemann to perform at the Banff Center of Arts in the brass festival in 2013. During his freshman year, Churampi won the concerto competition at New England Conservatory as well as the MTNA brass competition in Chicago. In 2015 and 2016, Churampi won first place in the National Trumpet Competition in the undergraduate division. He also won the Young Artist brass award in Texas.

In 2017, Churampi was the soloist for the Boston Philharmonic in the South America tour. Recently Churampi was the winner of the Boston Pops concert Competition. Churampi recently graduated from the New England Conservatory with a bachelor's degree in trumpet performance under the instruction of Ben Wright and Tom Rolfs, Second and Principal Trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Churampi has played with the Boston Pops, the Boston Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony.

David L. Jackson

Professor of Trombone, University of Michigan School of Music, Interlochen Alumnus

David L. Jackson, professor of trombone at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, enjoys an active career as a performer and teacher. He is a recognized and ardent supporter of new music who has commissioned and premiered numerous compositions for the trombone including Angel of Dreamers, by Eric Ewazen, for trombone, baritone voice and strings, and John Henry’s Big by Adolphus Hailstork for trombone and piano.

Jackson has been a guest performer with numerous orchestras, including the Detroit Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, New World Symphony, as well as the Michigan Opera Theatre and the Cabrillo Music Festival. He is a member of the Detroit Chamber Winds.

In demand as a guest clinician and performer, Jackson has presented numerous guest recitals and master classes at institutions including the Juilliard School, Yale University, UCLA, University of Minnesota, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory as well as the conservatories of Shanghai and Beijing. His former students occupy performing and teaching positions around the world.

Jackson has been on the faculties of Baylor University, Eastern Michigan University, the University of Toledo, the Interlochen Arts Camp, and the Idyllwild ChamberFest. He spends his summers teaching and performing at the Brevard Music Center. Jackson is an S. E. Shires artist and clinician.

Alan Baer

Principal Tuba at the New York Philharmonic

Alan Baer joined the New York Philharmonic on June 21, 2004, as Principal Tuba. He was formerly principal tuba with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. His other performing credits include recordings with The Cleveland Orchestra led by Vladimir Ashkenazy, performances with the Peninsula Music Festival of Wisconsin, New Orleans Symphony, Los Angeles Concert Orchestra, Ojai Festival Orchestra (California), Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed as a featured soloist, touring several countries in Europe, including Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and France.

Baer began his undergraduate work at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with Dr. Gary Bird. He completed his Bachelor of Music with Ronald Bishop at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and has done graduate work at the University of Southern California, Cleveland Institute of Music, and California State University, Long Beach, where he studied with Tommy Johnson. While in Long Beach, Baer taught at California State University, where he also directed the university tuba ensemble and the brass choir. In Milwaukee, Baer was adjunct professor of tuba and euphonium at the University of Wisconsin and director of the Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble.

Nancy Zeltsman

Professor of Marimba and Chamber Music, Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Berklee College of Music

Nancy Zeltsman has been a leading marimba specialist for over 40 years. She has performed and taught across the U.S. and Europe and in Japan, China, Mexico, and Brazil. Zeltsman can be heard on numerous albums as a soloist; with Marimolin (her duo with violinist Sharan Leventhal since 1985); and with her marimba duo partner Jack Van Geem (since 2000). She had a hand in over 150 solo and chamber works having been composed for the marimba. Zeltsman teaches marimba and chamber music at joint institutions Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and Berklee College of Music (since 1993), and as a guest artist at University of Michigan (since 2021). She founded and served as Artistic Director of Zeltsman Marimba Festival which was attended by over 600 participants between 2001 and 2018. Zeltsman was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 2022. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts. More at: https://nancyzeltsman.com.

Dr. Julietta Curenton

Assistant Professor of Flute at Shenandoah Conservatory, Solo Principal Player of Soulful Symphony

Known for her “bold and dramatically characterized playing” (Dallas Morning News), “great artistic sense” and “tone that draws in one’s ear with sounds and ideas that simply cannot be resisted,” (Philadelphia Inquirer) Julietta Curenton has established herself as a leading flute soloist, chamber and orchestral player, professor, and clinician.

Curenton won Premiere Prix at the Journées de les Harpes Competition in Arles, France and first prize at the National Flute Association young artist competition and Astral Artists’ national auditions. She has made several solo guest appearances with The National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, The Kennedy Center Institute Orchestra, Temple University Orchestra, Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, and others. Most recently, she performed the New York premiere of Dr. James Lee III’s evocative flute concerto “Niiji Memories” with the Stony Brook University Symphony Orchestra.

Curenton has collaborated extensively with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Imani Winds, JACK Quartet, and the Ritz Chamber Players at the Shanghai Contemporary Music Festival, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Northwest, Dallas Chamber Music Society, and Mostly Mozart Festival of Lincoln Center, among others. Curenton has been the principal player for American Composers Orchestra in New York City and the Soulful Symphony—a Baltimore-based ensemble acclaimed for its performances of classical, jazz, gospel, and popular music. Curenton is currently the acting principal flutist of the National Philharmonic, ensemble-in-residence at Strathmore Hall in Bethesda, Maryland.

Curenton frequently commissions women and African American composers to write new, innovative, and accessible works for the flute, some of which have been featured on New York's WQXR Young Artists Showcase, Philadelphia's WRTI's Performance Studio and her solo debut album titled Harambee: The Power of Sisterhood featuring works by Evelyn Simpson-Curenton and Amanda Harberg. Curenton frequently champions works written by both composers. Her commission of Harberg’s “Feathers and Wax for flute and piano” instigated numerous, additional commissions of Harberg’s work for the NFA. Curenton can also be heard on the groundbreaking Grammy Award-nominated jazz album of Miguel Zenon titled Alma Adentro, Esperanza Spalding’s Grammy Award winning album Twelve Little Spells, and the Smithsonian Folkways Praise the Lord album among her musical family.

Performance highlights for the 2024-2025 season include a premiere of Amanda Harberg’s piccolo concerto with the Shenandoah Symphony Orchestra at Shenandoah Conservatory in September and again with the orchestra at the Virginia Music Educators Association conference in November. Curenton is also very excited to give the Atlanta debut of Dr. James Lee III’s flute concerto “Nijji Memories” at the 2025 National Flute Association conference.

Curenton is an alumna of Ensemble Connect (Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute)—a groundbreaking educational program that brings music education to underserved schools and areas in New York City. Curenton continues to enthusiastically empower the next generation of young flautists through music education. She recently collaborated with Alfred Music on Sound Artistry Intermediate Method book which bridges the gap to instrument-specific conservatory methods.

In 2022, Curenton was appointed Assistant Professor of Flute at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia. Curenton holds a Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School, Master of Music from The Royal Northern College of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University. She plays on a silver elite model Burkart Flute and is a proud Burkart Flutes & Piccolos artist.

Nicholas Stovall

Principal Oboe of the National Symphony Orchestra, Faculty Member at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, Interlochen Alumnus

Nicholas Stovall has served as principal oboe of the National Symphony Orchestra since September 2008 and made his solo debut with the Orchestra in December 2014. In addition to appearances with the Kennedy Center Chamber Players, Stovall has collaborated with pianist Christoph Eschenbach in chamber music performances. He is a member of the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra and has been featured as soloist in concertos of Vaughan Williams, J.S. Bach, and Jean Francaix with that ensemble. He has also performed as guest principal oboe with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and The Florida Orchestra.

Stovall has taught and performed at the Round Top Festival-Institute, Aspen Music Festival and School, Indiana University, and Interlochen Center for the Arts. He is a faculty member at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University as well as Catholic University of America and teaches in the National Symphony Youth Fellowship Program and Summer Music Institute. After completing studies at Interlochen Arts Academy with Daniel Stolper, he earned degrees at the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School as a student of John Mack, Elaine Douvas, and Nathan Hughes.

Kristen Wolfe Jensen

Professor of Bassoon, Division Head of Chamber & Collaborative, Butler School of Music at The University of Texas

Kristin Wolfe Jensen has been Professor of Bassoon at The University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music since 1995 and is also principal bassoonist with ROCO, on the faculty at the International Festival Institute at Round Top, and a licensed body mapping educator. She is the creator of the multimedia bassoon tutorial, MusicandtheBassoon.org and producer of the video series, The Herzberg/Kamins Reed Making Method.

The American Record Guide said about her solo CD, Shadings. “...She has simply turned in the finest-played bassoon recital I have ever heard.” Other critically acclaimed solo and chamber music recordings include …and Kristin Wolfe Jensen, Parables and Reflections, and Handel: The “Halle” Sonatas. Jensen has performed with the Dallas Symphony, The Houston Grand Opera, The Dallas Opera, the San Antonio Symphony, the Eastern Philharmonic, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Richardson Symphony, the Las Vegas Symphony, the Jupiter Symphony of New York, and Continuum, and has given guest recitals and masterclasses at many major American music schools, and in South America and Europe. She has performed solo recitals at several International Double Reed Society conferences and was co-host of the 2005 conference in Austin.

Her former students hold major orchestral, military band and university faculty positions across the U.S. Prior to her appointment at UT, she was on the faculties of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of North Texas. As a student, she won the concerto competitions at The Juilliard School of Music where she received her Master of Music, and at the Oberlin Conservatory where she received her Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Music Education, which led to performances of the Mozart Bassoon Concerto, k. 191.

Dr. Damani Phillips

Jazz Studies Area Head and Saxophone Professor, University of Iowa School of Music, Interlochen Alumnus

Dr. Damani Phillips is a native of Pontiac, Michigan, where he began playing at the age of 10.  He currently serves as head of the Jazz Studies area and Associate Professor of African-American Studies at the University of Iowa, where he teaches applied jazz saxophone, directs large/small jazz ensembles, and teaches courses in African-American music, African-American culture, jazz education, and improvisation. He has earned Bachelor's and Master of Music degrees from DePaul University (Chicago) and The University of Kentucky in classical saxophone; and a second Master of Music in Jazz Studies from Wayne State University (Detroit). Phillips completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Jazz Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2009, becoming the first African-American in the country to do so. He was named a Yamaha performing artist in 2014.

An active performer, pedagogue, and composer, Phillips has taught and performed throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. He previously served on the full-time faculty of Grinnell College, the adjunct faculty of Oakland University (Rochester, Michigan), and Macomb Community College (Macomb, Michigan), and is actively sought as a guest artist, clinician, lecturer, panelist, and adjudicator throughout the country. As a lecturer, Phillips has presented on a variety of topics on jazz and Black music’s association with American culture at venues such as The African-American Museum of Iowa, the Deutschebank Kunsthalle (Berlin), Yale-NUS, and numerous colleges/universities around the globe. As a performer, Phillips has shared the stage with artists/groups such as Lewis Nash, Christian McBride, Wycliffe Gordon, Bobby McFerrin, Marcus Belgrave, Terrell Stafford, Maceo Parker, Pat Bianchi, Bobby Floyd, The Temptations, Red Holloway, Hank Jones, and many others. As a recording artist, Phillips has released six albums as a leader: Yaktown Nights (2003), The String Theory (2010), and The Reckoning (featuring New York standouts Pat Bianchi, Greg Gisbert, and Lewis Nash) in 2012, Duality (2015) and his first live recording Live in Iowa in 2018. Phillips’ most recent album No More Apologies featuring a jazz quartet with a string octet was released in November of 2021.

Phillips is also an active academic scholar, with scholarly presentations at colleges, universities, professional/civic conferences, and scholarly forums both domestically and abroad to his credit. His scholarly research focuses on addressing cultural concerns in the pedagogy of Black music within academia. He published his first book titled What is This Thing Called Soul: Conversations on Jazz and Black Culture in 2017, which delves into the difficult, yet timely, topic of the decline of Black cultural influence and representation in jazz as traditionally taught in academic spheres.

Chad Burrow

Professor of Music, University of Michigan

Clarinetist Chad Burrow has a multifaceted career as an educator, solo artist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. The European press has said that Chad performs with “brilliant technique and tonal beauty mixed with an expressive ferocity.” Danish critic Henrik Svane described a performance as filled with “virtuosity, energy, and power without compromise.” The New York Times recently called a Carnegie Hall appearance in Poulenc’s Sonata as giving a “strong impression” and being a “bright and genial account.”

In 2009, Burrow was appointed to the clarinet faculty of the University of Michigan, where he teaches clarinet and chamber music and has served as the director for the Michigan Chamber Players. Additionally, he serves as co-artistic director for the Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma and is on the faculty of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival and Alpenkammermusik Festival in Austria. Burrow is the current principal clarinetist with the Ann Arbor Symphony and regularly performs with the Detroit Symphony and the Michigan Opera Theatre Orchestra. He is also the former principal clarinetist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the New Haven Symphony, Quartz Mountain Music Festival, and the Arizona Musicfest Orchestra, and a past associate professor of clarinet at Oklahoma City University.

Burrow’s recent concert engagements abroad have included concerts in Austria, Denmark’s Thy Chamber Music Festival, and Strasbourg, France; a recital in the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan; and Concerto appearances with the Taichung Philharmonic, the “Classic” Orchestra of Taichung, and the Shin Sharn Ensemble in Taipei. Recent performances in the United States have included appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in Alice Tully Hall and with Chamber Music Northwest, as well as performances in a series of Benny Goodman centennial concerts in Carnegie Hall and Yale University. Other performances have included venues at Rice University, the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, Northwestern University, the Music Mansion in Providence (RI), Notre Dame University, Texas Tech University, University of North Texas, the University of Texas in Austin, and Louisiana State University, among many others. He has also appeared at three International Clarinet Association conferences and the University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium.

Burrow has recordings released by Albany Records, CD Baby, Centaur Records, and Wei Studios in Taiwan. A recent recording of Brahms and Schumann, with pianist Amy Cheng, was released on CD Baby. He is also the clarinetist with Trio Solari. The trio has had a regular touring schedule around the world since 2006. Trio Solari’s most recent recording, on the Centaur label, features works of Bartok, Khachaturian, Milhaud, and Edward Knight. A recording of William Bolcom’s Clarinet Concerto with the University of Michigan Symphony Band is awaiting release.

Burrow is the winner of prizes and awards from the 2001 Young Concert Artist International Competition in New York City, the 2000 Woolsey Hall Competition, the 2000 Artist International Competition, and the 1997 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Burrow serves as an artist for Backun Musical Services. He plays exclusively on Backun, MOBA clarinets.