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Adi is an Israeli native who served as the Tuba player of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) for 41 seasons, joined the IPO in 1978 season and the 2019 season was his last.

Prior to joining the IPO, which was his best music school, Adi studied in Los Angeles with the great late Tuba players, Roger Bobo and Tomy Jhonson, and in Chicago with the great teacher and Tuba player, late Arnold Jacobs. Mr. Hershko was privileged to play in the orchestra with a long list of wonderful musicians and top conductors of the time,like Leonard Bernstein, James Levine, Georg Solti, Ricardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, Kurt Mazur, Daniel Barenboim, Lorin Mazel, Paul Paray, with Maestro Zubin Mehta he also performed the John Williams Tuba concerto.

Parallel to his orchestral playing, Adi Explored the Tuba sound and its range of possibilities as solo player with the best orchestras in Israel, as a teacher and the head of brass department at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music, and in chamber music such as Tuba and strings, Brass quintet and Tuba and piano.

In the last three years Mr. Hershko has quitted all his educational and performance activities and devoted his time to inner thinking and observation of his own playing… Gravissimo! is the new beginning!

Anthony Caillet took up the euphonium at an early age, not long before the instrument met the success which it enjoys in France today. Graduate of the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris, laureate of the most prestigious international competitions and of many jazz springboards, Anthony knows “you can do anything with a euphonium”!

Proving the point, he performs with leading orchestras (Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Ensemble Inter-Contemporain...) as well as with smaller formations (Bokeh Tuba Quintet, Smoking Mouse, Melusine..), travels the world as a soloist or accompanied, and creates new pieces by calling upon composers and musicians from different  musical backgrounds. He opens up new horizons both for himself and other musicians.

A Yamaha artist.

Randall Hawes is currently guest bass trombonist of the Cleveland Orchestra, a position he began in September of 2020. He retired from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2020, after a 35 year career. He studied with William Rivard at Central Michigan University and with Byron McCollough at Carnegie Mellon. After touring Europe for 10 months in a production of "Porgy and Bess", he joined the Woody Herman Thundering Herd for two years and was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center before joining the DSO in the fall of 1985. Hawes has performed with the orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Alabama. He has toured with Summit Brass, Burning River Brass, The Saito Kinen Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Hawes is a frequent recitalist and has performed chamber music with the Chicago Chamber Musicians and Music of the Baroque, among others. In 1995, he was invited by Sir Georg Solti to join the World Orchestra for Peace and has been a member since then. In 2018 he gave the world premiere performance of "Concerto for bass trombone" by Kenneth Fuchs and has commissioned and performed many new pieces for bass trombone. Mr. Hawes can be heard on recordings with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony and The Cleveland Orchestra as well as solo recordings with pianist Kathryn Goodson; "Barnburner", "Melodrama" and "Belle Nuit". In 2014, he joined the National Brass Ensemble and has recorded two CD; "Gabrieli" (2015) and Tim Higgin’s arrangement of Wagner’s "Ring Cycle" (2022). Hawes teaches and performs at the Aspen Music Festival, is lecturer at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University and a faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music and has given masterclasses in Europe and Asia. Randall Hawes performs on Bach trombones and the Lätzsch contrabass trombone.

François Thuillier was born in 1967 and belongs to the new generation of tuba players, renowned for their knowledge, enquiring minds and inventive style and known for playing a wide range of jazz and improvisational music with symphonic orchestras.

He began his music career in Doullens and then, after various awards in the Music Conservatoires of Amiens, Lille and Roubaix, he was offered a place in the CNSM (Conservatoire de Paris) in 1986, where he was taught by F.Lelong and received 3 first prizes in Saxhorn, Tuba and in Chamber Music.

At the same time, he registered in the CIM (School of Jazz and Modern Music) in the Jazz Composition Department and continued his musical education with Ph.Legris, who was known for his work with contemporary music and musical theatre. He joined the ‘Gardiens de la Paix’ Harmony Orchestra in Paris in 1989 and since then has to lead a career as a member of the orchestra, soloist and Jazzman.

Also in 1989, he met Marc STECKAR and his TUBAPACK, with whom he has worked regularly over the past 12 years and together they have created many recordings.

As a brilliant soloist in all genres of music and a skilled improviser, he is playing and recording all over the world in various orchestras and ensembles. He is an author of educational books and his discography includes almost 200 CD with 25 to his name.

François Thuillier plays using a Yamaha Tuba, a Romera Brass mouthpiece (Spain) and Schlipfinger mutes (Austria).

He has been the artistic director for the Jazz Festival in Montinvillers (www.jazzamontonvillers.fr) since 2004 and the artistic director for the Brass Festival “Amiens joue des cuivres” since 2016, and is the artistic adviser for Feeling Musique in Paris.

Described by critic Gary Giddins as “one of the most compellingly original trombonists,” Ray Anderson is by turns a supremely lyrical player and bold texturalist, a warmly natural-sounding soloist and footloose innovator.  Broadening the trombone's sonic scope with his extended techniques, brilliantly unconventional use of the plunger mute and demonstrative vocal-like tones, he played a major role in reawakening interest in the instrument in the '80s.    

Named five straight years as best trombonist in the Down Beat Critics Poll and declared “the most exciting slide brass player of his generation” by the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, Anderson has shown remarkable range.  He has led or co-led a daunting assortment of tradition-minded and experimental groups, big bands, blues and funk projects and even a trombone quartet.  He is recognized as an original and compelling composer and has recorded more than 120 of his own compositions with these groups. He has also demonstrated his special supportive skills on a remarkably wide assortment of albums by Anthony Braxton, David Murray, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, Dr. John, the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, Luther Allison, Bennie Wallace, Henry Threadgill, Barbara Dennerlein, John Scofield, Roscoe Mitchell, the New York Composers Orchestra, Sam Rivers' Rivbea Orchestra and many others.

Anderson is gifted teacher and has long been in demand for workshops and

master-classes around the world. He has been the Director of Jazz Studies at Stony Brook University since 2003.  “I love teaching,” he says. “The energy of the students and the opportunity to “pay it forward,” inspiring a next generation, make it intensely rewarding and meaningful. I always find that I’m learning as much as any of my students are.”

Recent releases include “Hear You Say” The Marty Ehrlich, Ray Anderson Quartet; “Sweet Chicago Suite” for his Pocket Brass Band; “Love Notes,” a duo of standards with guitarist Steve Salerno; and “Being The Point” a quartet record by Anderson’s newest group, which features Gary Versace on Hammond B3 organ, Salerno on guitar, and long-time associate Tommy Campbell on drums. Two new recordings, “Marching On,” a solo trombone CD and “Come In” a new Pocket Brass Band CD, have just been released.

Photo: ©Erika Kapin

Ricardo Antão is a young soloist, pedagogue, and Yamaha Artist. Teacher at Porto Superior School of Music and Arts (ESMAE), University of Aveiro and Jobra Conservatory of Music, Ricardo is one of the leading proponents of the euphonium in his native Portugal. He is frequently invited as a guest artist/clinician in Portugal and was also invited to teach and perform at SliderAsia Music Festival in Hong Kong, in 2017.

In high demand as a soloist and as a chamber musician, Ricardo is a founding member of projects such as Portuguese Tuba Ensemble How Low Can You Go?, Trítono, BlindDuo, Dual Soundway and NoMad Duo, and plays regularly with Orchestras and Ensembles including Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Orquestra Gulbenkian, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, 21st Century Orchestra, Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras, Orquestra Filarmónica Portuguesa, Banda Sinfónica Portuguesa, Camerata Nov’Arte, Mr. SC and the Wild Bones Gang and Big Band Estarrejazz.

He started his musical studies at his local wind band, and later at the Music Conservatory of Aveiro. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree with distinction at ESMAE, he did a master’s degree in music performance – euphonium – at Bern University of Arts, a master’s degree in music performance – trombone – (from ESMAE), a master’s degree in Music Pedagogy (from University of Aveiro) and a PhD in Music (from University of Évora).

One of the most acclaimed tuba players of his generation, Ricardo Carvalhoso has been consolidating a remarkable international career, playing in professional orchestras in France, Switzerland, and Germany. As a concert tubist, he takes part regularly in the most important concert halls in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Tokyo, London, and New York. Between 2012 and 2015 he was tuba soloist at the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra, presenting himself as a solo artist in 2014, under the direction of Walter Hilgers, interpreting the Concert for Tuba and Orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams. From 2015 until 2017 he assumed the same position in the Opera of Zurich. He is currently a member of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, that is well known for its unique sound and the great personalities of its conductors. As a soloist he was awarded in numerous occasions, among which are worth mentioning the Prémio Jovens Músicos 2009, the Brass Instrument Competition of Valle d’Aosta, the International Tuba Competition “Ville d'Avray” in Paris and the Kiefer Hablitzel Foundation award. Ricardo Carvalhoso is a guest lecturer at several European universities, and usually, he gives masterclasses all over the world.

Grew up in the village of Carregosa, Portugal and began trombone lessons at the age of eight through his village's wind band. 

Since 2019 he is a member of the Komische Oper Berlin as Solo Trombone. 

He studied at the Music School of Espinho with Daniel Dias and Alexandre Vilela and at the Metropolitan School of Music in Lisbon with Reinaldo Guerreiro. In 2010 he continued his studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Jörgen van Rijen, Pierre Volders and Remko de Jager. 

In 2014 he became a member of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker Orchestra Academy and later on at the Staatskapelle Berlin Orchestra Academy. 

André collaborates often with numerous orchestras such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Staatsorchester Hamburg, WDR Sinfonieorchester, DSO, Deutsche Oper Berlin. He has also been principal trombone with temporary contracts at the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and Gulbenkian Orchestra. He has performed in most of the major concert halls around the world and in recent years he has appeared as teacher and performer on various  festivals of music, Conservatories and Universities.

Collector of music works, records, awards, compliments, reputation, sunglasses, hashtags and selfies. Source of creativity and virtuosity. Eclectic, original and visionary. Curious by definition. Adventurous by choice. Owner of a pure heart and Sparky, the Basset Hound. Transpires musicality and works to achieve excellence. Passionate about life, loves cinema, mythology, reading, fishing and spending time with his friends. Anyone who crosses with him will never forget him and leave, of that encounter, humanly and professionally richer. Currently his international reputation has been established by his interpretation of the standard and contemporary repertoire for tuba and his stylistic approach to jazz, funk and improvised music.

Sérgio Carolino, is one of the most acclaimed tubists, with constant activity as a soloist and teacher in the most prestigious festivals, conservatories and universities on the five continents. Received for seven times the Roger Bobo Award Prize for Excellence in Recording (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2021 and 2023), the Award for Emerging Jazz Artist (2004), the Carlos Paredes Prize (2004) and won the SPA Award 2013 - Classical Music Category (Portuguese Author’s Society) for the works published in 2012 and for promoting Portuguese music throughout the World. TGB with Mário Delgado and Alexandre Frazão, TUBAX Duo with Mário Marques, TUBAB Duo, R’B & Mr.SC, The Postcard Brass Band, XL Duo with Telmo Marques, Surrealistic Discussion with João Barradas, Duo AR. with Maria João, SubWoof3r, Tuba&Drums Double Duo with Oren Marshall, Duo Adamastor with Cândido Fernandes, Funky Bones Factory!, Yamaha Tuba Duo with Shimpei Tsugita, Moderato Tangabile with Daniel Schvetz, T’N T "Tuba 'n Tuba" with Gene Pokorny , Mr.SC & The Wild Bones Gang, European Tuba Trio with Anthony Caillet and François Thuillier, Conical Brass with Jeff Nelsen, Effervescence with James Thompson, TransAtlantic Tuba Connection with Mike Forbes, his solo project "iNTERGALACTiC ViBES!", and Daniel Bernardes Crossfade Ensemble, run in his veins.

Sérgio is, since 2002, principal tuba with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música and he was professor of tuba at the Porto Superior School of Music and Arts (ESMAE) from 2006 to July 2019. Since 2010 he is also artist director of GRAVÍSSIMO! - Alcobaça International Low Brass Festival. He is on the faculty of National Superior Orchestral Academy (Lisbon), as professor of tuba and chamber music. Sérgio has been guest adjunct professor for one semester (Fall/ Winter 2019 and Spring semester of 2022) at the prestigious Indiana University - Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, USA. Plays with his own signature design and concept mouthpieces by Brass Lab MoMo made by master Hirotaka Nakai (Osaka/Japan)  with the muted "Mushroom Cup Mute", manufactured by Johann Schlipfinger.

Hugo Assunção was born in Vestiaria (Alcobaça) in 1969 and started his musical studies with his father when he was 6 years old. He started playing the trombone as member of the local wind band, Sociedade Filarmónica Vestiariense. In 1983 Hugo started studying at the Conservatório Nacional de Música. While a student, he was selected for several youth orchestras - Orquestra Portuguesa da Juventude, Orquestra Sinfónica Juvenil and Mediterranean Youth Orchestra and started freelancing with professional orchestras since he was 17 years old. Since then he was invited to play with Orquestra da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; Orquestra Régie Sinfonia; Orquestra Clássica do Porto; Orquestra do Teatro Nacional de São Carlos; Orquestra Clássica da Madeira; Orquestra do Algarve; Orquestra Sinfonietta de Lisboa; Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa; Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música; Sinfonia Varsóvia Orchestra; Orquestra de Jazz de Matosinhos and Hot Clube de Portugal Jazz Orchestra. He won the position of Principal Trombone with the Orquestra do Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in 1988 and became a member of Orchestrutópica, between 2001 and 2012.

Hugo founded several brass groups, such as the Hot Brass de Portugal, Decateto de Metais de Lisboa, Ensemble Português de Trombones, Quinteto Português de Metais and Quinteto de Metais da Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa. In 1997 he created a publication that was distributed for more than 300 trombone players all around Portugal - the Jornal do Núcleo de Trombonistas da APPIS, the first brass focused journal ever created in the country. Hugo was a teacher at Universidade de Évora, Universidade de Aveiro, Escola Superior de Música do Porto, Escola Profissional de Música de Espinho and Escola Profissional Gualdim Pais/Tomar, and promoted several masterclasses with trombonists such as Conrad Herwig; Ed Neumeister; Joseph Alessi; Massimo La Rosa; Filipe Alves; Justin Clark and João Martinho, among others. He taught several masterclasses all over the country and abroad. 

He was Musical Director of The BellsBrass Ensemble; Orquestra de Sopros da Universidade de Évora and Alentejo Brass Connection, and participated in several recording projects as member of the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa; Hot Clube de Portugal Jazz Orchestra; Orquestra da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and Orchestrutópica, among others. In 2006 Hugo recorded a CD with music for trombone and piano - Vox Gabrieli and another one as leader of the Ensemble Português de Trombones - A Different Era. In 2012 he recorded a double CD with Mr SC & The Wild Bones Gang, that won the 2014 Roger Bobo Award Prize for Excellence in Recording. In 2014 he recorded a second Project with Mr SC & The Wild Bones Gang, participating as soloist with Eugene Pokorny (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Shimpei Tsugita (Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra), Eijiro Nakagawa (trombone soloist) and Demondrae Thurman (Sotto Voce Quartet). In 2016 Hugo recorded with Crossfade Ensemble, a project by Daniel Bernardes (piano), with João Barradas (acordeon), Sérgio Carolino (tuba), Ricardo Toscano (saxophone/clarinet), Jeffrey Davis (vibraphone) and Mário Marques (saxophone).

In 2016 he recorded a CD leading The BellsBrass Ensemble, with Sérgio Carolino as soloist. In 2017, Hugo recorded a CD as Musical Director of Massive Brass Attack, Pocket Change, with Sérgio Carolino and Nimrod Ron (Iceland Symphony Orchestra). In 2018 he produced and recorded a double CD with chamber music by Anne Victorino d’Almeida in which, beyond recording the composer’s Sonata for Trombone and Not a Fugue (with Sérgio Carolino), he conducted The BellsBrass Ensemble for the piece that entitles the double recording, A Sombra dos Sentidos. In 2018 he participated in a CD as Musical Director of the ESML Brass Crew, Effervescence, accompanying Sérgio Carolino (tuba) and James Thompson (trumpet) as soloists. Together with Sérgio Carolino, he is Artistic Director of the acclaimed Gravíssimo! Festival.

Hugo is head of the Brass Chamber Music Department in Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa. Hugo Assunção is Musical Director of ESML Brass Crew, a project he created that includes all the brass and percussion students from Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, and Musical Director of Mr. SC & the Wild Bones Gang, a project created by Sérgio Carolino, in which he shares the Artistic Direction. He is a founding member of 100 Caminhos, recording its first CD, Roots and Routes, in 2023. Hugo Assunção is, since 1993, Principal Trombone of the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa.

Mr. SC & The Wild Bones Gang is a project with unique characteristics that brings together the cream of the Lusitanian trombonists and the talent, irreverence and originality of the international soloist Sérgio Carolino (tubist), combining the maturity and experience of the veterans, the rebellion and talent of the youngsters and the stylistic versatility of the ensemble members!

Mr. SC & The Wild Bones Gang was born from an idea by tubist Sérgio Carolino in 2009. Since then, the group has performed several times in Cine-Teatro de Alcobaça - João d'Oliva Monteiro, as resident ensemble in most editions of Gravíssimo! - Low Brass International Festival and Academy (organized by Alcobaça Music Academy), in the "Geneva Brass Festival" (Switzerland), in the Hall 2 of Casa da Música (Oporto), in the 1st. Fajões Music Festival “Musicalidades", at the Cultural and Congress Centre of Caldas da Rainha, at the Iberian Theatre (Lisbon), Cineteatro de Tomar (inserted in the "Festa dos Tabuleiros"), as well as at the Sr.ª da Boa Nova Auditorium (Estoril), inserted in the cycle of "Pedagogical Concerts for Families". With the first double disc edited in the year 2012, and having as special guest the Dutch tubist, former soloist of the Zurich Opera Orchestra, professor at the Zurich Arts University, Anne-Jelle Visser.

The second disc, recorded live at Gravissimo! 2014 and named "GASSEN", features as special guests Gene Pokorny, solo tuba of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Shimpei Tsugita, solo tuba of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, Eijiro Nakagawa, jazz trombonist/composer and Yamaha Artist, and features the musical direction of renowned Swiss trombonist David Bruchez, Principal Trombone of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, professor at the Zurich University of the Arts, and Yamaha Artist.

The ensemble's repertoire consists of original works commissioned from the most diverse and eclectic composers from the four corners of the world: Anne Victorino d'Almeida, Telmo Marques, Aurélien Vieira Lino, Daniel Bernardes, Jorge Prendas, André Miranda, Luís Cardoso, Daniel Martinho, Luís Carvalho, Jorge Salgueiro, Lino Guerreiro, Tomás Marques, Bruno Ferreira, Vítor Rua, Sérgio Carolino (Portugal), Roland Szentpáli and János Mazura (Hungary), Elizabeth Raum and Bruce Pennycook (Canada), Mike Fitzpatrick, Andrew Batterham (Australia), Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen (Norway), Patrick Vidjeskog (Finland), Stéphane Krègar, Xavier Denis, Anthony Caillet and Eric Bourdet (France), Christian Lindberg (Sweden), Jim Self, Leroy Osmon, Jon Hansen, Mike Forbes, Micky Wrobleski and Fredrick Gifford (USA), Fernando Deddos and Liduíno Pitombeira (Brazil), Paul D. Hanmer (South Africa), Eijiro Nakagawa (Japan) with arrangements by Mike Forbes, Filipe Melo, Telmo Marques, Luís Cardoso and Jon Hansen.

The first album (double disc) was awarded the 2014 Roger Bobo Award Prize for Excellence in Recording, presented at a ceremony at Indiana University - Jacobs School of Music (USA) on 25 May 2016.

New Age Connection is an ensemble made up of five young Portuguese trombonists. They set out to expand the role of the trombone in chamber music and to create new audiences through their versatility and dynamics. By collaborating with artists from different fields such as theatre, dance, visual arts and literature, New Age Connection aims to make the audience experience a memorable performance.

During their career, the ensemble's work has also focussed on creating new repertoire for this type of formation, in partnership with composers of various musical styles. They were selected for the Stockholm Chamber Brass Academy in Sweden and finalists at the Grote Kamermuziek Prijs 2020 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Telmo Marques (b. 1963) is a Portuguese pianist, composer and arranger from Oporto.

He studied Piano, Composition, and Music Analysis with Fernanda Wandschneider, Hélia Soveral, Carlos Cebro, Jean Martin, Fernando Puchol, Fernando Lapa, Cândido Lima, Paul Trein, and Miguel Ribeiro-Pereira. He did further studies with Jean Martin, Carlos Cebro, Fernando Puchol, and Paul Trein. He Finished the Porto Conservatory of Music (superior diploma) with the highest grade – 20 valores. Further, he graduated in piano at the ESMAE-IPP (Prize Eugénio de Almeida – best classification), completed a Master of Arts at Roehampton University in UK, and a PhD programme in Computer Music at the UCP – Portuguese Catholic University (summa cum laude).

He still develops an activity as a performer, especially in chamber music and jazz combos, playing in Portugal, Madrid, Barcelona, Tenerife, Paris, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Luxemburg, Genève, Zurich, Macau, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka, etc. As a composer, he received commissions for Orchestral, Soloists, Chamber Music, and Advertising. Porto 2001 Cultural Capital and Guimarães 2012 Cultural Capital are both examples of those commissions. He has also contributed to a wide range of music for theatrical plays, documentaries, and hundreds of commercials.

He has over than 100 recording participations as pianist, arranger, composer and/or producer. Some of his compositions are published in score by BIM editions, AVA editions, and Molenaar editions.

He works at ESMAE (Superior Music School of the Oporto Polytechnic Institute), where he teaches Music Analysis and Composition. He is also an integrated member of the CEIS20 – Investigation Centre of Coimbra University.

Maria Derevyagina was born in St. Petersburg into a family of musicians. She graduated from the SSMSH of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory with Professor Zora Zucker, then continued her studies at the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory with Professor Alexander Sandler and in post-graduate with Professor Leonid Zaichik.

Laureate of international competitions: "Anton Rubinstein" in Dresden, "Maria Yudina" in St. Petersburg, "The  Path to Mastery" in Moscow and many others.

She performs as a soloist and an ensemble in various compositions in cities of Russia and abroad, took part in the festival "Bad Kissiger Sommer Fest" in Germany.

Currently, Maria successfully combines teaching at the SSMSH of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and performing activity.