Bringing Broadway's incredible musicians from the pit to the stage!
Chad Smith, Alto & Melody C Saxophone
Chad's talent with multiple woodwind instruments has made him sought after as a broadway, recording, and concert performer from New York to Los Angeles. He has been a member of the Broadway orchestras of Wicked, Legally Blonde, A Christmas Story and Follies, and has substituted on countless shows including 42nd Street, Spamalot, A Chorus Line, The Producers and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
Chad has performed with numerous prestigious orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, American Ballet Theatre, New York Pops, Boston Pops, American Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Albany Symphony and L’ Opera Francais. He has also shared the stage with Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Pizzarelli, The Temptations, Arturo Sandoval, Lady Gaga, Frankie Valli, Bernadette Peters and Audra Macdonald to name a few.
Chad's movie credits include Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Secret Life Of Pets 2, Little, Stargirl, The Informant!, Ted 2, Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud, I Saw the Light and Monsters University. Chad has been featured on television in Legally Blonde on MTV, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Grease and Christmas Story LIVE on Fox, The Wiz and Hairspray on NBC, the Tony Awards on CBS and the Academy Awards on ABC. Chad’s woodwind talents can be heard daily on the Family Guy, American Dad, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Flash, Lucifer, Smash, Simpsons and Fosse/Verdon.
An award winning musician in various woodwind competitions, Chad has performed at music festivals all over the world, most recently the 15th World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, where he premiered SAX-O-PHILM: Sounds and Sights of the 20’s. SAX-O-PHILM highlights the music of sax pioneer Rudy Wiedoeft accompanied by piano, harp and silent films. Some other appearances include the IRDS, College Music Society, Adolphe Sax Centennial, North American Saxophone Alliance, Greenwich Concert Series, Delaware Recital Series, Clarion University, San Diego State University, California State Fullerton, University of Northern Colorado, Colorado State, Eastman Saxophone Project, Montclair State Film Forum, Millersville University Single Reed Day, West Chester Saxophone Festival, Newark Concert Series and The Craftsbury Chamber Players.
He currently is an adjunct professor of saxophone at Montclair State University and founder/director of the Masters’ in Woodwind specialization program. Chad E. Smith earned a B.S. in Music Education from West Chester University where he was a student of Ted Hegvik. He later pursued a Master’s in Saxophone and Woodwind Performance from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Ramon Ricker. Chad also studied briefly with the late woodwind virtuoso, Al Gallodoro and considers him an inspiration and mentor. He is proud to be a Selmer Artist and D’Addario Clinician.
Chad proudly performs on Al Gallodoro’s and Ted Hegvik’s gold plated saxophones.
Gary Adler, Conductor
Gary Adler is a conductor, pianist and composer originally from Huntington Woods, MI. He studied composition with William Bolcom and accompanying with Martin Katz while attending the University of Michigan.
He served as the music director/arranger of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the world-famous Rockettes for eight years. He also music directed Avenue Q for its six year run on Broadway. As a writer, Gary received two 2005 Drama Desk nominations for his music and lyrics for the off-Broadway hit Altar Boyz. For Disney Channel, he created the musical world for Johnny and the Sprites, starring John Tartaglia.
He co-produced and arranged two albums for Broadway’s Telly Leung, and has extensively toured with Chita Rivera. He also arranged the dance music for the Jimmy Buffett musical, Escape to Margaritaville. Other New York playing/conducting credits include The Fantasticks, Urinetown, Hairspray, Kinky Boots, It Shoulda Been You, and Nunsense.
Dalton Ridenhour, Piano
“Ridenhour is a talented player. I’ll be seeing him again. If you’d like to be transported back in time to hear piano music from a bygone — but still very fresh and alive — age, you should see him, too." -- Jason Crane, The Jazz Session
"Ridenhour’s stride chops take a back seat to no one ..." -- Jack Rummel, Ragtime America
Dalton Ridenhour, a Missouri native, has been a student of the ragtime and stride piano tradition since the age of 8 and has been featured at many ragtime and early jazz festivals including The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival, The West Coast Ragtime Festival, The Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival, and The Blind Boone Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival. Dalton has degrees from the Berklee College of Music and The Eastman School of Music where he studied with Harold Danko, Joanne Brackeen, Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano and Hal Crook. Dalton performs locally and internationally with various groups including Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks, The Lovestruck Balladeers, Dan Levinson's Roof Garden Jass Band, Naomi and Her Handsome Devils, Mike Davis and The New Wonders, Goodbye Picasso, and Mona's Hot Four. He has a solo album, "Eccentricity," on the Rivermont Records label.
Wendi Bergamini, Vocalist & Dancer
Wendi is thrilled to be joining Sax-O-Philm once again. Her many Broadwaycredits inculde Frozen, Doctor Zhivago, Evita, Promises, Promises (Miss Olson), and the Lincoln Center revival of South Pacific. Wendi has also toured with The Light in the Piazza (Franca,1st National), Guys & Dolls, Evita (25th Anniversary tour), and Cats (Jellylorum). Her regional credits include Little Dancer (world premiere), Secondhand Lions (Ghita, 5th Avenue Theatre), My Life is a Musical, Finian’s Rainbow (Westport Country Playhouse), The Baker’s Wife (Goodspeed Opera House), Titanic (CLO South Bay Cities), The Grapes of Wrath (The Western Stage), and has performed in NYC with Encores, The York Theatre, NYGASP, and Musicals Tonight. Wendi was also in the live television event The Sound of Music Live! produced by NBC.
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Lynette Wardle, Harp
Lynette Wardle is principal harpist of the Richmond Symphony and the Albany Symphony. As a freelance musician she performs with New Jersey Symphony and New York City Chamber Orchestra. For the holiday seasons, she has been the harpist for A Christmas Story, the Musical, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She also performs with her husband Chad Smith in Sax-O-Philm, Sounds and Sights of the 20’s.
Lynette was the harpist for the Broadway musical, Amelie, and the national tour of the Tony award-winning musical Light in the Piazza. Off-Broadway credits include The Mad Ones, The Beast in the Jungle, and Renascence. She has a number of recordings, most notably her work with Trilogy, a flute, harp, viola trio, AREA 31, and Grammy award-winning Albany Symphony recordings. Lynette has performed with many artists, such as Pavarotti, Josh Groban, Johnny Mathis, Neil Sedaka, Marvin Hamlisch, David Burnham, Megan Hilty, Bjork, Olivia Newton John, Ann Hampton Callaway, Deborah Voigt, Edgar Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham and Joshua Bell.
Rachel Handman, Concertmaster
Originally from Hyde Park, NY, violinist Rachel Handman's virtuosity and improvisational ability appears in many musical forms, including classical, bluegrass, Irish, pop and folk.
Broadway show credits include Dr. Zhivago, Something Rotten!, Miss Saigon, and Carousel, among others. Rachel is a a long standing member of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and is Associate Concert Master of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra. With recent and upcoming performances at Carnegie Hall, she also plays in the New York Oratorio Society Orchestra under the direction of Kent Tritle. She has toured Mexico with Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, and Germany, both on stage and in the orchestra with the shows My Fair Lady and On The Town.
Loving travel and exposure to other cultures, Rachel lived in La Paz, Bolivia where she was in the National Symphony of Bolivia, concertized with a string quartet, and eventually joined a Salsa band named Guapacha! After returning to the states, Rachel began fiddling and immersing herself in different folk and fiddle styles. With her band, Uncommon Ground, she has performed at many festivals including the Doc Watson Festival, Carolina in the Fall, and Winter-Hawk festival.
Rachel has also performed with Natalie Merchant, Norm Lewis, Jennifer Hudson, Roberta Flack, Bette Midler, and the legendary Ray Charles. She teaches fiddle workshops at Summer Strings, a music camp run by her family in Poughkeepsie, NY, and is a resident visiting artist at Music at Port Milford chamber music festival in Milford, Ontario.
Eddie Venegas, Violin
Eddie Venegas was born in Caracas, Venezuela where he began learning to play violin as a child. He moved to New York City to study with Daniel Phillips of the Orion String Quartet at The Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, where he obtained his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Performance of Classical Violin. Venegas is a self-taught trombonist.
Venegas has been a regular member of Marc Anthony’s band as a trombonist and violinist from 2010-2016. Venegas also plays with the legendary Orquesta Broadway and Grupo Folklorico Experimental Nuevayorquino also doubling on violin and trombone.
Venegas has performed alongside world famous opera star, Susan Graham, and with The Harrisburg Symphony, The Queens Philharmonic, The Sphinx Symphony, Saint Martins of Tours Symphony Orchestra, and The Carpentier String Quartet. Currently working as a regular violinist at the Broadway Show Ain’t Too Proud. He is a founding member of the Sweet Plantain String Quartet and the salsa band Los Hacheros.
Tallie Brunfelt, Violin
A native of Minnesota, Tallie enjoys regular appearances with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, Harrisburg (Pa.) Symphony Orchestra, Reading (Pa.) Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony Orchestra and is concertmaster of the Akron Symphony. She also maintains an active freelance career in the Northeastern United States.
Recent engagements include Miss Saigon, Hello Dolly!, Something Rotten!, and War Paint on Broadway, and the New York and Christmas Spectaculars at Radio City Music Hall. In addition to serving as Concertmaster for recent national tours of Fiddler on the Roof and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Tallie has performed in major concert halls around the world, including Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Semperoper in Dresden, Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, and Carnegie Hall in New York. She can be heard on recent motion picture soundtracks including A Dog’s Purpose, Keeping Up with the Joneses, and Collateral Beauty.
Yuko Naito-Gotay, violin
Yuko Naito-Gotay, a native of Tokyo Japan, is one of New York's most sought after violinists and performs with leading orchestras such as The New York City Opera, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Springfield Symphony, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic, and the Long Island Symphony. She is a former member of the first violin section of the St. Louis Symphony.
Yuko’s Broadway credits include performing on shows such as Something Rotten!, Kinky Boots, The King and I, and Hamilton. Currently, Yuko serves as a regular violinist/violist at Anastasia.
Yuko arrived in the United States in 1989 to study with legendary violinist Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music. Yuko holds advanced degrees from both Yale and the Manhattan School of Music.
Funda Cizmecioglu, Violin
Began her musical journey in Istanbul at the age of 5, inspired by her grandfather, a traditional Turkish Saz player. She has had the opportunity to serve as concert-mistress under renowned conductors such as Kurt Masur and Leonard Slatkin, and collaborate with musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Sharon Isbin, and Yo-Yo Ma. She has also joined United States east cost tours with Peter Gabriel, Frank Sinatra Jr., and Johnny Mathis, and appeared on Saturday Night Live with Kanye West, Broadway engagement Amazing Grace. Currently holding principal second violin position with the 2014 Grammy award winning Albany Symphony Orchestra. Recently served as a concert mistress to Mid America Productions Carnegie Hall series.
Funda has a Bachelors in violin performance from the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory in Istanbul, and a Masters of Music as well as a professional studies diploma from Mannes College The New School for Music in New York City and performance diploma from international Summer Academy at Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Bradley Bosenbeck, Viola
Bradley Bosenbeck was born and raised on Long Island, and studied violin and conducting at The Mannes School of Music and Long Island University. In addition to his work as a violinist and violist, Mr. Bosenbeck is also an avid and active conductor, composer, arranger, orchestrator and producer. Credits include: Richard M. Sherman (the Academy Award winning composer of Disney fame), The BBC Concert Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Pittsburgh Symphony, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ Broadway Backwards, the James M. Nederlander Awards, Randy Jones (Cowboy in the band “The Village People”), Bianca Marroquín (Roxie world-wide in Chicago), Sal “The Voice” Valentinetti (Golden Buzzer recipient and runner-up on NBC’s America’s Got Talent), Donny Most (Ralph Malph from Happy Days), among others. He has conducted, performed and/or recorded his work in such venues as Abbey Road Studios, Capitol Records, Carnegie Hall, Tilles Center, the Hollywood Bowl, Hyde Park London, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and on FOX’s The X Factor. Mr. Bosenbeck holds his first full-time chair and makes his Broadway conducting debut with My Fair Lady.
Entela Barçi, Viola
Violist Entela Barci currently holds a chair in the new Broadway musical, Beetlejuice. A native of Tirana, Albania, learned a lot about music from her maternal grandparents. Her grandmother was a musician and used to take her to many concerts during her childhood, and her grandfather, a scientist, taught her the importance of intensive studying. She proved to be precocious, showing discipline and dedication at a very young age. Entela studied viola at New York's The Juilliard School and Stony Brook University.
Peter Sachon, Cello
American cellist Peter Sachon has performed and recorded all over the United States, Europe and Asia with an array of musical groups from classical and jazz, to rock and country bands, and Broadway shows.
Mr. Sachon began his classical cello studies at the age of 13, and a year later was accepted into the Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia. He then went on to study cello with Paul Tobias at The Mannes College of Music in New York, and chamber music with Felix Galimir and Julius Levine. He also was a student in the Orchestral Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Alan Stepansky. Additionally, he has participated for both the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and the Pacific Music Festival where he was principal cellist.
Mr. Sachon has performed with the Absolute Ensemble, the Riverside Orchestra, the Sonos Chamber Orchestra, the Spoleto Festival Orchestras (Italy and U.S.), the Virginia Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
Peter has toured Europe and the U.S. with the band Pink Martini, and played for the Broadway shows My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, The Light in the Piazza, High Fidelity, Legally Blonde, South Pacific, Pippin, and The King and I. He also performs with Audra McDonald, Victoria Clark, Kelli O’Hara, Deborah Voight, Rufus Wainright, Chris Potter, Dee Snider, Josh Groban, Phillip Phillips, Judy Kuhn, Adam Guettel, and Billy Joel.
Mr. Sachon has premiered more than thirty new works for cello; all written for him by Broadway composers. A brief list includes John Bucchino, Jason Carr, Tom Kitt, Steve Marzullo, Michael John LaChuisa, Stephen Schwartz, George Stiles, Andrew Lippa, Jeff Marx, Ricky Ian Gordon, Steve Flaherty, Zina Goldrich, Jake Heggie, Bobby Lopez, Joshua Rosenblum, Joseph Thalken, and Maury Yeston.
Robert Burkhart, Cello
Cellist Robert Burkhart combines a deep commitment to the existing cello repertoire with what the New Yorker magazine calls an “adventurous” spirit in new music. With performance credits at Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and The Rose Studio at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Robert has also appeared as a soloist throughout Japan as a member of the New York Symphonic Ensemble, and been featured in recital on WQXR’s “Young Artist Showcase.”
At the center of new music in New York, Robert has performed with the American Modern Ensemble, Argento New Music Project, Fireworks Ensemble, Newspeak, and SONYC. Recent collaborations include Uri Caine, Georg Friedrich Haas, Aaron Jay Kernis, Steve Mackey, Joan Tower, Charles Wourinen, and Chen Yi. He has performed the New York premiere of John Harbison’s Abu Ghraib for cello and piano, and was the soloist in Augusta Read Thomas’s Passion Prayers for cello and chamber ensemble at the New York Times Center.
Robert’s major teachers include Paul Tobias at The Mannes College of Music and Uri Vardi at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he has worked with Timothy Eddy, Aldo Parisot, and Janos Starker at festivals and masterclasses. Robert has taught at Juilliard Pre-college, Mannes Prep, Syracuse University, and Music Conservatory of Westchester, and been artist-in-residence at Yale University and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. His recent CD “20/21: Music for Cello and Piano from the 20th and 21st Centuries,” features pianist Blair McMillen and the premiere of a work for cello and piano by composer Andrew Waggoner. Robert’s recording of solo Bach on the American Express commercial “Don’t Take Chances. Take Charge.” has garnered national attention.
Bill Ellison, Bass
Bassist Bill Ellison is thrilled to be playing with the Broadway Chamber Players. He has played in over 60 Broadway shows including the recent Sunday In The Park With George, Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town, Porgy And Bess, Sondheim On Sondheim, Shrek the Musical, Cutains, Gypsy, 42nd Street, Annie Get Your Gun, and The Sound Of Music.
He was on Barbra Streisand’s 2006-07 U.S. and European tours and he performed and toured with Bernadette Peters for 13 years. Bill has also performed and toured with Patti LuPone, Kristen Chenoweth and Jerry Herman, playing on the album, An Evening with Jerry Herman. Ellison is a 30-year member of the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and plays with the Little Orchestra Society at Lincoln Center as well as many other freelance orchestras in New York City and the tri-state area. As a former member of the American Ballet Theater Orchestra at the Metropolitan Opera House he toured the U.S. with Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Also in demand in the recording studio, Bill can be heard on more than 30 CDs, including 13 Broadway cast albums, three of which won Grammy Awards, as well as numerous jingles and film scores. He has performed twice at the White House and holds a Masters Degree from the Juilliard School of Music.
John Romeri, Flute
Flutist John Romeri maintains an active teaching and performance schedule throughout the northeast, often performing with such orchestras as the Stamford, Delaware, Harrisburg, and Lancaster Symphonies, Orchestra of St. Luke's, as well as the Philadelphia Virtuosi and Black Pearl Chamber Orchestras, St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Wall Street, and Central Park's Shakespeare in the Park.
John is also a sought-after player of Broadway shows including the current revival of Carousel. Other Broadway credits include My Fair Lady, Miss Saigon, Sunset Boulevard, the Lincoln Center revival of The King and I, She Loves Me, An American in Paris, On the Town, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Les Misérables, Beauty and the Beast, Ragtime, Mary Poppins, and The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. Television appearances include Mildred Pierce [HBO], Late Night with Jimmy Fallon [NBC], and NBC's The Sound of Music Live! and Peter Pan Live! .
John holds two bachelor's degrees—in flute performance and composition—from the University of Missouri–Kansas City, as well as a master's degree in flute performance from Mannes College The New School for Music, where he studied with American Ballet Theater Principal Flute Judy Mendenhall. An avid educator, Mr. Romeri currently serves on the music faculty of The Calhoun School, and is a teaching artist for the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.
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Setsuko Otake, Oboe
Oboist Setsuko Otake enjoys a diverse career as a chamber musician, orchestral performer, and teacher. As a soloist, she has performed with the New York Symphonic Ensemble on a tour of Japan and Southeast Asia, and gave the premiere performance of Yoshihro Kanno's Water Leaf 4 for oboe and chamber orchestra with the North/South Consonance.
Throughout the U.S. and Japan, Setusko has presented chamber-music recitals with various woodwind quintets and trio groups—including a 2002 recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. She currently holds the second oboe/English horn position with the Riverside Symphonia in Lambertville, New Jersey, and, as a freelance oboist, has regularly appeared with a number of Broadway shows, including Miss Saigon, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, On the Town, Les Misérables, The King and I, Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Aida, Wicked, Ragtime, Porgy and Bess, and Mary Poppins.
Ms. Otake received her bachelor's degree from the Toho Gakuen School of Music, and her master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with former New York Philharmonic oboist Joseph Robinson. During the summer, she is an oboe and chamber-music coach at the Summerkeys Music Festival in Lubec, Maine. Ms. Otake is also the oboe instructor at the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn.
Chris Cullen, Clarinet
Clarinetist Christopher Cullen regularly performs with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony, and Albany Symphony. An agile pro with all of the instruments in the clarinet family, Chris's Broadway credits include My Fair Lady, The King and I, South Pacific, Les Misérables, West Side Story, and Mary Poppins.
Devin Di Mauro, Bassoon
Devin Di Mauro is a low reed specialist who has established himself over the last few years in the New York commercial music scene. His Broadway credits as a substitute include Finding Neverland, Holiday Inn, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Carousel, among others. He has performed for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for multiple seasons and the 2015 Spring Spectacular. Devin is also principle bassoon with the New York Chamber Players, and has appeared as second bassoon with the Phoenicia Festival Orchestra, and on baritone sax with the New York City Ballet and Albany Symphony. His teachers include Ron Jannelli, Krassimir Ivanov, and Ed Joffe.
Jeffrey Wilfore, Trumpet
Jeff Wilfore moved to NYC in 2002 and has been a busy freelancer ever since. He’s performed on more than two dozen Broadway Shows, and has had his own chair on a number of them, including the most recent revivals of West Side Story, and Follies.
In recent years, he’s become a regular sub in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and a member of the Ron Carter Big Band. He also did numerous tours with Natalie Cole as her lead trumpet player.
In 2014, he was singled out in the New York Times review of the off-Broadway show, “Piece of My Heart, The Bert Berns Story”, for bringing “fresh vibrancy and dimension to tunes we’ve heard a thousand times before.”
Jeff has won chairs for both the Christmas and Spring shows at Radio City Music Hall. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College, and a Masters Degree from the Eastman School of Music.
Jonathan Heim, Trumpet
"Jonathan resides in New York City where he performs as a classical, jazz, and commercial trumpeter. He received his education from the Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School, and is a candidate for a doctorate at City University of New York, Graduate Center. He has studied with many of the top trumpet teachers in the United States, including James Thompson, Mark Gould, and Raymond Mase.
Jonathan has performed on a dozen different productions since beginning his career in 2014, including the current productions of Wicked, Cher Show, Frozen, and King Kong. As a classical artist, he has performed with the New York City Ballet, Harrisburg Symphony, Stamford Symphony, and Hudson Valley Philharmonic. As a jazz artist, he has toured around the world and throughout the United States with the Grammy award winning composer Maria Schneider. He has also performed with the Gil Evans Project at both the Jazz Standard in New York and Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy.
Jonathan maintains a trumpet studio at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division and the Leman Preparatory School Conservatory.”
David Byrd-Marrow, French Horn
Atlanta native David Byrd-Marrow is the Solo hornist of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), a new music collective that performs internationally and serves as ensemble-in-residence at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. Working with a uniquely wide range of performers, he has premiered works by Matthias Pintscher, Arthur Kampela, George Lewis, Tyshawn Sorey, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Du Yun, Marcos Balter, Wang Lu, Kate Soper, Miguel Zenón, and Chick Corea. He frequently performs at festivals including the Ojai Music Festival, Bay Chamber Concerts, the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Tanglewood Music Center, and as faculty at the Banff Music Centre. Formerly a member of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, he has also made appearances with the New York Philharmonic, The Knights, Decoda, the Atlanta and Tokyo symphony orchestras, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Washington National Opera and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
David has performed on dozens of Broadway shows including holding orchestra chairs in the recent revival of Carousel, as well as War Paint, Big Fish, Cinderella, and Irving Berlin's White Christmas.
As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed with artists ranging from Peter Evans to Paul Groves. He has recorded on many labels including Tundra, More Is More, Nonesuch, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, and Naxos. Mr. Byrd-Marrow received his Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School and Master of Music from Stony Brook University. David is the Assistant Professor of Horn at the Lamont School of Music, of The University of Denver.
Sarah Boxmeyer, French Horn
Originally from Philadelphia, Sarah Boxmeyer can be heard playing horn at King Kong on Broadway. An active orchestral and chamber musician, Sarah has performed with the New York Pops and Chamber Orchestra of New York among other ensembles. Before moving to New York, she received her master’s degree from Yale University School of Music and bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music. Sarah enjoys traveling and has participated in concerts, music festivals and tours across the United States and abroad including performances in Germany, Italy, Costa Rica, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
Chris Rinaman, Trombone
Chris Rinaman is a composer, arranger and trombonist in New York City who studied at the Manhattan School of Music and whose experience encompasses jazz and orchestral performing and arranging to composing for film. A former assistant to Academy Award-winning film composer Howard Shore, Chris Rinaman has scored independent films and has penned numerous arrangements for big bands and orchestras with vocalists such as Deana Martin, Giada Valenti, and Allan Harris, as well as had his arrangements featured on PBS concert specials. As a busy freelance trombonist, his performance experience ranges from jazz and rock concerts and recordings to Broadway pit orchestras, including the first national tours of the Broadway shows In The Heights and Memphis.
Jack Schatz, Bass Trombone
Jack Schatz is a native New Yorker who upon graduating from The High School of Music and Art, attended Queens College CUNY where he received his BM and BA degrees in Performance and Education. At Queens College he was the recipient of the Karol Rathaus Family Award for excellence in performance, where he studied with Erwin Price, and Simon Karasick. Jack also received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for further study towards a Masters Degree.
Jack received a full scholarship to The Juilliard School of Music where he received a Masters Degree as a student of Don Harwood. Jack continued his studies with Steve Norrell and Arnold Jacobs. Upon graduating from The Juilliard School Jack embarked on a freelance career that has enabled him to play in every facet of the music industry. He has played with The New York Philharmonic, The Metropolitan Opera where he recorded Wagner’s Ring Cycle, National Grand Opera, Houston Opera, New York Choral Society, Orchestra of St. Lukes, and New Jersey Symphony. Jack was also a member of the Grand Teton Music Festival for four years.
Jack has been on staff at Westbury Music Fair, and has played for and recorded cast albums for My Favorite Year. Broadway productions of Damn Yankees, Hello Dolly, A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum, Side Show, Little Me, The Phantom of the Opera, Flower Drum Song, Wonderful Town, A Chorus Line, and Billy Elliot, Hugh Jackman Back On Broadway, and Nice Work If You Can Get It.
Jack has also played and toured with the Big Bands of Woody Herman, Bob Mintzer, Tom Pierson, Louie Bellson, and Bobby Watson. Jack has recorded with The Ed Palermo Big Band, James Moody, Alan Pasqua, and Ted Nash.
Along with doing countless recording-jingle or film dates, Jack was also Assistant Professor of Trombone at Hofstra University, and Queens College. Jack is currently Professor of Trombone and Head of Brass at Purchase Conservatory of Music, Purchase College SUNY. Jack has been a featured soloist and conductor with the Nassau-Suffolk All County Music Festival.
Ray Marchica, Drums
Ray Marchica is one of the most diverse drummers in New York City. He is a graduate of Brooklyn College where he studied percussion with Morris Lang. He has recorded with James Brown, Little Richard, Dan Hartman, Earl Klugh, Roy Buchanan, Rodney Jones, Amanda Brecker, and Barbara Streisand.
He is a member of The Ed Palermo Big Band, The Gary Morgan Big Band, and The Mike Longo Jazz Ensemble. He was the drummer for The Rosie O’Donnell TV show, Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, and The Broadway productions of A Chorus Line, Woman of The Year, La Cage aux Folles, Starlight Express, The Will Rogers Follies, Damn Yankees, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Mamma Mia, Dance of the Vampires, Disaster!, and the recent Miss Saigon.
Ray has accompanied Bernadette Peters, Betty Buckley, Tommy Tune, Joel Grey, Michael Feinstein, Leslie Uggams, Shirley Bassey, James Naughton, Jimmy Webb, Keely Smith and Marilyn Maye,
Ray has recorded two CDs with his own group.
Please visit raymarchica.com.
Matthew Beaumont, Percussion
Matthew Beaumont enjoys a versatile career as a freelancer in the NYC area. As a classical musician, he performs regularly with the New Jersey Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Albany Symphony, and Harrisburg Symphony. He has also appeared with the Houston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, New York City Opera, New York City Ballet and San Diego Symphony. In 2018, he joined the percussion section of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Matt has been a member of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular Orchestra and Spring Spectacular Orchestra for four seasons since 2014. As a commercial musician, he has also performed with Paquito D'Rivera, Wynton Marsalis, Natalie Merchant, and Pink Martini. This year Matt will be the percussionist for several dates of the national tour of Rocktopia, which just completed its Broadway run in April of 2018.
As an educator, he has coached students at the Laguardia High School for the Performing Arts, the Calhoun School, the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and the Greater Newark Youth Orchestra. He has also presented masterclasses at the Percussive Arts Society Internation Convention and the NYU Broadway Seminar. Matthew contracted musicians for the Bard Conductors Institute Orchestra for 16 years and has been the orchestra contractor at Hunter College in NYC for the past seven years.
Matthew received his Bachelor of Music from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, where he studied with Jonathan Haas and Robert Van Sice. He continued his musical studies with Alan Abel at Temple University, where he received his Masters in Music degree.
When he's not playing music, Matthew also owns a small web development business. He lives in NJ with his wife, Megan and two-year-old son Patrick. In his spare time, he enjoys baking, woodworking, and keeping his son from tearing down the house.