The New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet enjoys worldwide exposure and an international reputation. The Quintet — featuring Principal Trumpet Philip Smith, Associate Principal Trumpet Matthew Muckey, Principal Horn Philip Myers, Principal Trombone Joe Alessi, and Principal Tuba Alan Baer — has hosted an annual Holiday Concert at Lincoln Center since 1995, collaborating most frequently with the Canadian Brass. Other guests have included groups such as The German Brass and the Salvation Army’s New York Staff Band. The Principal Brass Quintet has become a regular encore feature on Philharmonic tours and residencies.

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The virtuosos of the Canadian Brass have made the brass quintet an exciting vehicle for serious concert music. The quintet — now in its 38th season — comprises Josef Burgstaller, trumpet; Jeroen Berwaerts, trumpet; Bernhard Scully, horn; and original members Gene Watts, trombone, and Chuck Daellenbach, tuba. The group sprang from modest and highly experimental roots in Toronto, in 1970, developing a unique character and rapport with audiences that proved so successful that it has been emulated by many other ensembles. The musicians master the gamut of concert presentations — from formal classical concerts to music with lively dialogue and theatrical effects. Their more than 60 recordings to date include works by Purcell, Vivaldi, Gabrieli, Pachelbel, Beethoven, and Wagner.

The members of the Canadian Brass are keenly interested in training the next generation of players. In addition to conducting master classes worldwide, they are chamber quintet-in-residence at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, and have created a brass summer school at the Eastman School of Music.

James Markey joined the New York Philharmonic in 1997 as Associate Principal Trombone, and in June 2007 was appointed Bass Trombone. Previously, he was principal trombone of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Since 2001 he has also been a member of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Mr. Markey has had numerous solo appearances, including performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Sun Valley Summer Symphony, United States Army Band, Hora Decima Brass Ensemble, New York Staff Band of the Salvation Army, and Hanover Wind Symphony. A sought-after educator, Mr. Markey has been a featured artist at the International Trombone Festival, the Eastern Trombone Workshop, and the conferences of the New Jersey Music Educators Association and the New York State School Music Association. He has also appeared as a guest recitalist and clinician at major educational institutions including the University of Toronto’s Glenn Gould School, Manhattan School of Music, James Madison University, University of Calgary and Mount Royal College, Rutgers University, and The Boston Conservatory. He currently serves on the bass trombone faculty of The Juilliard School, and on the trombone faculty at Mannes College of Music. Additionally, he was on the faculty of The Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division from 1998 to 2007, and has served on the faculties of New York University, Purchase College (SUNY), Montclair State University, and Sarah Lawrence College.

Mr. Markey performs on several recordings of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, and he released his first solo CD, Offroad, in 2003. He can also be heard as a soloist on the Hora Decima Brass Ensemble’s recording of Janko Nilovic’s Concerto for Two Trombones. His first solo bass trombone CD will be released in fall 2009.

Mr. Markey studied with Joseph Alessi at The Juilliard School, where he received his bachelor and master of music degrees in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Hailed as a dynamic and versatile performer, Christopher S. Lamb joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Percussionist in 1985. He subsequently made his solo debut with the Philharmonic in the world premiere of Joseph Schwantner’s Percussion Concerto, one of several commissions celebrating the Philharmonic’s 150th Anniversary, and has since performed the work to critical acclaim with orchestras throughout the United States. Mr. Lamb also gave the world premiere of Tan Dun’s Concerto for Water Percussion, a second work commissioned for him by the New York Philharmonic, which he performed to rave reviews on the Philharmonic’s tour to South America as well as in Asia and Europe with such notable orchestras as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Gewandhaus Orchestra. Mr. Lamb’s performance of Tan Dun’s concerto was selected by Maestro Kurt Masur for release in the collection of New York Philharmonic CDs highlighting the Masur years. In November 2001, the third and most recent commission for Mr. Lamb by the New York Philharmonic, Susan Botti’s EchoTempo for Soprano, Percussion, and Orchestra, was given its world premiere by Ms. Botti, Mr. Lamb, and the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Masur.

In 1999 Mr. Lamb was the recipient of a prestigious Fulbright Scholar Award to lecture and conduct research in Australia. During his five-month residency at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, he presented master classes and seminars entitled, “A Comprehensive Examination of Orchestral Percussion,” a method he has refined over years of teaching experience.

On the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music since 1989, Mr. Lamb has given clinics and master classes throughout the United States and on nearly every continent. He has designed his own line of concert snare drum sticks and is frequently consulted on instrument design concepts by leading percussion equipment manufacturers.

Mr. Lamb has recorded chamber works on the New World, Cala, and CRI labels. A former member of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic, he is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He and his wife, pianist Virginia Perry Lamb, have two sons.

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Percussionist Daniel Druckman is active as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, and recording artist, concertizing throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. He has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the American Composer’s Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic’s Horizons concerts, the San Francisco Symphony’s New and Unusual Music series, and in recital in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Tokyo. He has been a member of the New York Philharmonic since 1991, where he serves as Associate Principal Percussionist, and has made numerous guest appearances with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Da Capo Chamber Players, the American Brass Quintet, the Group for Contemporary Music, Orpheus, Steve Reich and Musicians, and the Philip Glass Ensemble. Mr. Druckman has also participated in chamber music festivals at Santa Fe, Ravinia, Saratoga, Caramoor, Bridgehampton, Tanglewood, and Aspen.

An integral part of New York’s new music community, both as soloist and as a member of the New York New Music Ensemble and Speculum Musicae, Mr. Druckman has premiered works by Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, Jacob Druckman, Aaron Jay Kernis, Oliver Knussen, Poul Ruders, Joseph Schwantner, Ralph Shapey, and Charles Wuorinen, among many others. Recent appearances include collaborations with Alan Feinberg at Dartmouth College, with Fred Sherry at BargeMusic, with Dawn Upshaw at Carnegie Hall, and solo concerts at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre and Merkin Concert Hall in New York. Recent solo recordings include Elliott Carter’s Eight Pieces for Four Timpani and Jacob Druckman’s Reflections on the Nature of Walter on Koch International. Mr. Druckman is a faculty member of The Juilliard School, where he serves as chairman of the percussion department and director of the percussion ensemble.

Daniel Druckman was born and raised in New York City. The son of composer Jacob Druckman, he had invaluable exposure to music and musicians at an early age. He attended The Juilliard School, where he was awarded the Morris A. Goldenberg Memorial Scholarship and the Saul Goodman Scholarship, receiving both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music in 1980. Additional studies were undertaken at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, where he was awarded the Henry Cabot Award for outstanding instrumentalist. He currently resides in Orangeburg, New York, with his wife, harpist Barbara Allen, and two daughters.

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Markus Rhoten joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Timpani in September 2006. Prior to this appointment he was the principal timpanist of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, led by Eliahu Inbal.

Born in 1978 in Hanover, Germany, Mr. Rhoten attended the College of Arts in Berlin, and continued his studies as an apprentice with the National Opera Orchestra Mannheim. Subsequently, he was awarded a stipend for the Academy of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra in Munich, and in 2002 became principal timpanist of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra under Lorin Maazel. He has also worked with conductors Mariss Jansons, Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Franz Welser-Möst, Thomas Daussgard, Paavo Järvi, and Mstislav Rostropovich, among others. Mr. Rhoten has also performed with the Hessen Radio Symphony Orchestra; Zurich Opera Orchestra; North German Radio Philharmonic; Lower Saxony State Opera Orchestra; and Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

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