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Stephanie Blaha was appointed Principal Horn of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in 2018. She is also Third Horn of the Pittsburgh Opera and Assistant Principal Horn of the Grant Park Orchestra since 2009, spending her summers in Chicago, IL. She held the position of Third Horn with the Winston-Salem Symphony from 2009-2014 and Fourth Horn with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 2005-2009. Stephanie has also performed with the Arizona Musicfest Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Originally from the Chicago area, she is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she was a student of Gail Williams and William Barnewitz. Stephanie lives in Wadsworth, OH with her husband Chris and their daughter Lizzie.

Stephanie holds The Todd S. Swatsler Chair.

Timothy Leasure received his BM from Ohio University in 1990 and his MM from The Ohio State University in 1993. Following post-master’s work at Ohio State, he joined the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C. in 1995. While a member of the Navy Band, he was chosen as the 1997 National Tour soloist, and as a featured soloist in the band’s concerts in Stockholm, Sweden. He has served as principal trumpet of the Springfield (Ohio) Symphony during its 1994-95 season, and as second trumpet in the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus from 1992 to 1995. He has also performed as principal trumpet in the Arlington (Virginia) Symphony, the Annapolis (Maryland) Symphony, the West Virginia Symphony, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, and the United States Navy Band. He is currently second trumpet in the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra.

Mr. Leasure can be heard in over 40 recordings by professional orchestral, band, and chamber music ensembles. He has performed extensively in the United States and Europe, and in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the White House, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, La Chapelle Notre-Dame de Rocamadour, France, and the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria. He is also the author of four software applications for the Apple iPhone and iPad, Tromba Musica, the award winning Mahler Translations, The Wotton Dictionary of Music, and Arban and His Method for the iPad. These applications are currently being sold worldwide in the iTunes App Store.

In 2001 Mr. Leasure was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. He was also the recipient of the 2004 Distinguished Teaching Award and, more recently, the 2015 Distinguished Scholar Award, both at The Ohio State University School of Music.

Timothy holds The William & Wendy Faust Chair.

Before moving to Northeastern Ohio in 2016, trumpeter Ted Clark lived in Toronto, Canada, where he was a member of the Toronto Brass Quintet, Charlottetown Festival Orchestra, and the Toronto Sinfonietta. While working in Toronto he also played with ensembles such as the Hannaford Street Silver Band, National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, Hamilton Philharmonic, Orchestra London, Toronto Philharmonia, and the Kitchener-Waterloo, Thunder Bay, Windsor, and Niagara Symphonies. From 2005-2015 Ted was the trumpet instructor at Toronto’s Royal St. George’s College and is currently the Instructor of Applied Trumpet at Malone University in Canton, Ohio. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at The Ohio State University in 2019.

Since moving to the United States, Ted has performed and recorded extensively with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the Erie Philharmonic, Cleveland Pops Orchestra, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, CityMusic Cleveland, the Cleveland Opera, and the Chautauqua, Columbus, Akron, and Illinois Symphony Orchestras. He currently holds positions with both the Firelands and Ashland Symphony Orchestras. In addition to his classical work, Ted has performed with The Who, Weird Al Yankovic, Il Divo, Hanson, Roger Hodgson of Supertramp, and many others. Ted also holds performance degrees from Illinois State University, the University of Toronto, and has given masterclasses at Illinois State, the College of Wooster, the Crane School of Music (SUNY Potsdam), and over half a dozen Canadian Universities.

James Albrecht, a native of Valley City, OH, joined the music faculty at The University of Nevada, Reno in the fall of 2018. He is also the Principal Trombone in the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the Great Basin Brass Quintet.

As an orchestral musician, Albrecht was the second trombonist in the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. He has served as acting utility trombone with the Pittsburgh Symphony and was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami, FL. He has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony, the Colorado Symphony, the Honolulu Symphony and many regional orchestras around the country.

Albrecht began his undergraduate work at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and completed his Bachelor of Music degree at the Manhattan School of Music. He holds a Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Memphis.

Through the years, Albrecht has been fortunate to study with some of the greatest brass virtuosi and pedagogues including Peter Sullivan, Tony Chipurn, Richard Stout, Mark Lawrence, David Finlayson, Steve Witser and Edward Zadrozny.

Dr. Christopher Blaha is the Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at The University of Akron. He holds his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in tuba performance from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Fritz Kaenzig, and his Bachelor of Music in tuba performance from The Ohio State University, where he studied with James Akins. His additional teachers include Wes Jacobs, Marianne Ploger, Ron Bishop and Gary Tirey.

Prior to joining the faculty at The University of Akron, Dr. Blaha was Assistant Professor of Tuba/Euphonium at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC from 2009-2014. Many of his former students are performing with United States military bands, teaching in the public schools or pursuing their graduate studies. Dr. Blaha was Principal Tuba of the Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra from 2004-2008 and has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Grant Park Music Festival, Toledo Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony and Columbus Symphony orchestras. During his tenure in Charleston, Chris held instructional positions at Charleston Southern University and Armstrong Atlantic State University, in addition to his activities as a guest artist and clinician.

Dr. Blaha is a Buffet Crampon Performing Artist.