Scheherazade

Dr. Luis M. Araya, winner of the 2004 Ellsworth Smith International Solo Competition and current member of the renowned brass ensemble Dallas Brass, is originally from Alajuela, Costa Rica. He started his musical training at the “Conservatorio Castella” Arts High School, and later moved onto undergraduate studies at the University of Costa Rica and the National Institute of Music of Costa Rica under Professor Ricardo Vargas. He continued his graduate studies at Loyola University in New Orleans, and later went on to Arizona State University as student of Regents’ Professor of Trumpet, David R. Hickman. Additional teachers and mentors include Gilbert Johnson, Josef Pomberger, Rod Franks of the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Empire Brass.

With his many gifts and incredible versatility, Luis Araya has excelled in all possible ways as trumpeter. As soloist, he has performed on numerous occasions with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica in trumpet concertos by Haydn and Hummel with conductors Irwin Hoffman and Ferenc Gabor. Other solo performances include Haydn and Molter concertos with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Shostakovich’s Piano concerto #1 with the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra in Sweden as part of the Credomatic Music Festival, Telemann’s Concerto No. 1 with the Loyola University Chamber Orchestra, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.2 with the Heredia Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, and many others.

As an orchestral musician, Araya dedicated 14 years in the trumpet section of the Costa Rica National Symphony Orchestra. He has also been invited as guest principal trumpet of the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, and performed in other guest trumpet positions with the Fort Smith Symphony, Miami Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Youth Orchestra of the Americas of Pablo Casals, and the Pacific Music Festival orchestra in Japan under conductors Christoph Eschenbach and Myung Gung Chung.

Other invitations include performing in festivals such as the Fifth Trumpet Festival in Manizales, Colombia, the Teror Trumpet Festival in Canary Islands, First Chamber Music Festival of Central America in Nicaragua, Brass Festival of the Costa Rican Trombone Quartet, and a solo recital at the 2005 International Trumpet Guild Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, an award following his Grand-prize win at the 2004 Ellsworth Smith Competition.

An ardent educator as well as performer, he has presented master classes at Ithaca College, Loyola University, and Washburn University, which led to soloist and concert engagements with the universities. As a passionate member of the International Trumpet Guild (ITG), Araya was invited to perform in the New Works Recital at the 2014 ITG conference in Pennsylvania. Earlier that year, his scholarly article on the history of trumpet-usage in mariachi music was published by ITG. As professor, Araya served more than 10 years on the faculties of the University of Costa Rica and the National Institute of Music of Costa Rica. In the United States, Dr. Araya served for two years as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. While finishing his doctoral studies under mentor David Hickman at Arizona State University, Araya performed Giuseppe Tartini’s Trumpet Concerto with the Arizona State University Chamber Orchestra as winner of Concert of Soloists competition. He was also member of the internationally acclaimed Dallas Brass for 5 seasons. Other chamber music experience include the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass, the Sonoran Brass Quintet, and performed as Solo Cornet with the Salt River Brass conducted by Patrick Sheridan and Samuel Pilafian.

Luis Araya serves as Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He is currently an artist for Stomvi trumpets and Warburton musical products.

Christopher Marshall is based in Orlando, Florida. In the years since his arrival in Orlando Florida he has continued to carve out a successful freelance career, securing commissions from top performers, including, most recently Summit Brass, Gail Robertson and Richard Stoezel. His music has featured on concert programmes in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Barbican in London. It his been performed from Austria to Australia, from Sweden to Singapore to Saudi Arabia. This summer alone will see premieres in New Zealand, Philadelphia and Denver, as well as here in Melbourne.

Born in France of New Zealand parents, Christopher received his early music education in New South Wales, Australia. He holds a Masters Degree in Music with Honors from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and a Fellowship in Composition from Trinity College, London. He has twice held the Mozart Fellowship at the University of Otago, New Zealand and in 1996 was Fulbright Composer in Residence at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Prior to taking up these positions he spent three years teaching and composing in the South Pacific island nation, Samoa, and for ten years prior to that taught English to Indochinese refugees in Auckland.

Many influences can be heard in Christopher Marshall's works, from Bach and Brahms to traditional Polynesian music, particularly Maori chant. The foundation of his style is his strong belief that music is primarily a means of expressive communication with the listener. Singable, memorable melody coupled with a subtle use of the tonal harmonic system is central, but is only effective when integrated into a convincing formal structure.

Christopher chose to spend the last seven years as Composer in Residence and Professor of Composition at UCF, singlehandedly building up a highly successful composition studio from scratch. Students of this program have won prestigious national competitions and, even more remarkably have had works published by national firms. This summer, after much deliberation Christopher left the music department at UCF in order to devote more time to his composing.