It has been a joy working with Katy Rose over the past several years both in private lessons and in the MIC trumpet ensembles. One of my proudest moments was seeing her perform at the Birch Creek Jazz Festival a few years ago in Door County, WI. She is a very accomplished musician and a wonderful person. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with students like Katy Rose, and as you will see by her personal statement, she does much more than play a trumpet! Best of luck to you Katy Rose! We will all miss you!Katy Rose will perform the Halsey Stevens Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, Mvt. 1,  at this evening’s Spring Studio Recital, and will join the MIC Trumpet Ensembles as a special guest performer.

“My name is Katy Rose O’Brien and I recently graduated from Loyola Academy.  I started playing trumpet in 5^th grade after hearing a brass quartet play at my school and being amazed at how beautiful the trumpet sounded.  Coincidentally, it turned out that the trumpet player in the brass quartet that day who inspired me to pick up the trumpet was Chris Hasselbring! My first lesson with Chris was in 6^th grade and I have been studying with him ever since.  I am extremely grateful that he has been my trumpet teacher for the past 7 years.  He is a wonderful and understanding teacher who has helped me appreciate and enjoy music in a way that no other teacher has.  I would not be the trumpet player I am today without him.

In addition to taking lessons I played in a MIC trumpet ensemble for four years along with playing in Loyola’s Symphonic and Marching Bands.  I received Loyola’s Patrick S. Gilmore Band Award in 2012 for my leadership in Loyola’s Band Program and was selected to play in the IMEA District 7 Jazz Band and the All-Catholic Honors Band.  Throughout high school I also played in jazz bands and combos through the Midwest Young Artists program. In the past four years I have worked my way up from the lowest jazz ensemble to the top band, and being the only girl makes no difference there because skill is what matters.  Big Band has given me a community of people who do not take themselves too seriously and truly reflect my passion for music.Apart from playing music I rowed on Loyola’s crew team for four years.  My boat qualified for Scholastic Rowing Nationals 3 of my 4 years rowing, and my sophomore year we placed in the top 6 in the nation.  Crew has given me some of my closest friends and an amazing community.  In addition to crew I was a Dumbach scholar and participated in Loyola’s Arrupe Community Service program, Amnesty International, and Labre Outreach program through Loyola’s Justice Seminar class.  Next year I will be attending Amherst College where I am considering studying art history, biology, history or classical civilizations.  I will also definitely stay involved with both classical and jazz music.”

My name’s Sasha Boutilier and I’ve studied trumpet with Chris for the last 10 years. I remember when I was 8 years old and I first got my trumpet, I sang through it and thought I was playing it! I’ve come a long way since then (I hope!).  Studying trumpet with Chris has been one of my most rewarding  experiences and I’m truly grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had over the years performing in MIC groups including the natural trumpet ensemble, wind ensemble, philharmonic orchestra, and Baroque orchestra.
This fall I’ll be attending the University of Toronto  and received the University of Toronto Scholar award. I plan to major in International Relations and possibly minor in Psychology. Toronto is actually my home town so I’m very excited to get back to Canada. I’m not planning to major or minor in Trumpet but I’m definitely going to get involved with music groups on campus so I can keep playing.
In addition to participating in various ensembles over the years, I also have helped out with the Brass for Beginners program at Dawes and Walker schools in Evanston. It’s been very rewarding to help the students in these classes and to see them learn so much over the course of the program!
Some other activities I enjoy are piano, martial arts, soccer, baseball, and model united nations!Sasha Boutilier will be playing Intrada by Arthur Honegger at the upcoming studio recital on May 31st at Nichols Concert Hall as well as several works as a member of the Advanced Trumpet Ensemble.

We will all miss you Sasha!

Congratulations to MIC graduating Senior Sawyer Lindland who will be attending Beloit College in WI in the Fall of 2013. He received a scholarship to participate in Beloit’s instrumental music programs and plans to study Psychology and Spanish. It has been a pleasure to work with Sawyer for the past 8 years. He has brought a sense of humor and some excellent musicianship to our studio, both as a member of the advanced trumpet ensemble and in his solo performances. I will especially miss our discussions, sometimes quite lengthy, about matters such as: why are there B sharps, and why are there F flats in musical notation? I don’t think we have yet resolved these issues, but Sawyer plans to introduce an entirely new tonality system based on numbers when he gets to Beloit. (good luck with that Sawyer!) You can see numerous videos on this website of Sawyer’s past performances- very impressive indeed! Sawyer has put together a little bio for us that you can read by clicking here.

Sawyer will perform Aria et Scherzo by Alexander Arutunian at the upcoming studio recital on May 31st at Nichols Concert Hall as well as several works as a member of the Advanced Trumpet Ensemble.

We will all miss you Sawyer!