The Brass Faculty consists of the following members of the Emory University Music Department:
BRICE ANDRUS - Horn - joined the Atlanta Symphony in 1966 and is now Principal Horn. A native Atlantan, he attended Georgia State University, majoring in Horn and Composition, and is presently on the faculty there and at Emory University. His teachers have included William Hill, Forrest Stanley, former Principal Horn with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and Dale Clevenger, Principal Horn with the Chicago Symphony. He is also a composition student of Charles Knox. Recently, Mr. Andrus performed the Mozart 2nd Concerto with the Atlanta Symphony (during a thunderstorm) at Piedmont Park. He also is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Emory.
RICHARD DEANE - Horn - is a native of Richmond, Kentucky. He joined the Atlanta Symphony in 1987, two years after winning 1st Prize in the American Horn Competition. Mr. Deane received a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He has played principal horn with the Colorado Philharmonic and the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, and has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Soloisti New York and the Lexington, Ky. Philharmonic. Mr. Deane is a member of the Atlanta Symphony Brass Quintet. His other chamber music interests also include the Atlanta Winds and Atlanta Chamber Players. In addition to his performing interests, Mr. Deane is on the faculty of Emory University.
MARK HUGHES - Trumpet - is in his first year as Assistant Principal/Utility Trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, even though he became a member of the Atlanta Symphony Brass Quintet in 1987. He received a B.Mus. in performance from Northwestern University, where he studied with Vincent Cichowicz, and was the winner of the 1983 Concerto Competition. Mr. Hughes also studied with Adolph Herseth while a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the Atlanta Ballet, the Atlanta Opera, the Charleston Symphony, and the Atlanta Brassworks. Mr. Hughes, a native of Jonesboro, GA, also toured for several years with organist Richard Morris.
MICHAEL MOORE- Tuba- and Artistic Director - was born in Blackwell, Okla., but raised in Decatur, GA. He joined the Atlanta Symphony in 1968 and at the age of 18 was the youngest tubist in any major symphony. Mr. Moore received a B. Mus. Lit. with a minor in composition from Ga. State Univ., and has taught there and through Southern and Lee Colleges. He is Artistic Director of the Atlanta Symphony Brass Quintet. In that capacity, he has contributed numerous arrangements to the brass quintet repertoire and is an active composer-performer of works for solo electric tuba. Mr. Moore is the founder of the Atlanta Brass Society and the ABS Press, conducts the Emory University Brass Ensemble, the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra Brass Ensemble,and coaches Emory student brass quintets. With the ASO, he has performed the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto and has played hundreds of performances of Tubby the Tuba. His studies have been with Arnold Jacobs and Ed Kleinhammer of the Chicago Symphony, Ward Fearn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, William Hill, and his father, former ASO tubist, E.W. Moore.
ED NICHOLSON - Trombone - is an active performing musician throughout the Southeast. He received his B.M. from the University of North Texas in 1979 where he was principal trombonist with the University orchestra, brass choir, and wind ensemble. His teachers include Per Brevig of the Metropolitan Opera, Arnold Jacobs, Frank Crisafulli, and Charles Vernon of the Chicago Symphony, and Don Jacoby. Prior to moving to Atlanta in 1989, Mr. Nicholson played principal trombone for seven years with the Ft. Wayne Philharmonic (IN) and the Indiana Chamber Orchestra. Presently he plays tenor trombone in the Columbus Symphony and the Atlanta Opera Orchestra, and he plays bass trombone in the Macon Symphony. Mr. Nicholson performs regularly on alto, tenor, and bass trombone with several orchestras in the Southeast including the Atlanta Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, the Greenville Symphony, and the Savannah Symphony. Mr. Nicholson is Instructor of Trombone at Columbus College, as well as Emory University.
The Atlanta Symphony Brass Quintet (which includes mssrs. Hughes, Deane and Moore) performs at Baccalaureate and Commencement each year, and often at other times.