• Clinician Bios

     

    Rob Tapper

    https://www.umt.edu/music/faculty/default.php?ID=2987

    Rob Tapper is Professor of Trombone and Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Montana coordinating the UM Jazz Festival, four big bands, seven small groups, an undergraduate Jazz Degree and the trombone studio. A relentless advocate for music education, Rob was awarded a Washington State "2008 Teacher of the Year Award”, was inducted into the WMEA Hall of Fame (2012) and has also received a Spokane Arts Commission “Contributions to Education” Award. As an active performer and teacher in both classical and jazz idioms he has performed, adjudicated and recorded at many festivals, concert halls and conferences in orchestral, jazz and commercial settings around the United States, Europe and Canada. Rob is currently Principal Trombone in the Missoula Symphony and has degrees in Music Education (UNH) and Jazz and Commercial Media (Eastman). Rob is a Getzen clinician and performs exclusively on Getzen trombones.

     

     

    Deb Schaaf

    https://jazznightschool.org/products/deb-schaaf#:~:text=A%20native%20of%20New%20Jersey,thriving%20Seattle%20Jazz%20Education%20scene.

    A native of New Jersey, Deb has quickly built a reputation as an energetic and knowledgeable teacher and clinician within the thriving Seattle Jazz Education scene. Deb’s bands have won top solo, combo, ensemble and sweepstakes trophies at festivals and competitions throughout the Western United States, as well as 2018 and 2019 Outstanding Performance Awards from DownBeat Magazine. Her band was also selected to perform at the 2020 JEN Conference in New Orleans. In 2016, she was nominated by her students and was one of 20 winners nationwide of the 21st Century Fox/ Give a Note Foundation MusicEd Idol Award.

    She was the founding director of the Jane Addams Middle School Music Department, has served in leadership roles on writing teams for Curriculum and Assessment, and was a Seattle Public Schools Mentor Teacher. She has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra on the Education and Equity & Outreach Committees and is the bari player for Jazz Night School’s Big Band Blue.

     

     

    Meghan Wagner

    https://www.meghanwagnermusic.com/

    Meghan Wagner graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2004 with a Bachelor’s of Music Education and from Central Washington Univesity with a Master’s of Music Education in 2014. In 2010, Meghan became a National Board Certified Teacher and was a quarter-finalist for Grammy Teacher of the Year in 2013. Meghan is the director of bands at Auburn Riverside High School where she teaches 2 Jazz Bands, 2 Percussion Ensemble classes, 3 Concert Bands, and Silver Sound Basketball Band. Under Meghan’s leadership, the ARHS Wind Ensemble has earned invitations to perform at the WorldStrides Festival of Gold in Los Angeles in 2016 and 2018, and the National Association for Music Education Northwest Conference in 2017. The ARHS Wind Ensemble was invited to New York again in 2020 to perform at Carnegie Hall. In addition to large group success, the band students at Auburn Riverside are active participants in a rigorous chamber music program. Many chamber ensembles from ARHS have represented the green River Region at the State Solo & Ensemble Contest for the past 18 years. State award winners from ARHS in the last 10 years include: the Trombone Quartet in 2013, Clarinet Ensemble in 2014, trombone soloist and the Brass Quintet in 2017, euphonium soloist in 2022, Flute/Tuba Duet and oboe soloist in 2023.

     

    Marina Albero

    https://marinaalbero.net/bio

    Marina Albero was born in Barcelona, Spain, and started playing music on stages as a child with her family while they toured all around the world performing iberian and early music, always creating new shows. In her early years she studied in Barcelona’s Conservatory (El Bruc) and later in La Havana (ISA), where she finished her classical piano studies with the great professor and pianist Mrs. Teresa Junco.

    Marina has been researching many different music styles such as: jazz, flamenco, early music, andalusie, classical indian, latin (son & latin jazz)… She loves composing and improvising with a wide personal language carved by her colorful background.

    She has played and recorded with several well known musicians and bands including L’Arpeggiata, Chano Dominguez, Bori Albero, Pepe Habichuela, La Folata, Mariona Sagarra, Barbarito Torres, Llibert Fortuny, Glen Velez, Silvio Rodriguez, Carlos Saura and Ars Longa.
    Since September 2014, she enjoys living in Seattle with her musical family and has added to the local music scene and been well received by her fellow musicians as well as the listeners and the media.

    Since then, Marina has been piano chair at Teatro Zinzanni and has been invited to present her music at the Ballard Jazz Festival, Earshot Jazz Festival, Marymoor Live, KNKX live studios and Jazz Northwest. The Marina Albero Project (since 2016) features some of the finest musicians like Hans Teuber, Evan Flory-Barnes, D’Vonne Lewis, Jeff Busch, Jeff Johnson, Ganesh Rajagopalan, among others. In 2018, she was awarded with the Golden Ear Award for Emergent Artist and in 2019 she was the recipient of two Golden Ear Awards: best instrumentalist and best record of the year (self release: “A life Soundtrack”). 

    On March 8th 2020, she started the emergency musical project “The Quarantine Sessions” as a response to all the cancellations due to the COVID19 outbreak. It is drawing lots of interest from the press and  participation from the online musical community. TQS was awarded the  "Community in Action '' Golden Ear by Earshot Jazz in April 2021.

    During these hard times for live music she has also been invited to participate in many live streamed series and online concerts by Earshot, Jazz At Lincoln Center, KNKX, Big BLDG,  Vito's, Orcas Center of the Arts, Seattle Improvised Music Festival, Bellevue Jazz Festival, South Hudson Music Project and JazzEd.

    She is currently piano professor at the historic institution Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and the Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA.

    Her eclectic musical personality has brought her to share stage with some of the finest musicians beyond jazz such as Brittany Davis, Divinity Roxx, Queen Cora or Celisse.

    Albero was the resident artist of the 2021 Earshot Jazz Festival where she sold out all of the four different concerts she premiered. In spring 2022 she was awarded with two Golden Ear awards, "PNW Concert of the Year" (Marina Albero featuring Ganesh Rajagopalan) and Acoustic ensemble of the year" (Marina Albero Trio).

    In 2022, Albero was invited to curate three nights at the new concert series held at the Good Shepherd Chapel in Seattle under the umbrella of Nonsequitur, a space for new music and avantgarde performers.

    This last spring 2023 she was again voted and awarded as "PNW Instrumentalist of the year" as well as "PNW Concert of the year" for "Don't explain" with Jacqueline Tabor.

    In 2021, Albero joined the illustrious Cornish College of the Arts as piano professor.

    Marina is also a generative coach certified by the ICF.

     

     

    Cassio Vianna

    https://cassiovianna.com/

    Cassio Vianna is a pianist, arranger, music educator, clinician, and an award-winning composer whose work reflects the broad range of musical and cultural influences he received during his years of training. 

    Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Vianna started his music studies in classical music, while developing his skills as a composer and interpreter of popular music and Brazilian jazz. Between 1993 and 1995, Vianna studied under Hungarian teacher Ian Guest, who had a great impact on his decision to pursue a career as a composer.

    From 1996 to 2009, Vianna engaged in recording and performing projects in the Rio de Janeiro music scene, which included a successful career with the Brazilian jazz trio Dialeto Brasileiro. In 2009, Vianna moved to the U.S. to further his music studies.

    Cassio Vianna holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, a Master of Music degree from Western Oregon University, and a Doctor of Arts degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Northern Colorado, where he studied with David Caffey.

    Vianna’s arrangements have been performed by artists such as Chris Potter, Ernie Watts, Martha Reeves, Tony Kadleck, Greg Gisbert, Danny Gottlieb, Clay Jenkins, Brad Goode, the United States Army Field Band (Jazz Ambassadors), the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival All-Star Big Band, Chuck Owen’s Jazz Surge Band, the Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra, and the UNC Jazz Lab Band I, among others.

    Vianna's compositional styles range from popular music and Brazilian jazz to classical chamber pieces and works for large jazz ensembles. His most recent albums include Letters to Grace: a Song Cycle (2011, Teal Creek Music), and Infância (2017, Teal Creek Music). The album Infância features Vianna's recent works for jazz orchestra. Cassio Vianna's jazz big band works are published by UNC Jazz Press.

    Over the past 15 years, Vianna has been featured as an adjudicator, performer, and clinician at jazz festivals and conferences in Latin America and across the U.S. In recent years, he has presented clinics and lectures at the Jazz Education Network Annual Conferences, the Midwest Clinic, International Composers' Symposium, NAfME Northwest Conference, and the Washington Music Educators Association Conference. Vianna is also a very active clinician with high school and college bands. In 2015, he traveled to China to perform and to teach a two-week program at the Guangxi Arts Institute (Nanning Provence).

    Cassio Vianna lives in Tacoma, WA, where he is the Director of Jazz Studies, Assistant Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University. Before his appointment at Pacific Lutheran University, Vianna was on the music faculties at Western Oregon University (Monmouth, OR) and Umpqua Community College (Roseburg, OR), and he also taught at the University of Northern Colorado as a graduate student. Between 2004 and 2008, while still living in Rio de Janeiro, Vianna taught at the Instituto Villa-Lobos and at several music academies.