Yoram Levy - Joe Cook - Glenn Schultz Tim Jones
Joe Cook began playing (euphonium) at St Marys District Band in Sydney in 1961 before moving to Canberra in 1968 where he studied trombone at the Canberra School of Music while playing with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and Queanbeyan RSL Brass.
Joe won the Australian Solo Championship at Wagga in 1977 and joined the Australian Army Band Corps with a posting to the Royal Military College Band, Duntroon. In 1983 he was posted to Melbourne as an instructor at the Defence Force School of Music and joined Hawthorn City Band, playing in many A grade winning performances as well as winning the 1985 Australian Champion of Champions title. In the same year he won the Ern Keller International Soloist of the Year title for the first of three times.
In 1986 he was posted to Perth as a sergeant with the Fifth Military District Band and also played with Perth City Band and various orchestras including the WA Symphony Orchestra and with various jazz groups. In 1988 he was posted back to Melbourne where he attended the Defence Force School of Music’s Band Officer Course (which included studies in composition, arranging, conducting and band management) and graduated in 1989 as a Commissioned Officer and was awarded the Graduate Diploma of Applied Music.
Joe retired from the Australian Army Band Corps in 2000 after 23 years service (which included six years as Music Director of the Australian Army Band Tasmania) and has settled permanently in Tasmania.
He is presently freelancing as a performer (trombone, euphonium and tuba), instrumental teacher, composer/arranger and has performed with the Melbourne and Tasmania Symphony Orchestras. He is in demand as an adjudicator within the Australian Band movement as well as Tasmanian eisteddfod competitions including Devonport and Clarence.
He also plays regularly with a variety of community groups such as Derwent Valley Concert Band, Glenorchy City Concert Brass, Low Key Brass Tuba Ensemble and the University of Tasmania Wind Orchestra and also conducts the Huon Valley Concert Band and at the Island Brass Academy in Hobart.
Yoram Levy is Principal Trumpet of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Levy was a member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra from 1982 to 1990, participating in numerous recordings and touring Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia.
In 1990 Mr. Levy was appointed Senior Lecturer in Trumpet at the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane where he resided until joining the TSO in 1998. He has appeared as principal trumpet with the New Zealand Symphony and the Sydney Symphony and as soloist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. He is featured regularly as a soloist with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.
His CD of twentieth century trumpet and organ music on the Australian ‘Move’ label has won great acclaim.
Mr. Levy’s tenure at the Queensland conservatorium, as Lecturer in trumpet, conductor of the brass ensemble and later as Head of Brass has contributed to the development of exceptional trumpet players and brass instrumentalists currently employed in symphony orchestras in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
Mr. Levy is in demand as a soloist and teacher and is currently the president of the Island Brass Academy in Hobart, a newly formed Tasmanian organisation dedicated to educating young brass players.
Glenn@islandbrassacademy.com.au
Glenn Schultz began playing the cornet at the age of 10 in the country town of Cygnet. His teacher at this time was Mr Ron Graham, who formed the Huon valley concert band of which Glenn was a founding member.
From the age of 12 he began performing with the Tasmanian Youth Orchestra. Since then he has toured and recorded with the Australian Youth Orchestra and has been performing with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra since 1997.
In the theatre world, Glenn has performed as Principal Trumpet for the musicals; West Side Story, Fame, Les Misérables, Anything Goes, Sweet Charity, Annie, Guys and Dolls, Into the Woods, 42nd Street and Jesus Christ Superstar, to name but a few.
Glenn is currently a Specialist Brass Instrumental Teacher and Band Director for the Tasmanian Education Department and The Hutchins School. He conducts a variety of ensembles including Concert Bands, Brass Ensembles and Big Bands.
Tuba
Tim was born in Melbourne in 1969. He began playing tuba at age 8 soon joining the primary school orchestra and receiving lessons from John Butler who invited him to join Nunawading Brass Band. In high school he joined the Melbourne Youth Orchestra where Gordon Webb tutored before his family spent a year in York England where Tim played with the Rowntree Mackintosh Brass Band. Returning to Australia Tim began studies at the Victorian College of the Arts School under John Woods, Frank Barzyk and Peter Sykes.
From 1985 to 1995 Tim did hundreds of gigs with any ensemble that used a tuba. Styles covered include 1920's to current day jazz, avant-garde to the Oxo Cubans an original cabaret/pop band.
Tim has performed with the M.S.O. the S.O.V. the A.S.O. and performed a concerto with the W.A.S.O. as part of the 1997 Young Performer of the year instrumental final. Since moving to Tasmania in 1995 Tim has been principal tuba with the T.S.O. and has performed all over the state with a number of brass groups. Currently Tim teaches tuba, arranges, composes and tries his hand at sound recording.
