Olivia Malin, trumpets

Olivia plays trumpet with Brass.

Aaron A. Hodgson, trumpets

Aaron Hodgson was born in Hay River, North-West Territories, Canada, but calls Vancouver, British Columbia home. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Western Ontario in 2005, and is expected to receive a Master of Music from the Yale School of Music in 2007. His main teachers are Allan Dean, Shawn Spicer, and Erik Schulz. Aaron toured Canada from coast to coast in the summer of 2004 as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and he counts summers at Domaine Forget in Quebec as among his most rewarding musical experiences. Aaron's plans for the future involve chamber and orchestral performance, biking, teaching and cooking.

Junius Johnson, horn

Junius Johnson helped start Brass (then "Brass.") in 1999 with 4 undergraduates from Yale University. A native of Louisville, KY and an avid performer, he is experienced in horn performance in nearly every imaginable performance setting.

At Yale, he has been a featured soloist twice with the Yale Bach Society, and has performed with every major ensemble on campus. In April 2007, he will be featured as a soloist with the Saybrook College Orchestra.

In addition to these activities, he has performed around the world on numerous international tours with diverse groups. He is a currently member of the Michigan-based Archipelago Music Project and is the principal horn for the Saybrook College Orchestra. He is also instructor of horn at the Center for the Arts at Christ Church, New Haven.

Matthew Pickett, trombone

Matt Pickett started playing trombone in fifth grade, perhaps because he meant to say that he wanted to play the trumpet but didn’t know what he was talking about and said the trombone instead. However, he was too easy-going to cause a fuss and just went with it. After performing in a number of school and honors ensembles in high school (including the memorably named “One Lard Biskit”), Matt took up formal trombone study at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin with professor Nick Keelan. While there, Matt also earned his degree in instrumental music education.

Since graduating in 2001, Matt has held positions as a high school band director, first in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and now in New Haven at Wilbur Cross High School. To keep himself from going crazy, Matt performs on the trombone with the Civic Orchestra of New Haven (for which he is also the Assistant Conductor) and the salsa band Sonido Unidad, writes and arranges for the various ensembles he performs with and teaches, and does Sudoku puzzles.

Matthew Dell, tuba

Hailing from New Jersey, Matt Dell is a senior in Yale College. He has been playing tuba since the fourth grade, when he was inspired by the incredible performances of Chuck Daellenbach of the Canadian Brass. Since entering Yale as a freshman in September 2004, Matt has performed in almost every ensemble imaginable. He studied tuba with Yale School of Music Professor Toby Hanks.

When not playing tuba, he devotes his time to conducting. He was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Saybrook College Orchestra in May of 2006. Since then, he has pursued an active and ambitious conducting schedule. In addition to SYO, he has conducted the SYO Chamber Players, the Yale Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Theatre of Yale College, and various chamber ensembles throughout campus. A member of the Yale Glee Club, he was appointed Student Assistant Conductor of that group in the fall of 2007. He studies conducting with Ives-Scholar James Sinclair and is currently applying to graduate programs in orchestral conducting.