Donald Batchelder has served as Principal Trumpet with the Stamford Symphony Orchestra since 1987. Recognized as an outstanding soloist and orchestral trumpeter in the New York area for many years, he performs frequently with the Metropolitan Opera and on Broadway, and is Principal Trumpet with the New York City Opera. He is Associate Professor of Trumpet and Coordinator of Brass at Montclair State University’s John J. Cali School of Music. Don also is Principal Trumpet in the New Jersey Festival Orchestra.

Don is a featured soloist on composer David Sampson’s recent Summit Records CD Notes From Faraway Places (2016). “The performance of the entire suite is beautifully managed, the lonely lines impeccably judged.” (Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine). He is a founding member of the Quiet City Chamber Ensemble, and is featured on that group’s acclaimed world premiere recording of the chamber version of Aaron Copland’s Quiet City, adapted by saxophone soloist Christopher Brellochs, on the Sono Luminus label (2011). Among notable solo appearances: Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 with the Stamford Symphony and the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, When Speaks the Signal-Trumpet Tone by David Gillingham, with both the Montclair State University Wind Ensemble and the Ridgewood Concert Band, the Shostakovich Concerto for Piano and Trumpet with both the Stamford Symphony and the Windham Chamber Music Festival, a featured solo role at the 2008 New York Brass Conference, the world premiere of Trent Johnson’s Concerto for Trumpet and Organ and David Sampson’s Triptych with the Westfield Symphony.

Don earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Rutgers in 2016 where he received the Irene Alm Award for excellence in performance and scholarly research. He holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees from the Juilliard School where he studied with William Vacchiano and Mel Broiles. Other influential teachers include David Krauss, Vince Penzarella, Arnold Jacobs and Philip Smith.

John Dent performs regularly with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the New York City Opera, and the New York Pops. As a member of the American Symphony Orchestra, he performs at Carnegie Hall and at the Bard Music Festival. Solo appearances include performances on Live from Lincoln Center with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and at the OK Mozart Festival in Oklahoma. John is currently performing in the Broadway revival of Carousel. Previous Broadway credits include She Loves Me, Billy Elliot: The Musical, Candide, Man of La Mancha, The Music Man, On the Twentieth Century, and The Sound of Music. A native of Tennessee, John is a graduate of Oberlin College and the Juilliard School.

Katie Robinson is a New York City-based soprano who has been described as a “juicy lyric” utilizing a “palette of colors.” She most recently performed the role of Patience in Patience and Sarah with American Opera Projects at Hunter college. Other favorite roles include Mother Marie in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Cathleen in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea and Kate in The Pirates of Penzance. Solo performances include Bach’s Magnificat and Schütz’s The Seven Last Words of Jesus. She has performed in the chorus with the Martina Arroyo Foundation and City Lyric Opera. She can be heard every Sunday in the choir at First Presbyterian Church in Stamford where she has been a soprano section leader since 2018.

Kevin Bailey is the Minister of Music at First Presbyterian Church, Stamford, where he is organist and choir director, and has rebooted the handbell choir. He is a graduate of Augustana College (IL) and Indiana University, and is an alum of Westminster Choir College’s summer conducting institute. He has achieved the Associate level of certification in the American Guild of Organists, and he is a member of the Greater Bridgeport and Fairfield West chapters. His principal teachers for organ have been Tom Robin Harris and Christopher Young, and he studied church music and improvisation with Marilyn Keiser. He has accompanied and conducted choirs at Anderson University (IN) and served as choir director and organist at several churches in Indiana before moving to Milwaukee in 2003, where he was Director of Worship and Music at Fox Point Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, for fifteen years.

Outside of music ministry, Mr. Bailey has been active as an accompanist, continuo performer, and singer in a variety of ensembles and choruses. He toured twice with the Bel Canto Chorus of Wisconsin as a soloist. During the 2020 pandemic, he participated in an online concert with over forty organists from around the world, who performed the entire organ catalog of J.S. Bach in a 3-day concert. He lives in Stamford with his family.