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Faculty Bios
Mark Kellogg, trombone
Eastman School of Music, facultyThroughout his career, Mark Kellogg has embraced a wide range of musical roles as a performer, teacher and administrator. Whether it’s taken the form of appearing as a concerto soloist, playing in a variety of chamber ensembles, performing as an orchestral musician or as a jazz player, teaching students of all ages or overseeing artistic programs or festivals, he has been most fortunate to experience a rich array of musical opportunities. In addition to holding the position of Professor of Trombone, Euphonium, and Brass Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music, Mr. Kellogg is chair of the Winds, Brass and Percussion Department and an affiliate faculty member in the school’s departments of Jazz and Contemporary Media and Music Teaching and Learning. Co-Director of the Eastman Trombone Choir, he also serves as Director for the school’s community engagement program, Eastman To Go.
Inspired by his son’s experiences as an actor, Mr. Kellogg initiated a course under the auspices of the Eastman School’s Arts Leadership Program in 2014 called “Parallels Between Acting and Musical Performance”. This annual class seeks to identify the commonalities between these two art forms and is team taught with two professional actors and arts educators, Skip Greer and Robert Rutland.
Mr. Kellogg recently concluded a twenty-eight year tenure as a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He occupied the Austin Hildebrandt Principal Trombone position and appeared as soloist with the RPO on many occasions, performing the concerti of Tomasi, Albrechtsberger, Larsson, Shilkret and Jeff Tyzik (commissioned by the RPO in celebration of the orchestra’s 80th anniversary), works by Elliott Carter and Fred Sturm and numerous jazz and euphonium solos on the orchestra’s Pops series. Prior to his appointment in the Rochester Philharmonic, Mr. Kellogg performed as a member of the San Francisco Symphony and the National Repertory Orchestra. In recent seasons, he has also played with the Oregon Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony, the Naples Philharmonic and Symphoria.
Mr. Kellogg has been a frequent guest with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, appearing as soloist in the Eastman Theatre and on tours to Japan and Carnegie Hall with Donald Hunsberger and Mark Davis Scatterday. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Hartford Symphony, the US Army Orchestra, the University of Rochester Symphony, the Youngstown Symphony, the Penfield Symphony, the Hamilton New Music Ensemble, Brazil’s Orquestra Sinfonica do Theatro da Paz, and Argentina’s Camerata Eleuthera Chamber Orchestra.
Active as a jazz and chamber musician, Mr. Kellogg was a founding member of the brass and percussion ensemble Rhythm & Brass, touring the United States and Japan and recording four CDs during his two years in the group. He has also performed with Clark Terry, Chris Vadala, Wynton Marsalis, Eddie Daniels, and Mel Tormé. Jazz and commercial recordings include collaborations with Jeff Tyzik, Gene Bertoncini, Allen Vizzutti, Steve Gadd, Gap Mangione and as a member of the Dave Rivello Ensemble. His jazz recording with Eastman School faculty colleague pianist Tony Caramia, Upstate Standards, celebrates the music of upstate New York composers Harold Arlen, Alec Wilder, and Jimmy Van Heusen. Mr. Kellogg’s most recent CD, Impressions, is a collection of French music for trombone and piano, featuring pianists Joseph Werner and Christopher Azzara. Since 2016, he has performed extensively with pianist Priscilla Yuen across the United States and South America.
A Conn Trombone performing artist, Mr. Kellogg has made appearances at numerous festivals and low brass symposia including the International Trombone Festival, the American Trombone Workshop, the Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival, the Northeast Regional Tuba-Euphonium Conference, the Asian Pacific Music Educators Conference, the New York Brass Conference, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra’s International Youth Orchestra Institute, and the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, as well as at trombone festivals in Panama, Costa Rica, Argentina and Brazil.
In 2006, Mr. Kellogg founded Eastman’s annual Summer Trombone Institute, a week-long workshop for high school, college, young professional and adult amateur trombonists. In June 2014, he served as co-host of the International Trombone Festival, held at the Eastman School.
Jack Courtright, trombone
University of North Texas, One O'clock Lab BandJack Courtright is a Teaching Fellow at the University of North Texas where he studies with Nick Finzer and directs the Seven O'Clock Lab Band as well as the U-Tubes. Jack is also currently the Jazz Chair trombonist in the One O'Clock Lab Band. Originally from Burnsville, MN, Jack holds a Bachelor's in Applied Trombone and Jazz Studies from the Eastman School of Music where he studied trombone with Mark Kellogg and Larry Zalkind and studied arranging with Bill Dobbins. Over the past five years Jack has been the winner of the UNT/Conn Selmer Jazz Trombone Competition, the ITA JJ Johnson Jazz Trombone Competition, the ITA Carl Fontana Jazz Trombone Competition and the ATW National Solo Jazz Competition. He has performed across the U.S., Canada and Europe and appeared on recordings with Charles Pillow, the Saplings, SPACE, Ben Britton, and Tommy Gearhart, among others. Also an avid composer, Jack's works for trombone ensemble have been performed by ensembles at Eastman, UW-Eau Claire, TCU, UNT, NIU and the ITF's Kramer Choir.
Christopher Azzara, piano & improvisation
Eastman School of Music, facultyPianist, arranger, author, and educator, Christopher Azzara has made important contributions to advancing the understanding of creativity and improvisation in the music learning process. An innovator in music teaching and learning, Dr. Azzara is Professor of Music Teaching & Learning and Affiliate Faculty of Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music. Teaching and performing internationally, he is the author of numerous articles, arrangements, and books, including Developing Musicianship Through Improvisation and Jump Right In: The Instrumental Series (GIA). His arrangements for instrumental and vocal ensembles include A la nanita nana for choir and chamber orchestra or piano (Oxford), and Concert Selections for Winds and Percussion (GIA). His research and publications are concerned with meaningful relationships among listening, creating, improvising, reading, composing, and analyzing music in vocal and instrumental settings. Dr. Azzara's work appears in journals such as the Journal of Research in Music Education, the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, the Music Educators Journal, Early Childhood Connections, and in The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning (MENC/Oxford), and Oxford Handbooks Online. He performs as a soloist and in various ensembles, including the Chris Azzara Trio, and has played on and produced many studio and educational recordings. In Rochester, he performs with freelance musicians, members of the Eastman School of Music Faculty, and members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. An active teacher and clinician, he has presented and performed extensively throughout the United States, and in Canada, the Caribbean, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, China, Japan, and Australia. He has presented clinics and workshops in a variety of settings, including TEDxRochester, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, and leading music schools in this country and abroad.
Christopher Azzara is a native of Virginia and attended public schools in Fairfax County. After receiving the Bachelor of Music degree from George Mason University, he taught instrumental music in the Fairfax County Public Schools and performed as a pianist in the Washington D.C. area. He later received a Master of Music and a Ph.D. in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music. Prior to joining the Eastman faculty, Dr. Azzara was a professor at The Hartt School of Music, Dance, and Theatre of the University of Hartford, CT.
https://www.esm.rochester.edu/faculty/azzara_christopher/
Priscilla Yuen, collaborative piano
Eastman School of Music, facultyPianist Priscilla Yuen enjoys a rich and varied career as a soloist, collaborator, teacher and administrator. Currently a faculty member at the Eastman School of Music, Ms. Yuen regularly supports instrumentalists and vocalists from across the Eastman community as they prepare for recitals, competitions and recordings. Additionally, she serves on the piano faculty at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
As a collaborative pianist, Ms. Yuen has performed at colleges and universities across the United States, as well as at venues such as the Kennedy Center and New York City’s Yamaha Hall. Serving as Festival pianist at the International Trombone Festival, she has performed with Jörgen van Rijen (Royal Concertgebeow Orchestra), Norman Bolter (retired, Boston Symphony), Larry Zalkind (Eastman School of Music faculty), Jeremy Moeller (Chicago Lyric Opera), Ralph Sauer (retired, Los Angeles Philharmonic), Kenneth Thompkins (Detroit Symphony), Peter Steiner (Vienna Philharmonic), Matthew Guilford (National Symphony) and Justin Clark (Bern Symphony), Nico &. Martin Schippers (Concertgebouw). Other musicians with whom she has collaborated include violinist Charles Castleman (Frost School of Music faculty), tubist Carol Jantsch (Philadelphia Orchestra), pianist Graham Johnson (Guildhall School of Music faculty), trumpeter David Bamonte (Oregon Symphony) and noted composer Steven Stucky (Cornell University faculty). Since 2016, Ms. Yuen has performed extensively across the country with Eastman faculty trombonist Mark Kellogg.
A native of St. Louis, Ms. Yuen received her undergraduate training at the University of Missouri where she studied with Dr. Peter Miyamoto and her Master of Music degree in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School, studying with Dr. Jean Barr. As a graduate student, she was awarded first prize at the Jesse Kneisel Competition as well as the Barbara M.H. Koeng Award for her work with vocal accompanying.
Ms. Yuen served as staff pianist and arts/administrative coordinator at the New York State Music Festival for eleven summers. She also served as Director of Operations at the Odyssey Chamber Music Festival in Columbia, MO as well as a piano fellow for The Quartet Program.
