Brass and Percussion Auditions

Bio: Praised for his "polished tone and amazing expressivity" by the Dallas Morning News, Gerald "Gerry" Wood joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as Principal Horn in 2022. Prior to his appointment, he held positions in the Dallas Opera Orchestra and the Dallas Winds, and was a prolific freelancer in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. From drum and bugle corps to chamber ensembles to video game recording sessions to orchestras worldwide (including China, Korea, Germany, Poland, Italy, and Switzerland), Mr. Wood's playing experience runs the gamut of performance ensembles. He has performed as a soloist at the Busan Maru International Music Festival in Korea and is the founding member of the internationally renowned Horn quartet, The Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse. In addition, his entire family, including his wife and three children, are successful horn players.

Bio: Rick Bogard has been heralded by the American Record Guide for his “... sweet tone quality; reliable in all registers, his pitch is excellent, and he plays with feeling.” In a review of his solo CD Trumpet Songs, The Journal of the International Trumpet Guild stated: “…brilliantly performs…displays an enviable purity of sound and an exceptionally consistent sense of lyricism as he weaves poetic lines that ebb and flow with expressive energy.” Bogard is a tenured Professor of Music at University of Texas at Arlington, where he has been on the faculty since 1990. He served the university as Chair of the Department of Music from 2012 to 2018. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in trumpet performance from the University of North Texas, a master’s degree from Baylor University, and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Central Arkansas. His teachers include Ronald Fox, Thomas Booth, John J. Haynie, and Leonard Candelaria. Bogard has been a member of the Dallas Opera Orchestra since 1989 and served as principal trumpet of the orchestra during the 1993-94 season. During his tenure with the Dallas Opera, he has performed on over 700 performances, including three world premieres and several recordings. He played first trumpet on Verdi’s Othello in the inaugural opera performance in Dallas’ Winspear Opera Hall. He has recorded Mahler, Shostakovich, and Respighi on six CDs with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and participated with the DSO in opening concerts of the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. Bogard was a founding member of the Dallas Wind Symphony (now Dallas Winds) and has been a member of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and the Waco Symphony Orchestra. He has toured with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and has been a soloist with the Texas Wind Symphony, the UT Arlington Wind Ensemble and the UT Arlington Symphony Orchestra. Bogard has performed and held master classes throughout the United States and in Mexico, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Russia, and Sweden. He has performed and presented at the International Trumpet Guild Conference, the MENC National Convention, Texas Music Educators Association Convention, the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention, and the College Music Society National Convention. Bogard has written an etude book for trumpet titled “Daily Warm-Ups and Skills Studies”, published by Gore Publishing Company. His 2002 Research Enhancement Grant from the University of Texas at Arlington produced a solo CD, Trumpet Songs. (Centaur Records) Rick Bogard is currently an Artist/Clinician for the Vincent Bach trumpet division of the Conn-Selmer Corporation. His bio is included in David Hickman’s book “Trumpet Greats”, a biographical compendium of 2,212 important trumpeters since the year 1542. Rick lives in Dallas with wife Kathy and shih-tzu Katie, where he is an avid but mediocre golfer.

Bio: Edward Jones teaches applied tuba and co-directs the Tuba Euphonium Ensemble at the University of Texas at Arlington. From 1985-2003 he was on the faculty of the Texas A&M University-Commerce where he taught applied tuba and euphonium, coached brass chamber groups and directed the tuba-euphonium ensemble. He holds degrees from Fort Hays State University and Texas A&M-Commerce and has done additional graduate study in applied tuba at the University of North Texas. His principal teachers are Lyle Dilley of Hays, Kansas and Donald Little, Professor of Tuba and the University of North Texas and retired principal tuba with the Forth Worth Symphony. In 2001 he was appointed Principal Tuba with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Previously he was tubist with the Northeast Texas Symphony, the Richardson Symphony and East Texas Symphony Orchestras and the Dallas Wind Symphony. He has performed and recorded with the Dallas Symphony and the Dallas Opera Orchestras. Also an active chamber musician, he performs with the Iridium Brass Quintet and the FWSO Brass Quintet. As a soloist, he has given numerous recitals throughout Texas and the Southwest and has been a featured artist at regional and international tuba conferences.

Bio: Jacob Muzquiz is currently the Adjunct Assistant Professor of Trombone at the University of Texas at Arlington. He also holds positions as section trombonist of the Dallas Winds and second trombonist of the Allen Philharmonic Orchestra. He holds degrees in Music Performance from Texas A&M University-Commerce and Southern Methodist University. As an active performer, he has performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Ft. Worth Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Missouri Symphony Orchestra, El Paso Symphony Orchestra, and the Imperial Brass. At the university level, he has taught masterclasses and lessons across the state of Texas including Texas A&M University-Commerce, Sam Houston State University, and University of Texas at El Paso. He has also been a faculty member at the Mountain Light Music Festival, the Side by Side Project, and has presented for students at the Texas Bandmasters Association.

Bio: Dr. Andrew Eldridge is Coordinator of Percussion/Assistant Professor of Percussion at the University of Texas at Arlington. Prior to UTA, Andrew taught percussion and music theory at Texas Christian University, taught percussion at Texas Wesleyan University, and spent six years as a full-time Assistant Band Director/Percussion Director at high schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Andrew’s musical interests lie at the intersection of percussion and electronics. His recent musical experiments combine live-looping acoustic percussion in Ableton Live controlled with midi controllers. Andrew also enjoys creating music with mobile music set-ups that are accessible to the general music lover. At UTA, Andrew was awarded an Outstanding Teaching Award for Tenure-Track Faculty by the UTA College of Liberal Arts in 2021 and nominated twice for the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Under his direction, the UTA Percussion Ensemble was selected to present the New Literature Session at the 2017 Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC). The ensemble also performed Showcase Concerts at the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) annual convention in 2017 and 2023. The UTA Percussion Ensemble actively commissions talented composers for the UTA Percussion Commissioning Series, presenting world premieres to music by Nathan Daughtrey, Francisco Perez, and Michael Varner. Andrew actively serves as President for the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) Texas Chapter and as Co-Chair for the Percussion Ensemble Committee for PAS. He served a three-year term on the Lone Star Wind Orchestra Board of Directors and has been performing with the group as a section percussionist since 2009. Andrew presented clinics for the Midwest Clinic, Texas Music Educators Association, and the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy. Most recently, he was selected to present a clinic called “The Tech-Forward Student: Technology Integration for the Applied Percussion Studio” at the 2023 National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy. An avid performer of new music, Andrew has individually commissioned and given the world premieres of music written for percussion by Dan Welcher, Kyle Kindred, Dwayne Rice, Martin Blessinger, Ryan George, and David Maslanka. Andrew presented recitals and performances at the College Music Society (CMS) National Conference, CMS Great Lakes Regional Conference, National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, and the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy. Additionally, he has performed as a concerto soloist with the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, Lone Star Youth Winds, and the UTA Wind Symphony. Andrew holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Percussion Performance from Texas Christian University, a Master of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, and a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Texas A&M University – Commerce. He proudly endorses Yamaha Percussion, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Remo Drumheads, and Zildjian Cymbals.