Tubas Ignis Quartet

05/16/2020

Congratulations to Ian on his graduation today from UMKC with a masters degree in euphonium performance! He will be continuing his education at UMKC, beginning a DMA in euphonium performance and a masters degree in composition starting in the fall!

05/11/2020

New Video coming soon! We are looking forward to sharing the virtual premiere of Ian Lester's beautiful "Eternal Light", composed in memory of those we have lost to COVID-19. Keep an eye out on our page over the next week or so!

05/09/2020

Meet our other tubist Colin Holstein in our fourth and final "meet the players"!

Colin is currently finishing his senior year of studies as an instrumental performance major at Oakland University under the tutelage of Dr. Kenneth Kroesche. As a performer, he has held positions of principal Tuba of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Oakland University Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, and Brass Band.

In 2016, Colin was named a Semi Finalist in the I.T.E.C. Young Tuba Artist Solo competition. In 2019, Colin was awarded 1st place in the state level M.T.N.A Young Artist Competition, as well as 1st place in the Adult Tuba Slow Melody section of the N.A.B.B.A. Championships.

Along with the other members of Tubas Ignis, Colin placed 2nd in the Adult Chamber Music Competition at the 2017 North American Brass Band Championships. That same year, the quartet received the Oakland University Distinguished Students in Chamber Music award.

05/09/2020

Day 3 out of 4 of "meet the player"! Today, we feature John Andersen, our other euphoniumist!!

John is a graduate of Oakland University with a degree in Euphonium Performance and Music Education. Although involved in a lot of different things musically, John grew to be truly passionate about tuba euphonium quartet. John worked on commissioning 2 major pieces for Tubas Ignis. First of which was a piece called "Undertow" by Mathew Murchison. With this piece, the group took a second place victory at the North American Brass Band Championship. The second was a piece called "Ubi Fumus Ibi Ignis" , a piece written by Peter Meechan.

John continues to be a huge advocate for tuba euphonium qaurtet and wants to continue pushing the capabilities of what this ensemble can do!

While at Oakland, John was a finalist in the 2018 Oakland University orchestra concerto competition, on another piece written by Matthew Murchison. The piece came from a concerto that John had joint commissioned for him. In 2017, John received the University distinguished student in chamber award with Tubas Ignis. In 2019 John received the Outstanding Student Service award, an award given to those who show high levels of dedication and service to the university. In addition to this John has also sat in principal positions in the award winning Oakland University Brass Band, both on baritone and euphonium. As a matter a fact, John received best baritone in 2018 at the Dublin Festival of Brass, awarded to the best baritone player of the day.

Currently John is looking to teach in the fall, and if that doesn't pan out, return back to school and continue to improve his musicianship!

05/07/2020

Day 2 of 4 for our "meet the players"! Today, we're showcasing one of our tubists, Brandon Thibault!

Brandon Thibault is a student of David Saltzman at Bowling Green State University and recently received his Bachelor of Music in Tuba Performance from Oakland University. While at Oakland, he has served as principal tubist in the Wind Symphony, Brass Band, Oakland Symphony Orchestra, and Symphonic Band. As a soloist, Brandon was named the winner of the state and divisional level of the Music Teachers National Associations Young Artist Performance Competition: Brass and has performed as a featured soloist with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra.
He has placed in multiple chamber music competitions, the most recent award being honorable mention at the Midwest Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference’s Chamber Music Competition. This past summer, Brandon was named a tuba fellow of the Spectrum Brass Seminar, a part of the Bay View Music Festival. Outside of the university, Brandon is a member of the Dodworth Saxhorn Band, a 19th century brass band that is based out of Ann Arbor Michigan.

05/06/2020

In the next four days, we'll introduce each member of Tubas Ignis! First up is euphonium player Ian Lester!

Ian is currently finishing up his master’s degree as the graduate euphonium teaching assistant at the University of Missouri – Kansas City studying with Thomas Stein and will be beginning a DMA in euphonium performance and a master’s degree in composition at UMKC starting this Fall. In 2018, Ian received his bachelor’s degree in with Dr. Kenneth Kroesche at Oakland University where he held positions of principal euphonium in both the school's top wind ensemble and its award-winning brass band. In 2014, Ian was named a national finalist for the M.T.N.A. Senior Brass Solo Competition held in Anaheim, California and the following year, was a finalist for the 2015 Oakland University Orchestral Concerto Competition. Then, in 2017, Ian was named the winner of the Michigan M.T.N.A. Young Artist Brass Solo Competition and runner-up for the East Central Regional Competition. In 2019, Ian won 1st prize in the Adult Solo Baritone/Euphonium Slow Melody Competition. Furthermore, Ian has enjoyed a successful chamber music experience, having been named a winner of the 2014 and 2017 Oakland University Distinguished Student in Chamber Music award along with receiving 2nd Place in the Adult Chamber Music Competition at both the 2016 and 2017 North American Brass Band Championships in Fort Wayne, Indiana with his tuba quartet Tubas Ignis.

Ian is also an avid composer. His works have been premiered by a variety performers and ensembles in venues such as Fort Myer, the University of Michigan, the University of Iowa, Oakland University, and Carnegie Hall. In December of 2016, Ian’s composition "Sonata for Tuba ‘Hades God of the Underworld’" won the Pershing’s Own U.S. Army Band Tuba-Euphonium Composition Competition where the version for contrabass tuba received its world premiere at the 2017 Tuba-Euphonium Conference in Arlington, Virginia. The bass tuba version of Hades was premiered by Steve Darling in October of 2017 and can be heard on his CD "Dualities". In June of 2018, Ian was named the winner of the highly-competitive inaugural North Texas Euphonium Quartet Composition Competition with his piece "Reminiscence and Death Machine", which can be heard on their debut CD "Machines".

05/06/2020

We present to you a fun piece by Lennie Niehaus, called Keystone Chops! Grab a partner and start dancing with this great upbeat jazz chart!

Share with friends and loved ones! Anybody will enjoy this light and fun piece of music.

A short jazz piece by Lennie Niehaus. Hope you enjoy! Stay safe and remember just music isn't being done in person doesn't mean you can't get together with y...

05/06/2020

Welcome to the official page of the Tubas Ignis tuba quartet! The group hails from Oakland University in Rochester, MI and while each of us has grown and gone our separate ways tackling new adventures, we have remained a tight-knit quartet. In the coming months, Tubas Ignis will be putting together a number of projects and will be posting them on this page as well as on our Youtube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa7Gka6SI-qbQZglvEFwuyQ) and our Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/tubasignis/).

05/06/2020