Meet the Directors

is the Director of Bands for New Britain High School (NBHS), where he instructs the 88-year old “Golden Hurricane” Marching Band, Wind Ensemble, and Intermediate Band. He is also an adjunct professor through the University of Connecticut and teaches Early College Enrollment music courses at NBHS. Mr. Carlin was a graduate of New Britain High School in 2003 and was a Drill Sergeant in the 'Golden Hurricane' Marching Band. After high school, he received his B.A. in Trumpet Performance from Central Connecticut University and M.M. in Trumpet Performance from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) as a Teaching Assistant. Prior to becoming the director at NBHS, Mr. Carlin created and implemented the current music technology and instrumental program at the CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering Secondary School in Windsor, CT. Additionally, Mr. Carlin has performed with the Majestic Brass Quintet, Infinity Brass Quintet, CCSU Faculty Brass Quintet, Constitution Brass Quintet, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Connecticut Lyric Opera, West Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and is a freelance musician in the Greater Hartford area. He is currently a member of the American School Band Directors Association.

Contact: (860) 225-6300 ext. 1529

Email: carlinj@csdnb.org

(Stage Director/Music Director) is a native of New Britain, CT and a graduate of The Hartt School of Music (BM ‘03) and The New England Conservatory of Music (MM ‘07). As a singer he has appeared as Max Bialystock in The Producers (2013) with the Phoenix Theater Company, the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show (Phoenix, 2011-2019), the minor tenor characters in Connecticut Lyric Opera’s production of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann (2011) for which he also served as stage director, Beppe in the 2010 CLO production of I Pagliacci, Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita, Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte and the tenor solo in Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Nashua Symphony Orchestra and the New England Conservatory Choruses.  As Music Director Jason has overseen Phoenix’s productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita (2007), Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret (2008), Dan Goggin’s Nunsense (2009 & 2010), The Who’s Tommy (2012) and The Rocky Horror Show (annually from 2011-2019). He has also worked extensively with Cheshire Community Theater, Cirillo Summer Theater and is the founding Musical Director of the East Haven Arts Commission. Jason made his directorial debut and played Murray in Phoenix Theater Company’s production of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple in the Spring of 2009.  Jason is Choral Director and Drama Director at New Britain High School where he has overseen over a dozen productions including Into the Woods (2011), Hairspray! (2012), The Little Mermaid (2017), In the Heights (2019), and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2022).

Contact: (860) 225-6300 ext. 1629

Email: ferrandj@csdnb.org

is the Assistant Director of Bands at New Britain High School, directing the Percussion Ensemble, Concert Band, and Jazz Ensemble. A native of Rocky Hill, CT, he graduated with departmental honors from Connecticut College with BAs in music education and music composition. His career began as Director of Instrumental Music at Woodstock Middle School, in Woodstock, CT, before accepting a position as a Graduate/Teaching Assistant in musicology and ethnomusicology at Arizona State University, where he completed his MA in Musicology, as well as an MM in Instrumental Music Education. Mr. Sbalcio then became the Director of Bands and Orchestras at North Canyon High School in Paradise Valley, AZ. His marching bands routinely qualified for the State Marching Band Competition, where they received a Superior with Distinction rating, and all but one caption award in his fifth and final year at NCHS. He returned to CT as interim Director of Bands for Stonington High School while completing his MEd in Educational Leadership, followed by a Post-Graduate Certificate in Principalship from Northern Arizona University. He completed a year-long administrative internship at SHS, before serving as the Acting Assistant Principal for part of 2014. He returned to teaching as a band director in Chester, CT, before coming to New Britain. Mr. Sbalcio also taught as an adjunct faculty member in Philosophy for the University of Phoenix for several years, and is currently an on-call staff member of Connecticut College’s music department where he works as a brass musician, and recording engineer. Mr. Sbalcio frequently guest conducts the CT College and United States Coast Guard Academy Concert and Jazz Bands. He is an active brass adjudicator in CT and RI, as well as a freelance musician. He currently performs/subs with the Farmington Valley Band, Simsbury Community Band, Northwest Connecticut Band, Wooster Street Band, Wesleyan Wind Ensemble, Connecticut College and USCGA Concert & Jazz Bands, the Glenn Hansen Orchestra, the Manchester Symphony, the West Hartford Symphony, and the Torrington Symphony Orchestra. 

Contact: (860) 225-6300 ext. 1525

Email: sbalcio@csdnb.org