Nils Higdon is one of Chicago’s most prominent young percussionists, having performed at Orchestra Hall, The Green Mill, The Logan Center for the Arts, The Chicago Cultural Center, The Jazz Showcase, and six appearances at the Chicago Jazz Festival.

As an instructor, Nils teaches applied percussion lessons at Ridgewood and Riverside-Brookfield High School and independently, as well.  He routinely writes compositions and arrangements for his students and has completed an original teaching manual, Percussion Practicing Guidebook. Nils has also been a teaching artist for the Chicago Metamorphosis Orchestra Project and, on multiple occasions, a percussion judge for the Illinois Music Education Association, District 1. Under his instruction, students of his have earned positions in ILMEA Jazz Ensemble 1, the Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage, and the Metro-Suburban Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensembles. Former students of his have been accepted to and earned scholarships from the music schools of Elmhurst College, Roosevelt University, North Central College, University of Illinois, Concordia, and Northwestern University.

Kyle Dudley is a recent graduate from Flute Performance at Northwestern University, where he completed his Master’s in music performance under the instruction of John Thorne. Before moving to Chicago, he graduated summa cum laude from California State University, Long Beach, and earned his Bachelor of Music degree studying with Dr. John Barcellona. During his undergraduate program, Kyle performed with the CSULB Wind Symphony and BCCM Symphony Orchestra. In his time at Northwestern, he performed in the Sunrise Wind Quintet, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the Symphonic Orchestra, and Contemporary Music Ensemble. He has performed in masterclasses with several teaching artists, including Jim Walker, Carol Wincenc, Catherine Ransom Karoly, Elise Shope Henry, Yevgeny Faniuk, Emma Gerstein, and Erica Peel. Kyle has appeared in commercials, television shows, and film. You may have seen him playing piccolo on Disney’s Walk the Prank or in Netflix’s Sierra Burgess is a Loser. Recently, Kyle has been collaborating with other Chicago-based musicians to put on events celebrating new music. 

Micah Friesen, a private clarinet instructor and freelance clarinetist, finds great joy in both performing and in helping students on their own musical journeys. As a private teacher and chamber coach, he strives to always be patient and practical. He has been called “dedicated, … encouraging, … and reliable” and “a patient instructor” by students. In addition to his own studio, he also teaches clarinet lessons at Ridgewood High School, St. Charles North High School and Noteable Notes Music Academy in Wheaton, IL.

Also a performing musician, Friesen currently performs with the Wheaton Municipal Band, the Fox Valley Orchestra, and The Naperville Winds, and actively gigs in Chicagoland. He has experience performing solo, orchestral, band, and chamber music. His performance of Aaron Copland’s Concerto for Clarinet won the winds and percussion division of the Wheaton College Concerto Competition in 2020, and his chamber ensemble was awarded an honorable mention in the college’s 2022 chamber music competition.

Friesen graduated from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music with a degree in clarinet performance and was awarded numerous music scholarships, including the President’s Honor in Music. While there, he took a number of pedagogy courses and studied clarinet privately with Trevor O’Riordan of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra.

Saxophonist Kurt Cox is “a unique young artist that comes to the musical world with a unique and clear vision,” (Nadége Foofat, conductor). His performance credits include the Evermay Concert series in Washington D.C., the Loudon Symphony Orchestra, the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, and the Shenandoah Conservatory Concerto Competition as an orchestral soloist. 

As a chamber musician, Cox has spent the last few years spreading music to his community through commissions, premiers, and numerous music festivals. Cox is the current baritone saxophonist in the Northwestern Graduate Quartet, the masso quartet, and served as the soprano saxophonist for the Meraki 4.22 quartet. Through these ensembles, he has placed in the 2022 NASA quartet competition and continuously works with emerging composers on commissioning and premiering works for the saxophone quartet medium. 

Kurt is currently finalizing his Master of Music at Northwestern University and completed undergraduate studies at Shenandoah Conservatory. 

Matt Farias is a professional brass musician who has been playing for over 20 years around the northern Illinois area. A native of the suburbs of Chicago, Matt got his bachelor's degree in tuba performance from Northern Illinois University in 2016 under the instruction of Charles Schuchat. Though tuba is his primary instrument, Matt is also very versed and trained on all brass instruments such as Euphonium, Trombone, and trumpet, and also is a professional Bass Guitarist having gigged regularly around the area on all of those instruments.  

As a gigging musician, Matt has played with some legendary musicians such as Andy Martin (Professional Jazz Trombonist and soloist for the Pixar movie Soul) and Jim Cornelison (Chicago Blackhawks regular singer of the Star Spangled Banner), and has played with quite a few groups including the NIU Wind Ensemble, The NIU Jazz Orchestra, Wheaton Drama, The Spring Valley Concert Band, and many more.

Aside from gigging, Matt is always looking to better improve his education skills and takes his instruction very seriously with the goal of getting his students into their goals and their dreams as well. Whether it be getting students of the high school level ready to perform for a collegiate scholarship and acceptance to their university, or a successful audition into an ensemble outside of their regular school studies such as ILMEA, or getting a student to break through the wall of struggle that every student goes through at some point, He is always looking for new and unique ways to not just educate students, but inspire students as well for them to eventually achieve whatever goal is desired in music.