Daniel Doty, (tenor soloist) has appeared throughout the Midwest with orchestras and opera companies. A participant of the Opera and Music Theatre Festival of Lucca, Daniel spent six weeks in the Tuscan village of Lucca, Italy singing operatic arias at various venues associated with Lucca's most famous son Giacomo Puccini. Daniel is a frequent soloist with the Akron Symphony Orchestra and has also appeared with symphonies in Muncie, IN, Urbana, IL, Marion, OH and community bands in Medina and Wadsworth.  Doty holds a bachelor of music education degree from Bowling Green State University. He has taught music in the public school systems of Ohio and Illinois. He also an ordained minister and holds a master of divinity degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, IL. Currently Daniel serves as the Senior Minister of Trinity United Church of Christ in Wadsworth, Ohio. (09-24-09)

Mary Ann Grof-Neiman, (clarinetist) is currently program administrator for the Preparatory and Continuing Studies division of the Cleveland Institute of Music.   She received her bachelor of science in music education degree from The Bowling Green State University.

Ms. Grof-Neiman has served as clarinetist for a number of ensembles throughout the Northeastern Ohio area including: The Blossom Festival Band, The Cleveland Women's Orchestra, Lakeland Civic Band, Lakeside Symphony Orchestra, Lakewood "Home Town" Band, Medina Community Band, Youngstown Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, and is solo clarinetist with The Sounds of Sousa Band.  She also serves as the personnel manager for the Sounds of Sousa Band, woodwind adjudicator for the Ohio Musicians Education Association and is band librarian for the Medina Community Band.

Her teachers include the late Dr. Alan Squire, Edward Marks and former Cleveland Orchestra clarinetist, Theodore Johnson.  Ms. Grof-Neiman appears frequently as a soloist and chamber musician in recitals and with professional and community groups. (09-24-09)

Mark A. Hensler, (euphonium soloist) is in his 20th year as a music educator in the Northwest Local Schools (Cincinnati, OH).  In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he is assistant director and soloist with the Cincinnati Brass Band and director of the Ohio Military (Community) Band. Mark is frequently featured as a soloist with high school and community bands in the Cincinnati area and performs regularly with Marcus Neiman and The Sounds of Sousa Band.  Mark received his bachelor of music education degree from Morehead State University (KY), where he studied euphonium with Dr. Earl Louder.  He is state immediate past president for the Ohio Music Education Association. (09-24-09)

Denise Milner Howell, (mezzo-soprano) is equally at home on the opera, musical theatre or concert stage. Her solo engagements include performances with Opera Cleveland, Chautauqua Opera, Akron Lyric Opera Theatre, Tanglewood Festival, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Carousel Dinner Theatre, Sounds of Sousa Band, and Buffalo Philharmonic. Recent roles include Mercedes (Carmen), Hansel (HANSEL AND GRETEL), and Celia (IOLANTHE). She can be heard in a CD release on the North/South recording label singing "Sappho Songs", composed by Ira-Paul Schwarz. Ms. Howell lives in Sharon Township, OH with her husband, Gregg, and their sons, Miles and Wesley. (09-24-09)

Marcia Nelson-Kline, (cornet soloist) began her trumpet studies with parents, Milton and Sarah Nelson and Lloyd Haines. She continues her studies with Harry Herforth while earning an associate degree in medical assisting at The University of Akron.  Marcia has performed with Cleveland Women's Orchestra, Goodyear Band, and Mill Street Brass Quintet.  She currently performs with The Brass Band of the Western Reserve, Sounds of Sousa Band, and is in her 25th year as a member of Medina Community Band.  Marcia is an ophthalmic technician and resides in Copley with husband, John. (09-24-09)

Amy Thach-McArtor, (flute soloist) originally from Lyme, Connecticut, moved to Ohio to study music education at Oberlin Conservatory in 1991.  She graduated in 1995 and taught strings for two years at Willard City Schools.  In 1997, Amy was given a full scholarship to Kent State University to work on her Master's Degree in Music Education which she completed in 1998.  She then taught instrumental music at Buckeye High School, in Medina OH, and in the fall of 1999, became the elementary band teacher for Buckeye Local Schools.  In 2001, Amy accepted the position of Middle School Band Director in Wadsworth City Schools, and in the fall of 2003, she began teaching elementary instrumental music at Central Intermediate School in Wadsworth.  Amy has served as the Director of Bands for the Medina County Honors Fair Bands from 1998-2008.  Amy also plays flute/piccolo and piano and teaches private lessons, in addition to being a member of Medina Community Band and Sounds of Sousa Band. (09-24-09)

Susan McLaughlin, (piccolo soloist) has been a member of the Medina Community Band since 1994 and is a former student of Deidre McGuire.  While in school, she was a member of the band, orchestra and jazz band, playing clarinet and saxophone.  In addition to playing flute and piccolo in the Medina Community Band, Sue has also performed with Marcus Neiman & The Sounds of Sousa Band, Symphony West Orchestra, and several area churches.  She is a systems analyst at Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights.  Sue lives in Medina with her two cats, Truffles and Kokopelli. (09-24-09)
 

Paul V. Rocco, originally from Brooklyn, New York, studied with Blair Moger and Joseph Andrucci in high school and the late Herbert W. Harp at SUNY at Fredonia. Rocco moved to Ohio to take the job of police officer with the City of Medina, where he is also the Police department's Forensic Artist. He became a member of the Medina Community Band in 1989. Since then he has completed his bachelor's degree in fine arts, music at The University of Akron, studying trumpet with Scott Johnston and Tucker Jolly. He is presently studying trumpet privately with Geoff Hardcastle. Besides playing with the MCB, he also performs with the Sounds of Sousa Band and the Brass Band of the Western Reserve. He is a member of the American Federation of Musicians (local 24-Akron, Ohio). (09-24-09)












Miki Saito, a coloratura soprano, has enjoyed living in Medina (Ohio) since the spring of 2002.  Born and raised in Yokohama (Japan) she moved to the United States to study music and became an American citizen in 1997.  She has lived in Pensacola and Jacksonville, Florida, Boston, Massachusetts and Biloxi, Mississippi, performing with many musical organizations along the way.  Since her move to Ohio, she has appeared in eight productions with the Cleveland Opera Chorus, has toured the North East Ohio area with the Sounds of Sousa Band and has been a regular guest soloist of the Medina Community Band. (09-24-09)












Jason Smith, a native of Endicott, New York currently serves as Graduate Assistant in Bands at the University of Akron pursuing a Master's Degree in Music Education. Jason received a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education and Tuba Performance from The Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam in 2006 and a Master of Music degree in Tuba Performance from the University of Akron in 2009.  Jason has studied tuba with Charles Guy and Tucker Jolly and conducting with Timothy Topolewski and Robert Jorgensen.  Jason holds memberships in the International Tuba Euphonium Association, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.