Episode 29 - Amy Cherry

Everything Band Podcast

In this episode I am joined by trumpeter Amy Cherry. Amy is currently the secretary of the International Women's Brass Conference (IWBC) and joins me to talk about that organization, tell her story, and offer some advice from her own career as a performer and teacher.

Topics:

• Amy’s background and early years as a musician including being steered towards playing the flute even though she wanted to play the trumpet and how growing up in Fairfax County Virginia gave her great musical experiences.
• We get in a weeds with a bit of conversation about the trumpet, including some teaching tips and thoughts about the potential impact of regional dialects when learning to articulate.
• The International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC), its history and mission, and the current programs offered by the organization.
• The Penny Turner competition for young female brass students.

Links:

• Balaton Brass
• IWBC
• Aaron Copland: Lincoln Portrait
• Hindemith: Symphony in B-flat
• Michael Kallstrom: Changing Times and Colors

Biography:

Amy K. Cherry holds a B.M. in Trumpet Performance from the University of Illinois and an M.M. and D.M.A. in Trumpet Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She recently relocated from North Carolina where she served as Assistant Professor of Music at Western Carolina University. She has previously held the position of Instructor of Trumpet at Morehead State University, Wright State University and East Tennessee State University. Amy served as Associate Principal Trumpet of the Hofer Symphoniker in Hof, Germany for a six-week appointment.

During her years in North Carolina she was Principal Trumpet with the Asheville Lyric Opera, Assistant Principal Trumpet with the Spartanburg Philharmonic, and Third Trumpet with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. She has served as principal trumpet of the Kingsport Symphony and Johnson City Symphony Orchestras in Tennessee and performed with groups such as the Cincinnati Opera, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dayton Opera, the Lexington Philharmonic, the Winston-Salem Symphony, the Flat Rock Playhouse, Mannheim Steamroller, the Monarch Brass Ensemble, the Athena Brass Band, and the Summit Brass Ensemble.

Amy is an active chamber musician interested in reaching new audiences and expanding the repertoire for brass instruments. To achieve those goals she founded the Balaton Chamber Brass in 2010 with her husband, trombonist Dan Cherry.