James Naigus - Horn/Piano

Dr. James Naigus is Lecturer of Horn at the University of Georgia and hornist with the Georgia Brass Quintet. He is co-founder of the Cor Moto Horn Duo with Dr. Drew Phillips, and co-editor/contributor of the Creative Hornist and Technique Tips columns in the Horn Call, the journal of the International Horn Society.

He has played with the Wichita Symphony, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, Brevard Symphony Orchestra, Gainesville Chamber Orchestra, Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, and Ocala Symphony Orchestra. In 2019 he was selected to perform with the WCIT World Orchestra in Yerevan, Armenia. He has toured Europe in 2017 & 2014 and South America in 2011 as a member of the American Chamber Winds. He has also performed on recitals at the MidNorth, Midwest, Midsouth and Southeast Horn Workshops, as well as the 2018, 2015 and 2013 International Horn Symposiums.

Naigus has been a member of the faculty and staff at the prestigious Kendall Betts Horn Camp for the last six years, which included designing and teaching an aural harmony music theory course. Additional teaching interests include music theory, concert and commercial composition, film music, and technology.

Naigus' compositions have been performed throughout the United States and beyond, with enthusiastic reception and rave review. In 2013 he was the Composer-in-Residence at the Southeast Horn Workshop in Richmond, VA. In 2009 he was awarded an honorable mention award in the International Horn Society Composition Contest. He has written commercial compositions for clients such as Google, University of Michigan, University of Florida, and University of Iowa. He currently has over sixty works published by Wavefront Music Publishing, Veritas Musica Publishing, and self published.

He is a graduate of the University of Iowa (DMA) studying with Jeffrey Agrell, studied horn and composition with Paul Basler at the University of Florida during his masters degree, and while attending the University of Michigan for his undergraduate degree studied with Soren Hermansson, Bryan Kennedy, and Adam Unsworth. Prior appointments include the University of Central Missouri and the University of Iowa.

Drew Phillips - Horn/Piano

Dr. Andrew Phillips (b. 1989) is the Associate Professor of High Brass at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he teaches Horn and Trumpet. He holds a Bachelor’s in Music Education from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, his Master’s in Horn Performance from the University of Iowa as the Teaching Assistant of the Horn studio, and the Doctorate of Musical of Arts from UNCG. His primary teachers have been Dr. Abigail Pack, Mr. Jeffrey Agrell, Mr. Jack Masarie, and Mrs. Robin Gorham. He has previously taught at Mitchell Community College in Statesville, North Carolina, and was the Brass and Piano Instructor at Upbeat Music Company in Lewisville, North Carolina.

Dr. Phillips performs as Principal Horn of the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra and the Alluvion Stage Company. He has also played with the Winston-Salem Symphony, Opera on the James, Roanoke Symphony, Roanoke Opera, Raleigh Symphony, Quad City Symphony, Ottumwa Symphony, Oskaloosa Symphony, Fayetteville Symphony, Carolina Philharmonic and is a sub for the Virginia Opera. He has appeared as a guest artist at a number of universities, including UNCG, James Madison University, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Central Missouri, the University of Georgia, Columbus State University, and the University of Central Arkansas. Dr. Phillips' collegiate students have progressed to rounds of the National Trumpet Competition, marched with top Drum Corps, and gone on to receive fully funded graduate degrees in trumpet/horn performance and composition at top universities. His high school students gain entrance to regional and state honor bands frequently each year.

Dr. Phillips has performed in recitals, presented lectures, and judged competition at the Southeast, Midwest, and Mid-South Horn Workshops. He has been a featured soloist with the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra, Liberty University Band, Liberty University Symphony Orchestra, Liberty University Wind Symphony, East Chapel Hill High School Orchestra, and East Chapel Hill High School Band. He is a founding member of Cor Moto, a professional horn duo with Dr. James Naigus, and also the co-founder and host of "The Complete Musician" podcast. Dr. Phillips is also a series writer of "Technique Tips" and "The Creative Hornist" for The Horn Call, the official journal of the International Horn Society.

Dr. Phillips is an active composer with works being commissioned across the country and internationally for horn and piano, two horns and piano, two horns and brass ensemble, low brass trio, horn quartet, horn octet, brass septet, concert band, and other mixed chamber ensembles. In the summer of 2014, the Bay Brass premiered his work for two horns and brass ensemble entitled Radiance for Two Horns, with the Bay Brass accompanying hornists Radovan Vlatkovic, international soloist, and Robert Ward, principal horn of the San Francisco Symphony, as soloists. His horn octet "Exultant Fanfare for Horn Octet" most recently won the Composition Contest at the 2016 Northeast Horn Workshop hosted at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and was performed by artists on the final concert. In 2018 he also was granted a Meir Rimon Commissioning Award from the International Horn Society for his work Harrowing Sky for Trumpet, Horn, and Piano.

Dr. Phillips attended the Summer Brass Institute Music Festival in San Francisco, California in the summer of 2012 as a Fellowship recipient based on audition and returned in the summer of 2013 as the Assistant Director of the Music Festival. He conducted and composed for the high school ensemble, culminating in brass septet world premieres in concert, coached brass chamber music, and played in concerts and masterclasses with members of the San Francisco Symphony.