Dr. John T. Hart Jr. serves as Associate Professor of Music at Keene State College, directing the Concert Band and co-coordinating the Music Education program. He also coordinates the Music Department’s woodwind, brass, and percussion areas; and leads the low brass studio. Dr. Hart is also on the trombone & chamber music faculty for the renowned LA Phil’s YOLA National Festival. Dr. Hart has performed with and conducted many of the Northeast’s top ensembles, including the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the Hartt Orchestra and Wind Ensemble, Hartford Opera Theatre, the Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra, Winchendon Winds, Valley Winds, and TUNDI Opera Productions. As an active clinician, he has conducted All-State and regional festivals and workshops throughout the Northeast. He especially enjoys working with living composers and is a strong advocate for the creation of new wind ensemble music to better represent marginalized populations.

Dr. Hart also designs, publishes, and presents empirical research on music teacher education and conducting methods. His publications appear in Music Educators Journal, Contributions to Music Education, and Journal of Music Teacher Education. He has presented at the state, regional, and national levels. Dr. Hart received a Ph.D. in Music Education and a Master of Music Education from The Hartt School, and a B.A. in Music from Gettysburg College. He is a member of NAfME, NHMEA, SMTE, AERA, Conductors Guild, CBDNA, College Music Society, and the academic music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda. Dr. Hart performs on S.E. Shires Custom trombones, an S.E. Shires Custom euphonium, and Eastman tubas. He plays euphonium with the Legato Pesante Tuba Quartet.

Adam Mejaour enjoys being immersed in the world of music from almost every angle. By day, he is the head technician and repair department manager at David French Music Company in Westborough, MA, specializing in wind instrument repair. He has been enjoying his time working alongside the French family since 2010. There, he also doubles as a music educator, teaching a thriving private studio of local trumpet students that have ranged from 10 to 76 years of age. With his remaining time, he enjoys an active freelance trumpet playing career, performing in idioms across the musical spectrum. Whether in chamber ensembles, pit orchestras, jazz bands or wind ensembles, Adam “Hot Lips” Mejaour finds himself at home. 

He earned his Bachelor’s in Music Education and Trumpet Performance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2015. This is also where his current group, Amity Street Brass Quintet was initially founded and graciously guided by music department faculty: Greg Spiridopoulos (trombone), John Bottomley (tuba), Laura Klock (horn), and Eric Berlin (trumpet). If he’s not doing any of the above things, you’ll likely catch him cooking some amazing meals at home, hanging with his two cats Simba and Bagheera, out enjoying a nice hike, or kayaking.

Andrew Pease serves as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Instrumental Music at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, where he leads the Wind Ensemble and Brass Ensemble. He is also co-conductor of the Catskill Valley Wind Ensemble, also based in Oneonta. His guest conducting work has taken him to several states and the UK, and he has presented nationally and internationally on topics in the wind band field. He has degrees from Dartmouth College, Columbia University Teachers College, and Hofstra University. He completed doctoral studies in wind conducting at Arizona State University, studying with Gary Hill. His work there earned him the 2017 American Prize in Collegiate Wind Band Conducting. He was a 2025 Grammy Music Educator quarterfinalist. He started his career in New York City, where he was music director of the Columbia University Wind Ensemble and the community band Columbia Summer Winds. Throughout his varied career, he has directed players of all ages and ability levels, from elementary beginning band to adult amateurs to professional ensembles. He got his start as a composer writing rock songs in high school, and he has written and arranged for wind bands and chamber groups ever since. His latest compositions appear at his personal website, www.andypease.com. He also runs two websites dedicated to wind bands: Wind Band Literature (windliterature.org) and The Wind Band Symphony Archive (windsymphonies.org).