The Judges

Jacquelyn Lankford

Jacquelyn Lankford is the creator and founder of the Women Composing for Trumpet Competition, which was made possible by her award of the Juliet Hardtner Women in Arts and Humanities Professorship in 2019. She is the Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Jazz Band Director at McNeese State University, acting principal and second trumpet with the Monroe Symphony Orchestra, and third trumpet in the Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra. She earned her Doctorate in Trumpet Performance with a related field in Music Education from the University of North Texas in 2019, Master’s in Trumpet Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music in 2016, and Bachelor’s in Music Education from New Mexico State University in 2014.

Cont.

Jacquelyn is also a founding member of Calypsus Brass, a chamber ensemble that creates high-quality, professional recordings for composers. Calypsus specifically focuses on performing and recording works by living composers of color, marginalized genders, and the LGBTQIA+ community.

As a soloist, Jacquelyn was invited to Rouen, France to compete in the Eric Aubier International Trumpet Competition where she was one of only two United States competitors in 2017. She has also competed at the National Trumpet Competition many times in both the trumpet solo and ensemble divisions, and was awarded third place in the large ensemble division of the National Trumpet Competition in 2018 with Robert Garrison’s arrangement of Kevin McKee’s Vuelta del Fuego.

Ensembles she has performed with include the Monroe Symphony Orchestra, Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra, The Rory Partin Big Band, Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra, Richardson Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Wind Ensemble, UNT Symphony Orchestra, and UNT Wind Symphony.

World Premieres in which Jacquelyn has participated include Fred Sturm’s Taos from Migrations with the NMSU Jazz Band, Andre Previn’s Music for Wind Orchestra (No Strings Attached) with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Joseph Turrin’s Regiment of Heroes March with the UNT Wind Symphony, and many more.

Pancho Romero

Dr. Frank “Pancho” Romero is Professor Emeritus at New Mexico State University. While at NMSU, Dr. Romero served a Professor of Trumpet and Director of Jazz Studies. His duties included teaching jazz pedagogy, jazz improvisation, jazz ensembles, jazz combos, classical trumpet and orchestral trumpet. He is principal trumpet in the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra, the “New El Paso Brass Quintet”, Footprints Jazz Quintet and directs the Border Jazz Orchestra.

Cont.

Dr. Romero’s trumpet students have gone on to receive accolades in music education, and trumpet performance. NMSU students and trumpet ensembles have participated in the National Trumpet Competition, International Trumpet Guild Solo Competition and Trumpet Ensemble prelude performances. Several of Dr. Romero’s former students now hold positions at universities across the country and other’s have toured across the country and performed on Broadway. Dr. Romero and the studio at NMSU has commissioned three works by Mr. Justin Raines, “Trumpet Soup”, performed at ITG and NTC. “Some High Notes, A Few Low Notes and One Too Many Trumpets”, a tribute to John Haynie, performed by the UNT Alumni Trumpet Ensemble at ITG Conference 2003, and recently “Chubasco”, written for Dr. Romero to celebrate his upcoming retirement. For each selection, Dr. Romero was instrumental in research and development of the project.

Dr. Romero’s Jazz Ensembles have performed at the International Music Festival in Massanasa, Spain. They have toured Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Italy. The NMSU Jazz Ensembles have performed at the Reno Jazz Festival, the University of Colorado Jazz Festival and have toured extensively across the southwest United States. Under the direction of Dr. Romero, the Jazz Ensembles have produced two critically acclaimed jazz albums, “Home Grown”, and “Patience”, both containing new compositions written for the jazz ensemble. “Pueblo de Taos” was written by Fred Sturm in 2014 to depict the Native American Culture of Northern New Mexico and set it in for jazz ensemble. Its American premier was at the Migration’s Concert at NMSU and the European premier at the Festival Musical de Massanasa, Spain in the summer of 2018.

Dr. Romero is a member of the International Trumpet Guild, New Mexico Music Educators Association, former president of the New Mexico Jazz Educators Association, National Association of Music Education, and the Jazz Education Network.

Raquel Samayoa

Raquel Samayoa leads a dynamic and engaging career as a teacher, chamber musician, recitalist, adjudicator and solo performer. She currently serves as Assistant Professor of Trumpet, and Co-Conductor of the UNT Brass Band at the University of North Texas College of Music, where she has taught since 2018. Dr. Samayoa additionally performs with Lantana Trio, a Brass Trio comprised of UNT Brass Faculty. Dr. Samayoa was previously on faculty at Tennessee Tech University and Northern Kentucky University.

Her performances have taken her to leading venues in the United States, Russia, Finland, Australia, China, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. As a member of the award-winning Seraph Brass, she frequently tours the US and abroad performing concerts and engaging in educational outreach performances. Dr. Samayoa is a clinician for the Conn-Selmer and Denis Wick Companies.

Cont.

Raquel serves on the International Trumpet Guild (ITG) Board of Directors and is the co-editor of the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) newsletter. She has additionally served as an adjudicator aAs a chamber and ensemble musician, he has performed with numerous groups including the Utah Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Washington Chamber Orchestra, Symphony One, and the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 2019, he became the newest member of the internationally renowned Mirari Brass Quintet. Dr. Shelton is also one of the founding members of Fifth Bridge, an electroacoustic trumpet ensemble that has collaborated with numerous musicians and organizations such as John Hollenbeck, David Sampson, Christopher Stark, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Harvard Center for Astrophysics, and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

As an educator, Dr. Shelton currently serves as the Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Utah School of Music. Before joining the University of Utah, he served on the faculties at both the University of Rochester and Cornell University as a Lecturer of Trumpet. Dr. Shelton has presented clinics and masterclasses at universities and conferences all over the United States including the International Trumpet Guild Conference, and the International Horn Symposium. His articles have been featured in the International Trumpet Guild Journal, and was a featured presenter at the 2019 ITG Conference in Miami, FL. He also serves on numerous committees with ITG including the ITG Journal’s Music Review Team, the Book Review Team, CD Committee, and is the current Chair of the Orchestral Excerpt Competition. His current research focus, The Trumpet Repertoire Project, creates and promotes new works for undergraduate performance that encourages the development of technical and music expression that reflects the compositional voices of contemporary American composers.

Dr. Shelton holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music, having studied with Professor James Thompson and Douglas Prosser. He also holds degrees from both the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and Virginia Tech studying under Craig Morris and Dr. John Adler. Dr. Shelton can be heard on Summit Records, SNOtone Records, Mark Records, as well as in the 4th edition of the Samuel Adler Orchestration Textbook by W.W. Norton & Company.

Dr. J. Peyden Shelton is a Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician.

I have made it a point in my research and teaching to find ways to enable composers, both living and those of the past, to interject their compositional voices into the corpus of standard trumpet repertoire. Far too often have young players and teachers subscribed to a recycled list of repertoire that has become a “rite of passage” for young trumpeters. This pieces provide numerous elements that refine both technical and musical traits in growing performers, but these works have reached their peak in their own compositional lives.

My goal with students, and myself, is to cultivate the creation and discovery of “new” works that contain those same key elements for young players, but provide a new voice to the standard performance repertoire. One project that I have begun as been to help to create several new sonata-like pieces that reflect the voices of young modern American composers. I have had the opportunity to premiere some of these works at both universities and colleges across the United States, but also at international conferences such as the International Trumpet Guild Conference in 2019. These pieces also adhere to numerous competition guidelines, such as those for the National Trumpet Competition, so that these new works can also help to revitalize the consistently overused pool of repertoire that is featured at many national and international competitions.

I have also been a huge supporter of chamber music and it’s effectiveness to cultivate musical growth and extra musical skills, especially for developing players. In my professional chamber ensembles, Fifth Bridge - an electro-acoustic trumpet ensemble, and Mirari Brass - a traditional brass quintet, I have focused on a similar process of creating and cultivating new levels of musical collaboration and performance so as to enable the growth of chamber performance for a new generation of concert-goer. Fifth Bridge has been a huge proponent in the area of commissioning in that no repertoire existed for an electro-acoustic trumpet ensemble before our existence. This, coupled with the consistent efforts of Mirari Brass to revitalize the standard brass quintet repertoire, will help to reinforce the importance and versatility of chamber music for young performers and professionals. t the National Trumpet Competition and ITG Conference. Raquel’s scholarly activities have resulted in articles published in The Instrumentalist and International Trumpet Guild Journal. She recently presented sessions at the College Music Society Southern Conference, Midwest Clinic, Historic Brass Society Symposium, and the International Trumpet Guild Conference.

Dr. Samayoa has been invited as a guest artist and clinician at several universities and conferences across the country. Raquel was recently a guest artist at the Brass Day of the Moscow Conservatory (RUS), Brass Day of the Melbourne Conservatorium (AU), South Texas Brass Symposium, and the 2019 Dallas Trumpet Workshop. Raquel will make her Carnegie Hall debut as a soloist with the Fillmore Wind Band in May of 2021.

In 2013, Raquel recorded “Cincinnati Virtuosity – The Cornet Solos of Frank Simon and Herman Bellstedt” which is available on Amazon and iTunes. In January 2020, Dr. Samayoa released her first publication with Mountain Peak Music entitled Dueling Fundamentals for Two Trumpets.

Dr. Samayoa holds the DMA in Trumpet Performance from the University of North Texas where she studied with renowned trumpet pedagogue, Keith Johnson. She earned the MA and Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from West Texas A&M University where she studied trumpet with Mr. David Ritter and Wind Conducting with Dr. Gary Garner.

Raquel is an advocate for commissioning new works for trumpet and brass chamber ensembles. She has commissioned or been part of a consortium for many works including Between Friends by Dorothy Gates, Light Form by Melody Eotvos, Black Bayou Vignettes by Erik Morales, Suite Grooves #2 by Jesse Chavez, L’Espirit de la Trompette by James Stephenson, and For Then And Now by Laurence Bitensky.

Peyden Shelton

Dr. J. Peyden Shelton has gained a rapidly growing reputation as a dynamic performer and educator. He has been featured as a soloist with various ensembles including the Salt Lake Symphony, Reston Symphony Orchestra, Winds of the Blue Ridge, and University of North Texas Chamber Ensemble. In 2014, Dr. Shelton was awarded first place in the Soloist Division of the National Trumpet Competition. Since that time, he has presented solo performances and guest artist residencies at numerous universities, and has been a featured artist at various festivals including the Virginia Tech Trumpet Festival, the Fredericksburg Brass Institute, and the Mid-Atlantic Trumpet Festival.

Cont.

As a chamber and ensemble musician, he has performed with numerous groups including the Utah Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Washington Chamber Orchestra, Symphony One, and the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 2019, he became the newest member of the internationally renowned Mirari Brass Quintet. Dr. Shelton is also one of the founding members of Fifth Bridge, an electroacoustic trumpet ensemble that has collaborated with numerous musicians and organizations such as John Hollenbeck, David Sampson, Christopher Stark, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Harvard Center for Astrophysics, and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

As an educator, Dr. Shelton currently serves as the Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Utah School of Music. Before joining the University of Utah, he served on the faculties at both the University of Rochester and Cornell University as a Lecturer of Trumpet. Dr. Shelton has presented clinics and masterclasses at universities and conferences all over the United States including the International Trumpet Guild Conference, and the International Horn Symposium. His articles have been featured in the International Trumpet Guild Journal, and was a featured presenter at the 2019 ITG Conference in Miami, FL. He also serves on numerous committees with ITG including the ITG Journal’s Music Review Team, the Book Review Team, CD Committee, and is the current Chair of the Orchestral Excerpt Competition. His current research focus, The Trumpet Repertoire Project, creates and promotes new works for undergraduate performance that encourages the development of technical and music expression that reflects the compositional voices of contemporary American composers.

Dr. Shelton holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music, having studied with Professor James Thompson and Douglas Prosser. He also holds degrees from both the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and Virginia Tech studying under Craig Morris and Dr. John Adler. Dr. Shelton can be heard on Summit Records, SNOtone Records, Mark Records, as well as in the 4th edition of the Samuel Adler Orchestration Textbook by W.W. Norton & Company.

Dr. J. Peyden Shelton is a Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician.

I have made it a point in my research and teaching to find ways to enable composers, both living and those of the past, to interject their compositional voices into the corpus of standard trumpet repertoire. Far too often have young players and teachers subscribed to a recycled list of repertoire that has become a “rite of passage” for young trumpeters. This pieces provide numerous elements that refine both technical and musical traits in growing performers, but these works have reached their peak in their own compositional lives.

My goal with students, and myself, is to cultivate the creation and discovery of “new” works that contain those same key elements for young players, but provide a new voice to the standard performance repertoire. One project that I have begun as been to help to create several new sonata-like pieces that reflect the voices of young modern American composers. I have had the opportunity to premiere some of these works at both universities and colleges across the United States, but also at international conferences such as the International Trumpet Guild Conference in 2019. These pieces also adhere to numerous competition guidelines, such as those for the National Trumpet Competition, so that these new works can also help to revitalize the consistently overused pool of repertoire that is featured at many national and international competitions.

I have also been a huge supporter of chamber music and it’s effectiveness to cultivate musical growth and extra musical skills, especially for developing players. In my professional chamber ensembles, Fifth Bridge - an electro-acoustic trumpet ensemble, and Mirari Brass - a traditional brass quintet, I have focused on a similar process of creating and cultivating new levels of musical collaboration and performance so as to enable the growth of chamber performance for a new generation of concert-goer. Fifth Bridge has been a huge proponent in the area of commissioning in that no repertoire existed for an electro-acoustic trumpet ensemble before our existence. This, coupled with the consistent efforts of Mirari Brass to revitalize the standard brass quintet repertoire, will help to reinforce the importance and versatility of chamber music for young performers and professionals.

Ellen Shinogle

An international performer and educator, Ellen Shinogle's passion for music, in all genres, can be heard in a multitude of venues. Most recently, she premiered a solo classical trumpet and string quartet composition at the Rudolfinum in Prague, Czechia and has also given world premiers of pieces in Italy, New York, and California.

Cont.

As principal trumpet, Ellen has performed in operas and musical theatre productions in France, Czechia, New York, California, and Illinois. She can be heard in film and television shows, most recently on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

In 2019, Ellen won the graduate division of the National Trumpet Competition after three rounds of judged solo performances.

Ellen is an advocate for contemporary music. She recently commissioned a trumpet duo and piano composition which premiered in Los Angeles earlier this year and has performed with contemporary music ensembles Thornton Edge, Wild Up, and Eastman Ossia as well as performing at SoundSCAPE Composition and Performance Exchange in Italy. She can frequently be heard performing in multiple shows at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.

Ellen is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where she received the Performer’s Certificate of Distinction and Bachelor of Music degrees in Trumpet Performance and Music Education. She earned her Master of Music degree at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. Ellen is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles Herb Alpert School of Music, where she is also the teaching assistant in the brass department.