ITEA presidential election 2023
The ITEA presidential election is one of the most important choices you make as an ITEA member. Read each candidate’s statements, log in, and cast your vote! The voting opens March 1, 2023.
The voting is only open to current members of ITEA.
You must be signed in as ITEA member to vote.
Voting is closed. Results will be announced on the ITEA webpage.
Meet The Candidates:
Adam Frey
Statement
I believe our core goals involve following our association’s long-standing principles while we integrate and adapt to the new global landscape that we face. I want to revisit part of our mission statement before discussing my vision:
… the Organization is a worldwide organization of musicians whose purpose is to maintain a liaison among those who take a significant interest in the instruments of the tuba and euphonium family and to further the development and understanding of instruments, literature, pedagogy, and performance through conferences, journals, music publications and all forms of membership communication.
If chosen to lead, I want to focus on the worldwide aspect of the first sentence as I feel this complements my strengths and career. This would involve engaging a broader scope of members with a continued presence of international advisory members and adding additional multilingual materials on our website. I believe we could start by encouraging more submissions of Power Lessons in non-English languages to conduct recorded and live interviews with players from further afield on the ITEA website and social media platforms. These would all benefit our organization’s educational content.
Another major endeavor will be to expand our presence on social media. These are the primary channels of engagement for many players and ITEA has a tremendous member resource to tap into new volunteers. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts and engagement. By engaging in these forums, membership among this large user base should grow memberships and conference attendees.
During my two years as Treasurer of ITEA, I have helped make tough decisions about shoring up the financial stability of the organization and have assisted in the new website rollout and look forward to more people using the website and our initiatives for the 50th Anniversary.
While more global involvement will help, ITEA also has to ensure we understand that diversity comes in many forms and that adapting to engagement, performance, and literature means we need to look at broadening our perspective and awareness of performance opportunities. I fully support our new Diversity Council to help understand how ITEA can act. Diversity can be defined by geography, race, age, gender, sexual orientation, or other ways that we may define in the future. Our greatest resource is our members and their expertise. I want to learn how both myself and the organization can better serve. I also believe in highlighting and sharing about new genres and explorations of tuba and euphonium performance from around the world. It should be a priority in our social media, we should have a much broader buffet of musical choices at our conferences and on the website. Because we are a volunteer organization, I feel my years of travel and working closely with leaders in our field around the globe will aid in facilitating submissions.
ITEA can also help our members modernize and break new ground in the realms of online performance, multi-media collaborations, virtual conferences, and most importantly trying to educate our members about how to successfully navigate these new performance opportunities. The ITEA website would be a perfect place to share additional materials on these topics.
I also have substantial experience in managing numerous consortium commissions through The Euphonium Foundation, Inc. as well as piloting the International Euphonium Tuba Festival for 20 years and innovating with the SchoolofBrass.com project. Running digital media and conferences with the addition of the new realm of virtual experiences is another area I can provide insight.
Continuity of mission has carried this organization for nearly 50 years, and I have had the distinct pleasure of working closely with the current President for 23 years and Vice President for 15 years. We have worked together as judges, commissioners, advisers to each other, chamber musicians, and friends. We hold many similar ideas of vision, delegation, problem-solving, and camaraderie especially with developing our students and organizations. I feel this team would work exceptionally well together and can facilitate some goals beyond the typical two-year ITEA appointment and as the organization celebrates its 50th birthday!
Finally, I am reminded of the concept of “the way you do something is the way you do everything.” I hope the breadth of my career, management of 20 successful years of the IET Festival, long-term dedication to ITEA, and how I have tried to be an ambassador for our instruments will earn your trust. Thank you for your time!
Biography
Adam Frey’s career spans many facets ranging from traveling to six of the seven continents as a soloist and teacher to organizing 20 years of the International Euphonium Tuba (IET) Festival. He also has more than 150 commissions and served as a judge and repertoire consultant for numerous international competitions. Recently, innovation has played a major role in creating new opportunities for students to engage with artists through the new SchoolofBrass.com program, a virtual IET Festival (after 16 years as a traditional event), and winning a Presidential Innovation Award (research sabbatical) from the University of North Georgia to write a multi-lingual book for euphonium students in English, Spanish, and Chinese.
Adam currently serves as Treasurer of the International Tuba Euphonium Association and Associate Professor of Euphonium and Tuba at the University of North Georgia and he earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Georgia, completing the requirements for performance degrees on both euphonium and tuba. He continued his graduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music (MM) and the University of Salford (DMA) in Manchester, England.
As a soloist, Adam has performed with orchestras and bands the world over, including the world-famous Boston Pops, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Cheju Symphony Orchestra (South Korea), US Army Orchestra (Washington DC), and the Vaasa Symphony Orchestra (Finland). Other performances have included Point of Ayr Brass Band in Wales, the National Youth Brass Band of Switzerland, and multiple wind bands in Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, South Korea, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Peru, Australia, Russia, Spain, Finland, China, Germany, Hong Kong, and the United States.
Adam has appeared as guest soloist at festivals around the globe, including four times at the Midwest Clinic (USA), the WASBE Convention (Singapore), Melbourne International Festival of Brass (Australia), Trombonanza (Argentina), Carlos Gomez Festival (Brazil), Jeju International Wind Festival (South Korea), Asia Pacific Band Directors Conference (South Korea), Westby Low Brass Workshop (Norway), Peru Low Brass Festival (Peru), Colombia Festubal (Colombia), New Zealand international Brass Festival (New Zealand), Tubamania (Thailand), and Orquesta Latinoamericana de Vientos (Colombia) to name a few. Adam has been Yamaha Performing Artist since 2000.
His tuba and euphonium students have earned 1st place and Finalist awards in the Falcone Festival, ITEC Competitions in both tuba and euphonium, the International Euphonium Tuba Festival Competitions, the American Protégé Competition, and MTNA. They have also appeared frequently as winners of concerto competitions at Georgia State, Emory, Reinhardt, and North Georgia Universities. His graduate students have been hired to teach at Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Rowan, Reinhardt, and George State Universities.
Adam Frey joined ITEA (then TUBA) as a Lifetime Member in 1996 while an undergraduate student. He has written numerous articles, interviews, and new repertoire reviews for the ITEA Journal and added a “Power Lesson” to the ITEA website. He has been invited to perform at every ITEC since 2000 and has only missed one due to the birth of a child! He has judged numerous competitions at ITEC and regional conferences and has assisted in repertoire selection and served in multiple capacities with the Harvey G. Phillips Awards for Excellence in Composition. He has also served on the Board of Advisors twice.
Alexander Lapins
Statement
Hello ITEA! It is a pleasure and an honor to be considered for this election alongside the esteemed Dr. Adam Frey. ITEA has been part of my life for nearly thirty years. I joined when I was a student, reading articles, attending conferences, and making the most of our professional network. As I transitioned from my student membership to my professional membership, I began contributing my own content to the ITEA Journal and our conferences. It was a privilege, indeed, to host the 2011 ITEA Southwest Regional Conference and the 2016 ITEA International Conference.
Our organization’s legacy is internationally celebrated and profoundly impactful in the wider music community. However, this is also a time of great transition, reimagination, reprioritization, and reinvention for ITEA. The evolution of our Journal, website, and institutional character in the early twenty-first century has been exciting and inspiring.
ITEA is its membership, and our membership is becoming more diverse and inclusive than ever before. ITEA is voiced and guided by its leadership, and that leadership has been eagerly and intelligently working to engage with and lead in our modern, global music community. Our priorities to welcome and support players of all levels, from all financial backgrounds, and to foster training and professional connections are noble, and are changing lives and our community. Our past is rich, but the future of our organization will be the result of self-reflection, growth and expansion of perspective and purpose. The opportunity to be part of that growth is the reason I would like to be considered for leadership in our organization.
Goals I would bring to this position include renewed focus on the regional experiences and educational resources offered and coordinated by ITEA for our members and for our members’ communities. I would also support continued emphasis on expanding the scope and perspective of the organization through diversifying membership and activities. Finally, I believe that ITEA should always be working to renew and invigorate our support of teachers, and our roles in connecting students to teachers and mentors.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration, and I wish you all the best for a rich musical life in 2023 and beyond!
Biography
Alexander Lapins is Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville School of Music and is tubist of the UTK Faculty Brass Quintet and Quintasonic Brass. Dr. Lapins was previously on faculty at Northern Arizona University, Indiana State University, and the University of Indianapolis.
A diverse artist, Alexander Lapins won tuba fellowships at both the Tanglewood Music Center and the Henry Mancini Institute, and his specialties range from baroque performance practice to music for solo tuba and fixed media. Dr. Lapins has appeared as a soloist with orchestras, concert bands and chamber groups, and he has performed throughout the United States and in China, South America, and Europe. He has helped commission and premiere dozens of solo and chamber works. As a session musician, Dr. Lapins can be heard on many recordings for a wide variety of productions and publications. He has also performed with the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Disney Collegiate All-Star Band, and Harvey Phillips’ Tubacompany.
Dr. Lapins has presented at regional and international ITEA conferences, the United States Army Band Tuba/Euphonium Workshop, and International Women's Brass Conferences. In 2011 he hosted ITEA’s Southwest Regional Tuba/Euphonium Conference at Northern Arizona University, and in 2016 he hosted ITEA's International Tuba/Euphonium Conference at the University of Tennessee. He has also presented guest recitals and masterclasses at many schools of music.
Alexander Lapins is the author of Dueling Fundamentals for Two Tubas and Dueling Fundamentals for Two Euphoniums, published by Mountain Peak Music. He is also author of both the “Tuba” Chapter of David Vining's innovative hybrid text Teaching Brass and the “Tuba Players Doubling on Euphonium” chapter of Micah Everett's Low Brass Player's Guide to Doubling, also from Mountain Peak Music.
Dr. Lapins studied at James Madison University, the University of Michigan, and Indiana University. His principal teachers include Daniel Perantoni, Fritz Kaenzig, Kevin Stees, Tony Kniffen, and Mike Bunn. Alexander Lapins is an Eastman Musical Instruments Artist.
