Jamie Marci has been a freelance horn player and instructor in Connecticut since 1999. Born and raised in the Midwest, she moved to the east coast after completing her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. During her four years in Columbia, she attended the Aspen Music Festival for two summers and studied under John Cerminaro. The graduate program at the Hartt School of Music brought her to New England and the freelancing and teaching opportunities have kept her there. In November 2003 she won a position on the Hartford Symphony’s substitute list. She is third horn with the New Britain Symphony, the Bristol Symphony and the Wallingford Symphony and has also played with the United States Coast Guard Band, the Bridgeport Symphony, the Ridgefield Symphony and for Josh Groban and LeAnn Rimes.
Nancy Brown’s passion is working with students of all levels from beginning to advanced, as well as adults revisiting the instrument they loved years past. Her dedication is expressed through patience, encouragement and experience. Brown specializes in embouchure adjustments, including braces, breath control, and rhythmic comprehension. Realistic goals are set and a pathway to achievement put in place. “I enjoy watching my students grow not only as musicians but as people.”
Brown has enjoyed an expansive career playing supporting performances with Ray Charles, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Sergio Frankie, Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons, and the Beach Boys. Her diverse playing career has taken her to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and to Carnegie Hall, as well as seeing the country through the National Tour of Sugar Babies. She served as Lead Trumpet at the Goodspeed Opera Hours for 23 years and was sent to New York to play several shows the Goodspeed produced on Broadway. At this time, she was active in the recording industry there.