Meet the Quintet
Caitlin Featherstone is a Brooklyn based freelance trumpet player and music educator originally from Southern California. She has been an active musician in the New York City area since 2014. Prior to moving in NYC, Caitlin used her trumpet to satisfy her wanderlust and has had the honor of playing and teaching in different many countries and performing in several renowned performance venues all over the world including Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House.
In addition to freelancing, Caitlin is a regular participant in a number local ensembles including Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, Chelsea Symphony, Brooklyn String Orchestra, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Patriot Brass Ensemble, Astoria Symphony, New York Wind Orchestra and more. With the goal of one day performing on Broadway, Caitlin plays as a pit musician for local Children’s, Youth, High School, College, Community, Semi Professional, and Professional theater and Opera productions. Caitlin most recently made her debut at Radio City Music Hall for The Christmas Spectacular.
Caitlin is currently on faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory as a member of their Music Partner program and maintains a number of private students though her studio.
Caitlin is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and Oberlin Conservatory where she earned her degree in Trumpet Performance and a minor in Ethnomusicology. Her primary teachers have included Jeff Held, Darren Mulder, Bijon Watson, Roy Poper, and Ken Larson.
Oscar Thorp is a conductor, trumpeter, and music educator based in Brooklyn, New York. As a faculty member at the Third Street Music School Settlement, Oscar directs the New Horizons Concert Band, New Horizons Green Band, the Third Street Prelude Band, and teaches the trumpet studio. Through the InterSchool Orchestras of New York, Oscar coaches the brass in the Symphonic Band and is a substitute conductor with the ISO/Third Street orchestras. He also works with the New York Late Starters Orchestra and has appeared multiple times as a guest conductor with the New Conductors Orchestra and Make Music New York’s Sousapalooza. Oscar joined the Metropolitan Music Community in 2023 as the conductor of the Kings County Concert Band. Originally from the Seattle/Tacoma area, Oscar served as assistant professor of music at Pierce College in Puyallup, WA, where he directed the Pierce College Concert Band, Chamber Winds, and Jazz Band. His position included teaching music theory, music history, and an American Popular Music survey. Oscar began his conducting career as the assistant conductor of the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestras while studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Oscar then moved to Tucson, AZ to earn his masters in instrumental conducting as a teaching assistant at the University of Arizona’s Fred Fox School of Music. Oscar’s conducting mentors include Gregg Hanson, Raphael Jiménez, and Joann Erwin. Along with teaching trumpet at Third Street Music School, Oscar has taught brass in the Third Street Partners Program, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, the Tucson Academy of Music and Dance, and the Oberlin Community Music School. He has studied trumpet with Roy Poper, Edward Reid, Judson Scott, and Brian Chin. He has performed in New York with the Chelsea Symphony, the Greenwich Village Orchestra, the Five Borough Brass Ensemble, New York Wind Orchestra, the Regina Opera Company, Blue Hill Troupe, and others.
Ser Konvalin - Horn
Ser Konvalin is most passionate about exploring distinctive, unconventional pieces written for horn in a chamber, orchestral, and teaching setting. In 2023, he performed the commission Seeking Every Resolution for horn quartet by Nikea Randolph at WQXR with Metropolitan Horn Authority hosted by Thorgy Thor. He performs in New York with such groups as S.E.M. Ensemble, Queer Horn Collective, and Wordless Music Orchestra, with whom he played with Sigur Rós and Ellie Goulding in 2023. He teaches chamber at Manhattan School of Music Precollege and horn at MSM Summer. As a member of Metropolitan Horn Authority, he was added to the Chamber Music of America’s Ensemble Forward program to receive coaching and guidance from Jeff Scott. In 2022 they graduated from The Orchestra Now program at Bard College. They earned their Master of Music in Orchestral Performance in May of 2019 from the Manhattan School of Music where they studied with Michelle Baker. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of North Texas, where they first discovered their love for recording new music with the UNT Wind Ensemble under Eugene Corporon. Festivals include 2018 at the Imani Winds Chamber Festival, and in 2019 at the Round Top Festival Institute. Ser’s other interests include jewelry making, drag performance, and his cat named Punchy..
Colin Babcock is a New York City based trombonist, composer, improvisor, and teacher originally from Pickerington, Ohio. He specializes in Contemporary Classical Music, Chamber Music, and Improvisation. He is one of the Founders of The New York City Brass Choir and The Brownstone Brass Quintet. His band Dust Roots performs original works, improvisations, and the works of creative music’s greatest visionaries. He is a member of William Parker’s “Little Huey’s Pocket Watch” and the Fort Greene Orchestra, and can be found freelancing in various groups of all genres across the NYC area. Colin’s compositions include works for brass ensembles, guided improvisation pieces, and electronic music. He released “Circle” in 2020 and “Concrete” in 2024. Colin is Music Partners Faculty and Program Manager with the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.
Heather Ewer - Tuba
Heather Ewer is a freelance tuba player and educator born and raised in Colorado, living her best life in New York City. She grew up playing in a brass quintet with her trumpet playing twin brother and has been in love with the genre ever since. Heather studied with Deanna Swoboda at Western Michigan University where she earned her Bachelor’s in Music Education. She also has a Master's in Tuba Performance from Colorado State University. While living back in Denver, she played a variety of ensembles including orchestras, concert bands, British style brass bands, and recording sessions. One of her favorite projects was playing sousaphone and cymbals for the Denver Broncos marching band. Since moving to New York in 2019, she has become a staple of the NYC New Orleans brass band scene, performing on sousaphone with Brass by the Slice, Brass Queens, New Heights Brass Band, Brooklyn Delta Jazz Party, Off the Bar Brass, and the L Train Brass Band which she also led as Music Director for two years. In September 2021, she played sousaphone at the Met Gala with Brooklyn United Drumline, and just recently preformed in a marching band with BD Entertainment for Phish's 40th Anniversary Celebration at Madison Square Garden. She has also played professionally with multiple brass quintets. In addition to playing sousaphone and classical tuba, Heather has played tuba, bass, and trombone in pit orchestras, including Chicago, Les Miserables, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and multiple productions of Urinetown. Heather is passionate about music education and maintains a private studio while also teaching brass lessons for the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Outside of loving playing and teaching, she also is an arranger, conductor, composer, and music contractor who loves meeting new people.