Derrick Gardner

After playing lead trumpet for the Count Bassie Orchestra and touring Europe as the featured soloist in the Broadway show Black and Blue, Derrick Gardner enrolled at the Mason Gross School of the Arts to complete his master's degree in music. Gardner has also played with Dizzy Gillespie and Tony Bennett.

Brian Chin (BM, MM)
is the principal trumpet for the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra. He also performs frequently with other Washington-area orchestras, including the Seattle Symphony and the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Chris Hasselbring (BM)
is a top freelance trumpeter in Chicago. He has performed with ensembles all over the world, including: the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, Japan. In Chicago, he performs with ensembles such as Ars Viva, Chicago Sinfonietta, Concertante di Chicago, the Metropolis Symphony, and the Lake Forest Symphony.

Yi-Wen Jiang (MM)
plays violin for the prestigious Shanghai Quartet. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Victoria Symphony and the Montreal Symphony. He has performed for NBC and PBS television specials, National Public Radio, CPB in Beijing, WQXR in New York, and KRUO in St. Louis.

Darryl Kubian (BM, MM)
is a violinist for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and a former member of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also played many Broadway Musicals, including The King and I, Show Boat, and Crazy for You. Active as a composer and recording engineer, his music production company Xtreme Medium has produced scores for National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, CBS, and the Disney Channel, among others.

Paul Mergen(MM)
is a tuba player for "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, and performed at the 55th Inauguration of the President of the United States. Mergen has been a freelance musician in New York and New Jersey, and has participated in a brass quintet in residency at The Banff Center.

Qiang Tu (MM)
is a cellist with the New York Philharmonic. Prior to that, he was the principal cellist for the Princeton Chamber Symphony. Tu made his professional debut at age 13 as a soloist with one of China's major symphony orchestras. Since then, he has performed in premier venues all over the world.

Sean Jones (MM)
is the lead trumpet in the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and assistant professor of jazz studies at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He has collaborated with the Chico O'Farrill Orchestra, the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the Louis Armstrong Legacy Band, and others.

Amanda Pabyan (BM)
is a lyric-coloratura soprano with an impressive operatic repertoire that includes the Washington National Opera and New York City Opera, among many other prestigious venues. She has also performed with several major orchestras, including the American Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Terell Stafford (MM)
is the director of jazz studies at Temple University in Philadelphia. Previously, he was a faculty member at the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies in New York. He has recorded four albums as a leader and more than 40 as a sideman. His broadcast appearances include The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, You Bet Your Life with Bill Cosby, and National Public Radio.

We'd like to hear from you as well.  Please contact Renita Reichard at alumni@masongross.rutgers.edu with any request or question.  Due to staffing and website transitions, there will be a hiatus on alumni credit updates until fall 2008.