ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Guangwei Fan is a native of Guangzhou, China and a third-year Trombone Fellow at the New World Symphony. He has performed with the Macao Orchestra, Symphony in C and Guangdong Pearl River Symphony. During his summers, Mr. Fan performed in the Pacific Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, Spoleto Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Aspen Music Festival and International Trombone Festival.

As a soloist, Mr. Fan won the 2014 SliderAsia Asian Tenor Trombone Solo Competition, was named second runnerup for the 2015 SliderAsia International Tenor Trombone Solo Competition and selected as a finalist of the Gilberto Gagliardi Tenor Trombone Competition at the 2016 International Trombone Festival. In 2020 he was selected as the co-winner of the Larry Wiehe Tenor Trombone Competition at the International Trombone Festival.

In China, Mr. Fan studied with Zheng Guo, the former principal trombonist of the Guangzhou Symphony. Mr. Fan completed his bachelor’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Nitzan Haroz and Matthew Vaughn, the principal and co-principal trombonists of The Philadelphia Orchestra. He had also been taking regular lessons with Blair Bollinger, the bass trombonist of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Craig Knox, the principal tubist of the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Chase Waterbury is a second-year Trombone Fellow with the New World Symphony. He has worked with conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Marin Alsop, JoAnn Falletta, Cristian Măcelaru and others; and has appeared with numerous orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2021 Mr. Waterbury was named a finalist in the International Trombone Association’s Lewis Van Haney Philharmonic Prize.

In addition to his extensive performance experience, Mr. Waterbury is a passionate advocate for music education in public schools. He participated in the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music program in the 2020-21 season as a member of the Building Brass Trio, helping to create programs for all grade-school students enrolled in the San Francisco Unified Public School District.

Born and raised in the Cleveland area, Mr. Waterbury began his trombone studies with Anthony P. Hopkins through the Cleveland Institute of Music. He later studied with Whitney Clair through the Institute’s pre-college certificate program. In high school, Mr. Waterbury performed with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra—the education and experience these programs provided formed his love for orchestral playing.

Mr. Waterbury graduated from Northwestern University in 2019, where he studied with Michael Mulcahy, Christopher Davis, Randall Hawes, Timothy Higgins and Douglas Wright. Mr. Waterbury continued his studies with Timothy Higgins at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he completed his master’s degree in 2021. While attending school in San Francisco, he also studied extensively with Paul Welcomer and John Engelkes.

Noah Roper—a native of Aledo, Texas—is a second-year Bass Trombone Fellow with the New World Symphony. As a professional musician, he has performed with the Spoleto Festival U.S.A, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Dayton Philharmonic, among other ensembles.

Mr. Roper received his bachelor’s degree in performance from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in 2020. While there, he studied with Metropolitan Opera Orchestra bass trombonist Denson Paul Pollard.

Mr. Roper has seen success in competitions, including being named winner in the American Trombone Workshop’s Bass Trombone National Solo Competition in both Divisions I (2017) and II (2019). He was also chosen as a finalist in the prestigious International Trombone Association Edward Kleinhammer Orchestral Bass Trombone Competition (2019), as well as the Steven Zellmer Orchestral Trombone Competition (2019).

During the summers, Mr. Roper has had the privilege of performing at many festivals, including the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Institute, Texas Music Festival and the Music Academy of the West. In November 2022, Mr. Roper, as a Keston MAX Fellow, will perform with the London Symphony under Gianandrea Noseda, through a partnership with Music Academy of the West.

Third-year Tuba Fellow Andrew Abel hails from the beautiful Pacific Northwest and has enjoyed an extensive and varied performance career. He has shared the stage with many fine American ensembles including the Boston, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Baltimore symphony orchestras. Most recently he performed alongside his hometown orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, for its 2022 performance of Verdi’s Requiem.

Off the stage, Mr. Abel can be heard on a variety of studio recordings – both classical and commercial. With the Seattle Symphony, he can be heard on their albums Beijing Harmony (2018) and The Flying Lotus (2017). Commercial soundtrack work includes blockbuster videos games such as Destiny and DOTA and popular television shows such as the award-winning NBC sitcom Community.

In addition to his professional work, Mr. Abel has performed at summer music festivals including Music Academy of the West, Spoleto U.S.A. and two summers with the Pierre Monteux Music Festival. However, his proudest achievement is when he became the youngest ever tuba fellow with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in 2014.

Mr. Abel received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, where he studied with Christopher Olka of the Seattle Symphony. In 2019 he completed a masters at The Colburn School with former Los Angeles Philharmonic tubist, Norman Pearson.