an energetic chamber group that performs a broad range of exciting and virtuosic music. Members of Collective Brass come from the finest professional performing ensembles in New York.
COLLECTIVE
BRASS IS:
CARL STANLEY
Raised in a musical household in California, Carl Stanley's trumpet career has taken him around the globe. After completing his B.A. in music in 2008 from California State University, East Bay, Carl won a position with the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band in Hampton, Virginia. In his four years as Trumpet in the Concert Band and a member of the Heritage Brass Quintet, Carl toured throughout the United States, performing in concerts, recitals, ceremonies, professional sporting events, competitions, and conventions as an Air Force musician. Deploying to the Middle East, he was also able to perform in an outreach band, which utilized music as a partnership-building tool to better U.S. relations in war-torn regions. Carl left the Air Force in 2013 to complete his Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music. Upon graduating in May of 2015, he transitioned into the U.S. Army as a member of the United States Military Academy Band at West Point.
BILL OWENS
Bill Owens is currently the Associate Principal Trumpet of the West Point Band. Upon receiving his Bachelor’s degree from the Juilliard School in 2005, Bill moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a free-lance chamber and orchestral musician. He quickly established himself by performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony, the Santa Barbara Symphony as well as numerous other orchestras in Southern California. For six years, Bill was a member of the national touring ensemble, Presidio Brass. While maintaining a busy performing schedule with Presidio, Bill and organist Alison Luedecke performed recitals in venues throughout SoCal. He continues to write, edit and arrange music for his instrument within varying contexts to include original music for solo trumpet, electro acoustic compositions for trumpet and computer, and a series of arrangements for solo trumpet and organ.
DREW MANGUS
Drew Mangus is originally from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where he began playing horn in public school; taught by his father, a horn player and band director. Drew joined the West Point Band at the United States Military Academy in 2014, but prior to that performed with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado. Drew earned a Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of Oklahoma studying under Eldon Matlick and a Master of Music Performance from Southern Methodist University where he studied with Gregory Hustis and Haley Hoops of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
ALAINA ALSTER
Trombonist Alaina Alster has been a member of the West Point Band since 2013. Prior to joining the West Point Band, Alaina was an active freelance musician in New York City where she enjoyed a career performing a wide range of musical genres. Alaina continues to perform with several ensembles, specifically as a member of PitchBlak Brass Band, a ten-piece hip-hop brass band based out of Brooklyn, NY. She is also a music educator and has worked as a teaching artist for the Phil Ramone Orchestra for Children, as well as a private music instructor. Originally from Long Island, NY, Alaina began playing the trombone at the age of nine, but shortly after switched to euphonium. In 2002 she was accepted to the University of Michigan as a double major in trombone and euphonium performance where she studied with David Jackson and Fritz Kaenzig. Alaina then received her masters in trombone performance from the Manhattan School of Music in 2010 studying with Stephen Norrell.
KEITH KILE
Keith Kile, originally from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is the Principal Tubist of The West Point Band. Outside of The West Point Band, Keith is an active free-lancer and has performed recently with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Reykjavik, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. Also a passionate educator, Keith is on faculty at The New School's Mannes Prep in New York City and the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University.
Prior to moving to New York, Keith performed regularly on both tuba and euphonium and appeared with The Mr. Jack Daniel's Original Silver Cornet Band, the Hal Leonard Studio Ensemble, numerous regional orchestras in the Midwest and Southeast, and served in the 129th Army National Guard Band for eleven years. As a successful soloist, Keith was selected the winner of the prestigious Jacobs School of Music Concerto Competition and is now a regular performer at conferences around the United States. Keith holds a B.S. in Music Education from Tennessee Tech University, a M.M. from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and is currently pursuing a D.M.A. at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
Keith and his wife Katie got a little place in Harlem and are figuring it out.