Trumpeter Katie Raney, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, is an active freelancer and educator in the greater Boston area. Her recent engagements have included performances with the DePaul University Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, the Epic Brass Quintet, Yellow River Cantata Orchestra, and the Boston University Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Bramwell Tovey. Ms. Raney spent her second year in Chicago teaching brass lessons as a Teaching Artist for the DePaul University Community Music Division, in addition to her own small private studio. It is her pleasure to join Thayer Conservatory as a trumpet instructor.

As an ensemble musician, Ms. Raney has performed in Europe, South America, and the United States. She toured Argentina with the New England Conservatory Preparatory School Youth Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Hugh Wolff at venues including the Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires and the Teatro El Círculo in Rosario in 2013. In 2012, Ms. Raney also toured Warsaw, Wrocław, and Kraków, Poland with the Preparatory School’s Senior Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble under the baton of Michael Mucci. In addition to her tours through Poland and Argentina, Ms. Raney spent the spring of 2017 at the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied under the tutelage of members of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and London's Philharmonia Orchestra.

In June of 2020 Ms. Raney received her Master of Music from DePaul University’s School of Music in Chicago, where she studied with Tage Larsen of the Chicago 

Symphony Orchestra, and David Cohen of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Before moving to Chicago, she attended Boston University where she studied with world-renowned trumpet soloist Terry Everson, graduating with her Bachelor of Music in 2018. Ms. Raney is currently an Associate Second Grade Teacher at the Park Street School, a private Christian elementary school in Boston’s Beacon Hill.

Fun fact:  Ms. Raney loves to bake in her free time, and spent the majority of quarantine baking banana bread each week!

Ryan Ramey holds the principal horn chair with the Boston Civic Symphony which holds its concerts in Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory. He also plays regularly with the Brockton Symphony Orchestra, the Concord Orchestra, and Symphony Pro Musica, and has been in the pit for several musicals throughout Central and Eastern Massachusetts. He has performed with numerous orchestras in both Massachusetts and California including UMass Boston Symphony, the Corona Symphony, Bellflower Symphony, Peninsula Symphony, San Fernando Valley Symphony, Tulare County Symphony, Culver City Symphony, and more. Ryan can also often be heard performing with the Atlantic Wind Symphony. He has performed solo concertos with both orchestra and wind ensemble, performed Schumann’s Konzertstuck for Four Horns multiple times with other esteemed horn soloists, and can be heard on various portfolio recordings for upcoming film composers. Ryan teaches french horn at Thayer Conservatory and often assists with the Youth Ensemble of New England. For more information see  www.ryanrameyhorn.com. 

Dr. Matthew Visconti received his Doctorate from the University of Memphis, his Master’s degree from Boston University and his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Hartford all in Applied Performance and Pedagogy.

​

He is an active freelance musician in the greater Boston area and has had the privilege to perform in venues such as Boston’s Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall, Worcester’s Mechanics Hall and New York’s Carnegie Hall, as well as venues in Spain and Portugal including a performance in the prestigious Granada Festival in Spain. Matthew has been asked to perform with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Memphis Jazz Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, the Kentucky Opera Orchestra, the Louisville Ballet Orchestra and the Jackson Symphony Orchestra in Mississippi and in Tennessee. He has also been selected as a participant for the Cleveland Trombone Seminar, the Pokorny Seminar, and the Rafael Mendez Brass Institute. He has also given numerous master classes at many high schools, churches, colleges, and instrumental workshops.

​

His history of teachers include Gabriel Langfur, Bass Trombonist of the of the Vermont Symphony and Rhode Island Philharmonic, Don Lucas, an internationally renowned trombone soloist, Toby Oft, Principal Trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Ron Borror, retired trombonist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, and Dr. John Mueller of the University of Memphis. Dr. Visconti has received additional instruction from, and performed in various master classes with trombonists of various orchestras including the Detroit Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, the Croatian National Opera Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York City Ballet and the New York Philharmonic, the Dallas Symphony, the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and from various musical institutions across the country.

​

Dr. Visconti is currently the Director of Instrumental Music at Lexington Christian Academy and the Instructor of Trombone at Atlantic Union College’s Thayer Performing Arts Center. He has previously served as a faculty member at the University of Memphis, Jackson State University, Dyersburg State Community College and Arkansas State University Mid-South where he taught Applied Trombone, Music Theory, Music History, Music Appreciation, Marching Band, Chamber Music and Orchestral Techniques. Dr. Visconti also writes reviews for the International Trombone Journal.

Fun Fact:  Dr. Visconti really enjoys cooking, specifically Italian sauces and pastas from scratch.  He is also a direct descendent of Pope Gregory X, born Teobaldo Visconti, and was Pope from 1271 to his death in 1276 and was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order.