IRON
CITY
BRASS
About Us
Iron City Brass is a professional Brass Quintet based out of Pittsburgh, PA.
Kenton Bandy - Trumpet
A native of Williamstown, West Virginia, Kenton Bandy enjoys an active trumpet performance career in the Pittsburgh area. In addition to his membership in the Iron City Brass, Kenton serves as an extra for the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Pittsburgh Opera, and the Johnstown Symphony. As a freelance musician, Kenton has been heard in the Consol Center, on national television, and in various churches and other venues in the Pittsburgh area.
Kenton graduated from Alderson-Broaddus College (now Alderson-Broaddus University) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2009, and from Duquesne University with a Master of Music degree in 2011 and an Artist Diploma in 2013. Kenton has studied under the tutelage of George Vosburgh, principal trumpet of the Pittsburgh Symphony and former member of the Chicago Symphony, Dr. Timothy DeWitt, former member of the West Virginia Symphony, and Les Paul of Marietta, OH. Recently, Kenton was named winner of the 2011 Duquesne University Wind Symphony concerto competition, and was invited to compete in the Fischoff competition national semi-finals with the Iron City Brass. Previously, Kenton performed the Tomasi Trumpet Concerto Mvt. I with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra as a winner of the Alderson-Broaddus College concerto competition in 2009, and competed as a national finalist of the Music Teachers National Association young artists' competition in Toronto, Canada in 2007.
When he's not playing the trumpet, Kenton crafts wood at Bandy Woodworks in Pittsburgh and passes the time with various hobbies including unicycling, chess, reading, stiltwalking, and writing electronic music. Kenton lives with his wife Rachel and dog Ellie in Weirton, WV.
Erin Yanacek - Trumpet
Hailing from Michigan, trumpeter Erin Yanacek is currently located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In recent months Erin completed her Master's degree in Music Performance at Carnegie Mellon University, and won a position in the cornet section of the River City Brass Band. In recent years Erin has been featured as a soloist with the Carnegie Mellon Baroque Ensemble and Wind Ensemble, Classical Revolution Pittsburgh, the Chemical City Band, the Saginaw Area Concert Band, the Jackson Concert Band, and at a Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra concert. In her spare time Erin enjoys walking dogs, teaching the trumpeters in her studio, and riding her bike up and down Pittsburgh's many steep hills.
Mark Addleman - Horn
Aaron Pisula - Trombone
A native of Johnstown, PA, Aaron began playing trombone at the age of 14. He later attended Duquesne University, receiving a Bachelor and Master of music degree. His primary teachers have included Robert Hamrick, Peter Sullivan, James Nova, and Murray Crewe. Since graduation, Aaron has established an active and versatile freelancing career throughout the southwestern Pennsylvania region, regularly performing all styles and genres of music on tenor trombone, bass trombone, and euphonium. He is also the principal trombone of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and serves on the faculty of Duquesne University, where he is chief music librarian and an administrative assistant to the ensembles. Other playing highlights have included performances with the Youngstown Symphony, Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, members of the
Pittsburgh Symphony, and the internationally known vocal ensemble, Il Divo.
John DiCesare - Tuba
As winner of the 2012 Pittsburgh Concert Society Competition, Pittsburgh-based tubist John DiCesare is respected as a versatile musician - equally at home in the teaching studio as well as on major stages. DiCesare is currently the Adjunct Professor of Tuba at Ohio's Kent State University and Adjunct professor of Tuba at Cleveland State University. DiCesare received a Bachelor of Music Education and Master's degree in Tuba Performance from Kent State University, and an Artist Diploma certificate from Duquesne University. While in attendance at Kent State University, DiCesare held the position of Graduate Assistant of Tuba and Bands.
DiCesare performs regularly with orchestras both in the Pittsburgh area and nationwide. Currently, he serves asPrincipal Tubist for the Westmoreland symphony orchestra. Notably, DiCesare has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Brass, Pittsburgh Opera, Canton Symphony Orchestra, South Florida Symphony Orchestra, the Blossom Festival Band, the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Circle Orchestra, as well as a variety of regional orchestras. In the past year, DiCesare was the runner-up for the Chicago Lyric Opera, a finalist for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, a semi-finalist for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and a semi-finalist for the New World Symphony.
DiCesare performs regularly with the Iron City Brass Quintet, as soloist with orchestras, and in recital. In 2012 Iron City Brass was named a quartet-finalist in the prestigious Fischoff Competition. Recent orchestral engagements include the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto with the Duquesne University Symphony Orchestra and Kent State University Orchestra, as well as the Strauss Horn Concerto with the Kent State Intercollegiate Wind Ensemble.DiCesare has studied with Tom Lukowicz, John Bottomley and Craig Knox, principal tubist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He makes his home in Pittsburgh with wife Amanda