Mission, Texas- R. Cantu Jr. High School assistant band director, Vanessa Montelongo will be traveling this week to be a guest conductor for the Alderson Broaddus University 18th Annual Honors Wind Ensemble. Montelongo was invited to be a guest conductor and clinician at the event that provides distinguished high school musicians from that region, an opportunity to collaborate in a highly rewarding and meaningful musical experience. Alderson Broaddus University is located in Philippi, West Virginia.
Montelongo is an international performer in Horn and in Jazz Trombone. She has studied, competed and performed at the International Horn Symposium 2007 in La Chaux de fonds, Switzerland; where she competed in the Young Artists Quartet Competition and the Dorothy Frizelle High Horn Competition. A participant at the International Horn Symposium 2012 at the University of North Texas- Denton; where she was a featured artist in the Young Artists Ensemble performance. In the Fall of 2013, Montelongo performed with the Western Illinois University- Jazz Studio Orchestra as a 2nd Jazz Trombonist and toured with famous Trumpeter Bobby Shew, who is known to be the lead trumpet in movie soundtracks such as: Grease 1 and 2, Rocky 1 and 2. She had the opportunity to perform in Salvador, Bahia, Brasil in collaboration with the Universidade Federal Da Bahia. Both Universities participated in the “Explorando as Raizes do Jazz” (Exploring The Jazz Roots), where each group performs together, educated each other in regional music, improvisation, presentations and donations of musical instruments for aspiring musicians. The concept of the project was to develop opportunities for collaboration between the students of WIU and UFBA and are interested in learning more about the North American music. Along with ensemble performances, Montelongo has participated in master classes with Annie Bosler, Dylan Hart, Bill Scharnburg, Gail Williams (former assistant horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Tom Bacon, Paul Basler and Michel Garcin-Marrou. During her graduate studies, Vanessa was the Graduate Assistant for the Bands Department at WIU. She had the amazing opportunity to perform an Illinois premiere of a solo horn piece called “EllenSong” by James Mobberley at the WIU Showcase of Bands Spring 2013. This particular piece is in memory of the passing of one of the most treasured and influential horn professors, Ellen Campbell of the University of Missouri- Kansas City. Montelongo was a 2012-2013 WIU Concerto Competition Winner where she performed with the Western Illinois University Symphony Orchestra performing Camille Saint-Saëns, Morceau de Concert. Montelongo was the Principal Horn for the WIU Wind Ensemble and the WIU Symphony Orchestra. She was also a member of the the Knox-Galesburg Symphony Orchestra and the Quincy Symphony Orchestra.
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