Fred Powell, Trumpet
Mr. Powell earned degrees in trumpet performance from Bob Jones University and The Florida State University. He has performed and toured with Boston Brass, Fiddler on the Roof, the Savannah Symphony, Florida Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Brevard Orchestra, Orlando Brass Quintet, Indianapolis Symphonic Band, Advocate Brass Band, Golden State Brass Band, and was featured soloist with both the Orlando Concert Band and the Elkhart Municipal Band on the latter’s sister city tour of England.
A co-founder of the National Trumpet Competition, Fred now serves as Associate Director and on the Executive Board. He is a frequent presenter having given clinics at numerous trumpet festivals, university programs and music education events. Mr. Powell remains an active freelance musician in the Chicago area, performing occasionally with the South Bend Symphony, Northshore Concert Band, Quintessence Brass and others. Fred is now (since 2005) the maker of J.F. Powell Signature Trumpets, with locations in Elkhart, IN and Chicago, IL.
Corey Dawson, Tuba
Mr. Dawson attended the University of Northern Colorado on a music scholarship, graduating in 1992 with a dual degree in music education and tuba performance. Enlisting in the army in 1993, Corey served with distinction in some of the army's finest bands, including the US Army, Europe Band in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Army Ground Forces Band in Atlanta. Additionally, he was part of the formation of “Shell Shock”, a tuba/euphonium quartet which traveled extensively throughout the Eastern US, including a performance at The US Army Band’s Tuba Conference in 2000. Corey also held an assignment at the Armed Forces School of Music as the tuba instructor.
Retiring in 2013, he taught and mentored students for several years as an adjunct instructor at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Corey is married to Christie, who teaches piano out of their home in Harker Heights, TX.
George Dougherty, Trumpet
Dr. Dougherty received training from the North Carolina School of the Arts, Piedmont Bible College (PBC) and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has performed with the Greensboro and Winston-Salem Symphonies, Market Street Brass and Stratford Brass (all NC) and is has been a substitute with the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids (IA) Symphony Orchestras. George has taught at PBC (now Piedmont International University) and provided trumpet instruction for Guilford College (NC). For fifteen years he taught at Faith Baptist Bible College of Ankeny, IA, where he directed the instrumental music and music education programs, conducted the FBBC Community Orchestra/Wind Ensemble, and coached chamber groups.
In 2016 he joined the music department of Simpson College as an adjunct/affiliate Artist Teacher, providing private instruction for the trumpet studio. In 2021 he was appointed Director of Bands and Coordinator of Instrumental Music at Fresno Pacific University in California's San Joaquin Valley. Dr. Dougherty maintains sacred solo performances in churches across the US and has served as an adjudicator for the Talents for Christ competition at both state and national levels. International appearances include the Central African Republic, Slovakia, and Brazil.
Richard Nichols, Horn
Dr. Richard Nichols is Dean of North Campus at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas. His musical background is quite diverse with areas of expertise in teaching, performing, composing, orchestrating, conducting, publishing and recording. He has served as a professor of music, as a performer with several major symphony orchestras in the US and abroad, as the director and editor of music publishing companies, as a conductor of choirs and orchestras, as a producer and director of over 25 commercially released recordings and as a composer of over 250 published compositions.
Richard completed a doctoral degree from The Ohio State University, a master’s degree from Southern Methodist University, a bachelor’s degree from Bob Jones University before receiving an MBA from Louisiana State University.
As a performer, he held appointments as principal horn with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra in Cape Town, South Africa and with The United States Army Band "Pershing's Own" in Washington, DC, where he performed for two US presidents and multiple foreign heads of state. Additionally, he has played with the Dallas Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Boston Brass and has performed recitals and masterclasses at the Eastman School of Music, the North Carolina School of the Arts, Florida State University and the Odessa Conservatory in Ukraine.
He is an active conductor having founded two youth orchestras and conducting all-state band and orchestra clinics throughout the US. He regularly directs recording sessions at Aire Born Recording Studios in Indianapolis with members of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
While Director of Soundforth, a music publishing and recording company, he oversaw the production of choral, instrumental and keyboard sheet music and produced choral and instrumental recordings. He currently serves as Choral Editor for the Fred Bock Music Company.
As a composer, Richard’s list of commissions includes Stuart Neill (tenor, Metropolitan Opera), David Kim (concertmaster, Philadelphia Orchestra), Anne Martindale Williams (principal cello, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) and the American Guild of Organists.
Dave Brown, Trombone
Dr. Brown teaches at Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, Wisconsin. He earned 2 trombone performance degrees from Bob Jones University and a DMA in Choral Conducting at The University of Missouri at Kansas City. Dave conducts the MBU Symphonic Band and the MBU Madrigal Choir. His expertise in both choral and instrumental conducting keeps him active as a clinician and adjudicator, along with his wife Ruth who has been Dave’s accompanist since their college days. In addition to having been involved in Christian education for over 30 years, Dr. Brown has served several churches as a minister of music.
