Performer Biographies

Tony DeSare

Tony DeSare performs with infectious joy, wry playfulness, and robust musicality. Named a “Rising Star Male Vocalist” in DownBeat magazine, DeSare has garnered critical and popular acclaim for his concert performances throughout North America and abroad. From jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall to Las Vegas headlining with Don Rickles and major symphony orchestras, DeSare has brought his fresh take on old-school class around the globe.

DeSare has four top 10 Billboard jazz albums and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, NPR, A Prairie Home Companion, and the Today Show. His music has been posted by social media celebrity juggernaut, George Takei, and DeSare has also collaborated with YouTube icons Postmodern Jukebox. DeSare can be seen on Hulu’s Godfather of Harlem (season 3/Ep 9) performing the Sinatra classic “That’s Life.”

DeSare is an accomplished and award-winning composer. He not only won first place in the USA Songwriting Contest but has written the theme song for the motion picture, My Date With Drew, several broadcast commercials, and has composed the full soundtracks for the Hallmark Channel’s Love Always, Santa and Lifetime’s A Welcome Home Christmas.

DeSare’s forthcoming appearances this season include The Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Rockport Music, and Birdland Theatre.

Katharine McPhee

Katharine McPhee, whose career spans television, film, Broadway, recording and international concert tours, first rose to national prominence as the runner-up on Season 5 of “American Idol” in 2006 and has since established herself as one of entertainment’s most versatile performers.

Television audiences know McPhee for her starring roles as Paige Dineen in CBS’ “Scorpion” and Karen Cartwright in NBC’s acclaimed musical drama “Smash.” As a recording artist, she has earned recognition for her powerful vocals and charting releases across the pop, jazz and adult contemporary genres, while also appearing in numerous PBS concert specials.

McPhee made her Broadway debut in 2018 as Jenna in the Tony Award-winning musical “Waitress,” featuring music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles. She later played the role in London’s West End production before returning to Broadway for the show’s final performances. A celebrated concert performer, McPhee continues to entertain sold-out audiences worldwide and recently released the two-part holiday collection “Christmas Songs” in 2022 and 2023.

Read more about McPhee at https://katharinemcphee.net/bio/

Jon Lappin

Jon Lappin serves as executive producer of The Holiday Spectacular, helping bring the celebrated music and legacy of the Palm Beach Pops to a new generation of audiences at Florida Atlantic University.

The son of Palm Beach Pops founder, conductor and music director Maestro Bob Lappin, Jon was involved in the organization’s marketing and productions from its earliest years. He later served as executive director, overseeing concert production, artist recruitment, contract negotiations and audience development while working with some of the entertainment industry’s leading performers and agencies.

Following his father’s passing, Jon established the Legacy Foundation of Palm Beach County to support promising young musicians who might otherwise be unable to afford lessons and training. He later spearheaded the donation of the Palm Beach Pops’ brand, assets and extensive music library to Florida Atlantic. The gift, valued at more than $5 million, preserves thousands of scores and arrangements while creating new educational and performance opportunities for Florida Atlantic students.

An accomplished business executive, entrepreneur and nonprofit leader, Jon has worked across the entertainment, communications, technology and philanthropic sectors. His greatest passions are preserving his father’s musical legacy, mentoring young people and expanding access to the arts.

Phil Hinton

Phil Hinton is a British born pianist, arranger, orchestrator and conductor. He has worked in those capacities for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and many of the independent broadcasting production companies. He has also arranged and orchestrated the music, played piano and conducted on more than 200 major hit albums for artists such as Shirley Bassey, Anthony Newley, Howard Keel, Vince Hill, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Paul McCartney, to name just a few.

He was personal music director to British singing star, Vince Hill for more than 10 years. Since emigrating to the U.S. in 1994, he has given many classical and jazz piano recitals around the USA and on several cruise ships.

Hinton has directed the music for countless theatre shows all over the U.S. He was conductor of the Florida Pops Concert orchestra for three years. He was musical director and pianist on Engelbert Humperdink’s 2013 tour of Australia and New Zealand. He was also the resident pianist for the Kravis Pops Orchestra in West Palm Beach under the baton of celebrated singer and entertainer, Michael Feinstein for three years and a regular guest pianist with The Florida Orchestra in Tampa.

He is an adjunct professor of piano in the music faculty at Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Florida Atlantic University, teaching commercial piano techniques. He is also heavily in demand all over the world as a commercial arranger and orchestrator.

Michael Zager

Michael Zager is celebrating 24 years as Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College Eminent Scholar in the Performing Arts and director of the FAU Commercial Music Program. Zager is the recipient of four Fulbright Specialist grants from the United States Department of State and 11 Visiting Professor grants. He is the recipient of 15 gold or platinum records and has served on the Board of Governors for the Florida Chapter of the Recording Academy (Grammy Awards). Zager received three Grammy AwardⓇ Nomination Participation Certificates and in 2018 was inducted into the Legends of Vinyl Hall of Fame.

He received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Miami and graduated from the New School University’s Mannes College of Music, where he majored in composition. Zager served on the faculty of Mannes College of Music prior to joining Florida Atlantic University’s faculty. Zager studied theatre music under the tutelage of the legendary Stephen Sondheim, as well as orchestration, jazz arranging and composition at the Manhattan School of Music, and conducting at the Juilliard School of Music.

He is the author of three editions of Music Production: For Producers, Composers, Arrangers and Students and three editions of Writing Music for Television and Radio Commercials: A Manual for Composers and Students, both published by The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

Zager produced, composed and/or arranged original music in a wide range of musical idioms, including commercials, albums, network television, and source and theme music for major motion pictures. He produced Grammy Award-winning artists including Whitney Houston, Cissy Houston, Peabo Bryson, Luther Vandross, Denise Williams, Jennifer Holliday, Joe Williams, Arturo Sandoval, Herb Alpert, Olatunji and The Spinners. Some of Zager’s original scores and original studio recordings of Whitney Houston, The Spinners, and The Michael Zager Band reside in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

Record Awards

Awards for producing, composing and/or arranging:

15 Gold or Platinum Records
Golden Boot Award (France)
Europe 1 Award (equivalent to a European Grammy)
Olé Award (Spain)
Two BMI Citations of Achievement Awards (for most performed songs on radio in a given year)
Grammy Nomination for “Cupid/I’ve Loved You For a Long Time” (The Spinners)
Nominated for Producer of the Year (Danny Ray Edwards) Golden Music Awards in Nashville, Tenn.
Nominated for Best New Artist, Daniel Ray Edwards, Golden Music Awards in Nashville, Tenn.
Nominated for Single of the Year “You Win Again,” Golden Music Awards
Nominated for Independent Record Label of the Year Golden Music Awards

Advertising Awards

Clio Award
Three International Film Festival Awards
Three Art Directors Club Awards
Mobius Advertising Award, U.S. Television

Television Awards

Platinum Video Award (ABC-TV Funfit with Mary Lou Retton)
Daytime Emmy Award (ABC-TV Funfit with Mary Lou Retton)

Kevin Wilt

Kevin Wilt is a classical music evangelist. He composes music to introduce new audiences to the joy, drama and adventure of classical music through familiar colors and lush textures, while engaging seasoned audiences with an underlying craftsmanship and sophistication. Composer John Corigliano praised his expert orchestration and beautiful writing, while the Bloomington Herald wrote, “[his music] has a keen sense of mood and tonal balance.

Wilt’s recent commissions include Tavern Music for the Con Brio Quartet, and AutoBonn for Michael Francis and The Florida Orchestra. His album with the Amernet Quartet, Tavern Music, on Navona Records won a silver medal in the Global Music Awards.

He was a resident at the Millay Colony for the Arts, and winner of the Music Teachers National Association Commission in Florida. He won the Fresh Squeezed Opera Call for Scores with his chamber opera, Prix Fixe, and the Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble Composer Search. He was awarded a grant by the Atlantic Coast Conference Band Directors Association to create Urban Impressions, a multi-movement work for large wind ensemble. He was a recent finalist for the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra Call for Scores, a finalist for the ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennel Prize, the Symphony Number One Call for Scores III, the Hartford Opera Theater Call for Scores, and the American Prize in orchestra, band, and chamber music categories.

Recent performances include those by the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra, the Boston New Music Initiative, Fifth House Ensemble, the h2 Quartet, Project Fusion, the Apollo Fund, SHUFFLE Concert, the Mexico City Woodwind Quintet, ensembles at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, the University of Texas at Austin, Florida State University, the University of Kansas, the University of Oklahoma, Michigan State University, Kennesaw State University, as well as a reading by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin.

Wilt is equally at home composing for film and television, earning him a Michigan Emmy® Award Nomination for Best Musical Composition. Other film projects include The Hitmen, The Inevitable, The Happy Couple, a string quartet for the short film Renegade, and The Wars of Other Men.

He holds a doctoral degree of musical arts in composition and a master’s degree in music composition from Michigan State University, and bachelor’s degree of music composition and theory from Wayne State University in Michigan.

He is an associate professor of music, composer-in-residence, chair of the Department of Music, and director of the School of the Arts at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla.

Read more about Wilt at https://kevinwilt.com

Courtney D. Jones, Ph.D.

The newest directions in 21st Century trumpet performance are being explored and defined by Courtney D. Jones, Ph.D., an award-winning Conn-Selmer (Bach) performing and recording artist who has also emerged as a leading figure in contemporary performance and pedagogy, conducting and service to inner-city youth through music outreach programs.

An artist who transcends stylistic boundaries, Jones has performed with classical ensembles and orchestras throughout the United States, internationally, and has won multiple solo awards and accolades through regional and national trumpet competitions.

This journey began in Jones’ hometown of Columbus, Ga. While earning his bachelor’s degree in music at Columbus State University, he performed with various Columbus State University ensembles and recorded with artists such as Jens Lindemann, Joseph Alessi, John Bruce Yeh, and the Columbus State University Wind Ensemble under the Naxos Music label. While completing his master’s degree in music, trumpet performance at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Va., Jones studied under the instruction of J. Carlton Rowe, former principal trumpet of the “President’s Own” United States Marine Band, Craig Fraedrich of The U.S. Army Blues, and performed as Substitute Principal with the Loudon Symphony Orchestra of Leesburg, Va. He also had additional studies with Steve Hendrickson of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Jones conducted his doctoral studies at UCLA under the instruction of international soloist and former lead trumpet of the Canadian Brass, Jens Lindemann. During his time at UCLA, he worked as a teaching associate for lecture courses and provided weekly lessons for university trumpet students under the direction of Lindemann.

Winner of a Gluck Fellowship, Jones was then selected as the conductor of the UCLA Brass Ensemble during the latter part of his residency. His musicological research during this period explored 21st Century ideological and transcendental concepts of performance practice focusing on a lesser-known contemporary work of composer Frank Ticheli, The First Voice for Solo Bb Trumpet .

Before completing his doctorate, Jones was appointed as the visiting assistant professor of trumpet at the Voxman School of Music at the University of Iowa. During this almost two-year residency he served as the principal trumpet for the Iowa Faculty Brass Quintet, taught graduate brass pedagogy, and served on recital and graduate committees. He also resurrected and produced an engaging performance concert by the university’s brass ensemble (which had previously been inactive for several years) to showcase the importance of brass bands as an engaging training ground for solidifying technical and pedagogical facility for brass players.

In addition to his applied obligations, Jones performed with Orchestra Iowa, the Dubuque Symphony, and gave solo performances with both the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band and New Horizons Band. One of which was the Midwest Premiere of Kim Scharnberg’s Travelogue for Trumpet .

Besides performing with well-known jazz and popular artists, he has shared the stage with famous artists or groups such as Kenny Burrell, B.B. King, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Rihanna, Lalo Schifrin, Vanessa Williams, Boy George and The Culture Club, and Stevie Wonder.

In addition to his solo performance career, he has performed classical music as a featured soloist or collaborative artist with the Golden States Pop Orchestra, the Southeast Symphony Orchestra, the Macao Orchestra (China), the Pasadena Orchestra, the Debut Orchestra, the Inspiravi Chamber Orchestra, the Gateways Brass Collective, the Oslo Philharmonic (Norway), the Long Beach Opera, Symphony of the Americas, the Los Angeles Trombone Collective in collaboration with James Miller, the Salt-River Brass Band, the Gateways Festival Orchestra, and was later appointed Musical Director of the Orchid City Brass Band of South Florida. Courtney is also represented by the Naxos and Summit Music labels and his feature film and television credits include music performed for Glee, Notes from Dad, Cougar Town, and Criminal Minds, among other works mentioned on his personal website's media category.

Prior to his appointment at Florida Atlantic University as the associate professor of trumpet and artistic director of jazz and chamber ensembles, Jones was a lecturer of music at Columbus State University while recording his Solo CD project, “ Between 2 Worlds,” at the Joyce and Henry Schwob School of Music. Between teaching and solo performing engagements, Courtney continues to promote music education and instrumental performance in inner-city schools through the Music Outreach Program at UCLA, The Harmony Project of Los Angeles, Trumpets 4 Kids in Dallas, Texas, the Nat King Cole Hope, Inc. Foundation and the Gateways Music Festival in Rochester, N.Y. Each of these programs offers schoolchildren arts-in-education opportunities. These programs are essential because they provide underserved, inner-city students, and communities with musical training and mentorship that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Read more about Jones at www.cjonestrumpet.com

Frank Derrick

Drummer, Frank Derrick, has led a multifaceted national and international music career. He is a virtuoso performer, composer and educator. His many theatrical credits include Bubbling Brown Sugar, The Wiz, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Sophisticated Ladies, Big River, and Catskills. He has performed with numerous legends and artists including Redd Foxx, Stephanie Mills, Della Reese, Freda Payne, Eubie Blake, The Platters, Eartha Kitt, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, The Woody Herman Orchestra, Dorothy Donegan, The Pointer Sisters, Ken Peplowski, Dakota Staton, Steve Allen, The Louis Armstrong Legacy Band, Donna Summer, Keely Smith, Maureen McGovern, Ann Hampton Callaway, Benny Carter, and has conducted on the concert stage for John Pizzarelli and Lanie Kazan. He toured worldwide with Cab Calloway for ten years and was drummer for “The David Letterman Show” on NBC.

Currently he is featured regularly with the sensational new Bob Hoose Orchestra and is the drummer and assistant conductor for the Palm Beach Pops. Familiar to symphony audiences around the world, =Derrick has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic, the New York Pops, Pittsburgh Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and the Buffalo Philharmonic. His precision and driving rhythmic styling have been featured on the cast album of Bubbling Brown Sugar, Big City Swing-Veronica Martell, Strong & Graceful Oaks-Rejoicensemble, The Cab Calloway Show Live in Freiburg Germany, and Something Old, Something New-The Bob Hoose Orchestra, to name a few. His “Straight Ahead” composition garnered the A.S.C.A.P. Special Award.

As an educator, he served as chairman of Percussion at Henry Street Settlement in New York, presents master classes, is the respected author of FOCUS ON TECHNIQUE For Drummers, (published by Hal Leonard) is a contributing author to various educational publications, and is the Drum set editor for the Percussive Arts Society.