I attended the South Central Regional Conference of the ITEA in Austin, TX, March 30-31. What a great two days of tuba and euphonium music, from artists and students alike.

Many groups presented tuba/euphonium ensembles, including a guest group from Pittsburg State University. Local groups were from Texas Tech University, Texas State in San Marcos, Blin College, and Sam Houston, University.

But in my opinion, the standout group was from Texas A&M, Kingsville. Many things were gratifying about this group. One, its leader, Yutaka Kono, is about the nicest tuba player and teacher you'll ever meet. He was awarded the very first DMA in Tuba performance from the University of Texas at Austin. I played in a tuba/euphonium ensemble under him a few years ago when he was the resident teacher at University of Texas San Antonio, but the entire group was two euphoniums and three tubas. He recently landed an assistant professorship at Texas A&M Kingsville, which is in the valley near the border and has mostly latino students. He brought 13 euphoniumists and 7 tuba players to the conference and they were amazing.

Their program was melodic and complex. Here are the pieces they played:
From Darkness Emerging by Barton Cummings
Puttin' On the Ritz, Irving Berlin
Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah, Camile Saint-Saens

I was very proud to see a great teacher and musician land a great job at a somewhat underappreciated university and make such an immediate impact there.

Congrats to Yutaka Kono and all his players. They were inspirational.