Tuba Faculty
Timothy Northcut
TIMOTHY NORTHCUT is Professor of Music and Instructor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He also serves as Music Director of the CCM Brass Choir and coordinator of the brass chamber music program. Under his leadership, the Brass Choir performed and recorded with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra for the Telarc Label. From 1998-2001, he served as the Executive Director of the Rafael Méndez Brass Institute. In 2008, Tim served as artistic director and a host of the ITEA Conference. Tim currently performs as Principal Tuba with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and the Carillon Brass Quintet. He is a member of Summit Brass, Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, and Symphonia. His past experience includes serving as a member of The United States Army Field Band. Timothy is currently completing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University.
David Kirk
DAVID KIRK is principal tubist of the Houston Symphony and Associate Professor of Tuba at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, positions held since 1982. Mr. Kirk studied at Juilliard under Don Harry. Dave’s other teachers include Chester Schmitz, Warren Deck, Neal Tidwell, and his Houston Symphony colleagues. Kirk appears as a guest performer and teacher in North America and Japan. He enjoys an international reputation for effective teaching of musicianship and physical aspects of wind playing. He is an active recitalist, chamber music collaborator, and conductor. In March 2022, Dave performed the Texas premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ Concerto for Tubist and Orchestra with the Houston Symphony led by Andrés Orozco-Estrada. In the summer of 2024, he joins the faculty of the Rafael Méndez Brass Institute and Brevard Music Center. His orchestral playing is heard on Houston Symphony recordings under conductors Sergiu Comissiona, Newton Wayland, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Krajewski, Hans Graf, and Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Kirk’s solo playing is featured on Mark Custom Recordings’ The Music of Leroy Osmon, Volume 1.
Kathleen Brantigan
KATHLEEN AYLSWORTH BRANTIGAN is Artistic Director and, along with her husband, Chuck, founder of The Denver Brass. She formerly served as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music. As a professional tubist, Kathy performed more than 80 concerts annually with The Denver Brass and the recital quintet, Denver Brass5, as well as with the Summit Brass at the annual Rafael Méndez Brass Institute. Kathy has been the Executive Producer of more than 20 recordings by The Denver Brass, heard on the Delos, Centaur, Klavier and Denver Brass labels. She is actively involved with the International Tuba-Euphonium Association, serving as its treasurer from 1999 through 2008, and as Host of the 2006 International Tuba-Euphonium Conference at the University of Denver.
Warren Deck
WARREN DECK, former Principal Tubist of the New York Philharmonic, held the positions of Principal Tubist with the Houston Symphony, and tuba professor at Rice University. He made his solo debut with the New York Philharmonic by performing the world premiere of Roger Kellaway’s Songs of Ascent for Tuba and Orchestra. He has made four recordings with the Canadian Brass for Sony Classical and Phillips labels, and Tuba, a recording of leading tuba and euphonium players from Germany and the U.S. on EMI Angel Records. Deck formerly taught at the Lamont School of Music and is a current faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival.