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Todd M. Nichols – Band Director
Todd Nichols
is currently in his fifth year of teaching in
Roxbury Township, serving as Director of Bands at
Roxbury High School and District Percussion
Specialist. Mr. Nichols' concert, marching, and
jazz ensembles have been recognized for outstanding
performance at numerous local, state, and national
festivals. His wind ensembles have performed for
ten consecutive years in the NJMEA State Gala
Concert and have also performed at the 2008
Music For All National Concert Band Festival.
Most recently his wind symphony was selected to
perform at the prestigious 2008 Midwest Clinic:
An International Band and Orchestra Conference.
His marching bands have been awarded first place in
the 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2007 USSBA NJ State
Marching Band Championships, and in the 2007
USSBA Northern States Regional Championship. Mr.
Nichols’ jazz bands have accepted four consecutive
invitations to the NJ-IAJE State Jazz Band Finals
receiving first place in 2002. Prior to his
appointment at Roxbury, Mr. Nichols served as
Director of Bands at Edison High School in Edison,
NJ for six years.
Mr. Nichols received the Governor’s Teacher
Recognition Award in 2001 and has been included in
the 2002 and 2004 editions of Who’s Who Among
America’s Teachers. Mr. Nichols is a frequent
adjudicator and clinician throughout New Jersey on
both the high school and middle school level. Mr.
Nichols has also served as Guest Conductor for the
NJ Region II Symphonic Band, Region
I Jazz Ensemble, Rutgers University Honor
Band and FMI All-State Band. Mr. Nichols
received his BA in Music from The College of New
Jersey in 1998, graduating with High Honors.
In his spare time, Mr. Nichols is a freelance
percussionist in the New York Metropolitan area. He
has performed with the Lincoln Center Chamber
Orchestra, New Jersey Pops, Princeton Symphony,
Riverside Sinfonia, Eastern Wind Symphony, Garden
State Symphonic Band, New Jersey Verismo Opera
Company, The Orchestra of St. Peter’s, Trenton
Symphony, Pennsylvania Sinfonia, Northeastern
Pennsylvania Philharmonic and other various
groups. In addition, Mr. Nichols can be found
playing in many of New York City’s top hotels
including the Waldorff Astoria, Hotel Pierre,
Four Seasons, Metropolitan Club, Cipriani’s, The
Rainbow Room, The Ritz Carlton, and
The Plaza Hotel.
Mr. Nichols has performed with the legendary artists
Ray Charles and Marvin Hamlisch and was contracted
to perform for the weddings of journalist Geraldo
Rivera and pop music icon Billy Joel.
Mr. Nichols has also assisted with the production of
professional recordings of various wind bands
including the Rutgers University Wind Ensemble, The
Keystone Winds, and Messiah College Wind Ensemble.
Most recently Mr. Nichols produced an album of
educational band music with the New Jersey Wind
Orchestra, an ensemble of professional educators and
musicians.
Mr. Nichols resides in Hillsborough, NJ with his
wife Beth and daughters Sarah and Emily. |
Richard Hartsuiker – Associate Band Director
Richard Hartsuiker
is the Associate Director of Bands and Brass
Specialist at Roxbury High School in Succasunna, New
Jersey. His responsibilities include directing the
Symphony Band, assistant directing the Honors Wind
Symphony and Ninth Symphony, teaching district-wide
brass lessons, teaching the course elective AP Music
Theory, directing the Jazz Lab Band, directing the
Pit Orchestra, and assisting with the Marching
Band. Mr. Hartsuiker created a brass ensembles
program that includes traditional brass quintets,
larger brass ensembles, and other student-run
groups. He also serves on the National Honor
Society Faculty Council. While at Roxbury, Mr.
Hartsuiker has
proudly worked in clinic and concert with guest
conductors and artists such as Dr. Mark Scatterday,
Dennis Fisher, Dr. Andrew Boysen, Jr., the Boston
Brass, Dr. John Whitwell, Fred Mills, Dr. Brad
Genevro, Bruce Yurko, Dr. John Stanley Ross, and Dr.
Stanley Saunders. He has also conducted for Eugene
Migliaro Corporon at the Messiah College Wind
Conductors Symposium. A 2000 honors graduate from
William Paterson University, Mr. Hartsuiker received
the university’s 2000 Outstanding Senior Classical
Musician Award and the 1999 New York Brass
Conference Bobby Shew Scholarship Award. He has
studied trumpet with Dr. Joel Craig Davis, Chris
Jaudes, Roger Ingram, and Garth Greenup, and has
participated in master classes given by the Boston
Brass, Fred Mills, and Wynton Marsalis.
Additionally, Mr. Hartsuiker has taken voiceover
lessons and clinics with professional voiceover
artists Lainie Cooke and Sara Krieger.
Mr. Hartsuiker had the privilege to conduct the
Honors Wind Symphony and Concert Band Gold at Avery
Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center in 2001, as well as
the Honors Wind Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 2004.
He has served as the New Jersey Region I Wind
Ensemble and Symphonic Band Manager, and has
adjudicated the NJMEA Middle School Band Festival.
Mr. Hartsuiker continues to maintain an active
freelance-performing career in the New York
Metropolitan area as a soloist and member of various
brass chamber groups, and manages a successful
trumpet studio for players of all ability levels.
In addition, he has assisted in the drill design for
award-winning marching bands in the Bands Of
America, Tournament Of Bands, and United States
Scholastic Marching Band Association circuits. Mr.
Hartsuiker is listed in Who’s Who Among America’s
Teachers and his professional affiliations
include the Music Educator’s National Conference,
the New Jersey Music Educator’s Association, the
National Band Association, and the International
Trumpet Guild.
Mr. Hartsuiker is happily married to his wife
Michelle and is the proud father of his sons Jack
and Ryan. |
Sarah Bednarcik- Assistant Band Director
Sarah Bednarcik
is entering her fourth year serving as the
Assistant Director of Bands at Roxbury High
School and District Woodwind Specialist. Her
teaching responsibilities include directing the
Ninth Symphony, assisting with the Symphony Band
and Honors Wind Symphony, assisting with the
Marching Band, teaching Basic Music Theory, and
teaching district-wide woodwind lessons. Ms.
Bednarcik is also the coordinator of the
instrumental chamber music program. Ms.
Bednarcik earned her Bachelor’s degree in music
education and clarinet performance from
Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
While at Northwestern, she studied clarinet and
bass clarinet with Lawrie Bloom and Russell
Dagon, conducting with Mallory Thompson and John
Lynch, and was a member of the Northwestern
Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
After returning from the Midwest, Ms. Bednarcik
taught elementary instrumental music at Wildwood
School in Mountain Lakes, NJ.
In May 2005, Ms. Bednarcik completed her
Master’s degree in clarinet performance at
Rutgers University, where she studied with
Maureen Hurd and performed and recorded with the
Rutgers Wind Ensemble and University Orchestra.
She has performed in master classes with Burt
Hara, David Shifrin, Mark Nuccio and Alan Kay,
and has also played at Carnegie Hall with the
Rutgers Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. Ms.
Bednarcik maintains a private clarinet studio,
and is also an active solo and chamber musician
in the New York Metropolitan area. She is a
founding member of Vento Trio, a wind
trio specializing in classical and popular
Brazilian chamber music. The group arranges
traditional Brazilian music and introduces new
20th century Brazilian music through
performances in the New Jersey/New York area.
The trio has also performed for the past two
years at the International Double Reed
Conferences at both Ball State University
and Ithaca College. In the summer of 2008, her
trio performed in residency for one week at the
International Bassoon Conference in both
Paris and Angouleme France. Ms. Bednarcik’s
professional affiliations include the Music
Educators National Conference, the New
Jersey Music Educators Association, the
National Band Association and the
International Clarinet Association.
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