Video lessons, community, and accountability for tuba players.

Dr. John DiCesare serves as the Principal Tubist for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and holds the title of Artist in Residence of Tuba/Euphonium at the University of Washington. DiCesare’s musical journey includes notable performances with esteemed orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and the St. Louis Symphony. During the summer, he plays in the Grand Teton Music Festival. Previously, he held the position of Principal Tuba with the Louisville Orchestra, and Colorado Music Festival.

Beyond his orchestral engagements, John is a dedicated chamber musician and soloist. He has showcased his solo talents with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra, University of Washington Wind Ensemble, Duquesne University Orchestra, Kent State Orchestra, and Wright State University Band. John’s artistic endeavors have also led him to present recitals at ITEA conferences throughout the nation.

John’s enthusiasm for education is evident through his active involvement in teaching. He frequently imparts his knowledge by conducting masterclasses at universities across the country and around the world. His teaching background features appointments at The University of Puget Sound, Kent State University, Cleveland State University, Indiana University Southeast, and Campbellsville University.

John’s academic achievements include degrees from West Virginia University (DMA), Duquesne University (AD), and Kent State University (MM, and BM). His mentors include Craig Knox, Tom Lukowicz, and John Bottomley.

An accomplished instrumentalist, John is proud to perform on Meinl Weston instruments and is a Buffet Group Performing Artist. He plays the 6450 Baer CC tuba and 2250 F tuba.

Outside the realm of music, John finds joy in Seattle alongside his wife Mandy and their dogs Jackson and Parker.

Craig Knox has been Principal Tuba of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 2005, is a founding member of the Center City Brass Quintet, and serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music and Carnegie Mellon University. His performances are heard on Grammy-Award winning recordings and live broadcasts from around the world. He previously held positions of Acting Principal Tuba of the San Francisco Symphony, Principal Tuba of the Sacramento Symphony, and has performed as a guest artist with many other major orchestras, including those of Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, and Seattle, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande of Geneva, Switzerland.

As a soloist he played the world-premiere performances of concertos by Jennifer Higdon and Andre Previn, has appeared with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, U.S. Army Band (Pershing’s Own), and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and released an album of music for tuba and piano titled A Road Less Traveled. Of his performance of the Higdon concerto, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said “Mr. Knox played with assurance and complete command of his instrument, providing a convincing case for the solo potential of the tuba.”

With the Center City Brass Quintet, he has performed in recital throughout the United States and Japan, and made six critically-acclaimed recordings on the Chandos and Octavia labels, the first being described by American Record Guide as “one of the all-time great brass quintet recordings.” In addition, he played for several seasons with the Chicago Chamber Musicians Brass Quintet — with which he recorded for the Naxos label — and has toured with the Empire Brass. He can also be heard with his colleagues in the Pittsburgh Symphony low-brass section in their recording titled From the Back Row, on the Albany label.

Craig’s former students hold positions in professional ensembles and educational institutions across the country. He has presented master classes and recitals around the world, including at the Music Masters Course in Kazusa (Japan), the International Brass Symposium (Italy), Tainan National University (Taiwan), the Bruckner University of Music (Linz, Austria), Stuttgart Conservatory (Germany), the National Orchestral Institute (University of Maryland), the National Youth Orchestra of the U.S.A. (Carnegie Hall), Domaine Forget (Quebec) and the New World Symphony, as well as the Eastman School, University of Michigan, Indiana University, Yale University and the Glenn Gould School in Toronto, among many others.

Craig’s first teachers included Gary Ofenloch, Samuel Pilafian, and Chester Schmitz, and he attended the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Paul Krzywicki and earned a Bachelor of Music degree. He is an Eastman Artist.

Cristina Cutts is the Principal Tuba of The Phoenix Symphony, and of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. She joined The Phoenix Symphony in 2023, and became Principal Tuba of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in 2025. Cristina has been a guest tubist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and the Louisville Orchestra, and was the Acting Principal Tuba for the Britt Festival Orchestra in 2022 and 2023. During her school years, Cristina was a tuba fellow with the National Repertory Orchestra, and held the 2020/2021 tuba fellowship for the Music Academy of the West, and received an Alumni Enterprise Award in 2021. Cristina is also a proud recipient of several grants from the Sphinx Organization’s National Alliance for Audition Support.

Cristina won First Prize at the International Tuba & Euphonium Young Artist Competition in 2016. That same year, she was unanimously chosen as the winner of the National Symphony’s Summer Music Institute concerto competition and as a result she performed the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto in the Kennedy Center. Upon moving to Los Angeles for her undergraduate studies, she was recognized as the “Most Promising Talent” of the Pasadena Showcase Instrumental Competition for woodwinds, brass, and strings, and went on in 2017 to win the Grand Prize overall in the same competition, the first tubist in the history of the competition to do so, and the youngest candidate in that year’s final round. Cristina has appeared as a soloist with the Colburn Orchestra and was a National YoungArts Foundation Medalist, and can be heard as a soloist on the radio show Performance Today with Fred Child, for which she was a Young Artist in Residence in 2021.

A passionate chamber musician and educator, Cristina was the tubist for Seraph Brass from 2022 to 2024. She toured extensively with the group as a Live on Stage concert artist, and performed and served as a guest artist for prominent festivals and educational institutions across the world, including Lieksa Brass Week in Finland, The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” American Trombone Workshop, University of Toronto, University of North Texas, and Chamber Music Raleigh. Cristina has presented masterclasses to university students around the country, and has been on a faculty at Arizona State University, The Ohio State University, Interlochen Arts Camp, Brevard Music Center, Eastman Tuba/Euphonium Academy, Cleveland Trombone Seminar, and the Gravissimo Low Brass Festival. Cristina is on faculty every summer at the Chautauqua Festival School.

Cristina has roots in South Africa, England, Argentina, and the United States. She began her tuba studies with Dr. Richard Antoine White in Albuquerque, and went on to graduate with honors from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 2015, where she was a pupil of trombonist Thomas Riccobono for two years. In 2019, she received her Bachelor of Music in Tuba Performance from the Colburn School, studying with Norman Pearson, and in 2022 she graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music with an Artist Diploma after three years of study with Craig Knox and Paul Krzywicki.

Cristina is an Eastman Performing Artist.