GRAMMY Award winner Jeff Tyzik is one of America's most innovative and sought after pops conductors. Tyzik is recognized for his brilliant arrangements, original programming, and engaging rapport with audiences of all ages. Tyzik holds The Dot and Paul Mason Principal Pops Conductor's Podium at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and serves as principal pops conductor of the Detroit Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, and The Florida Orchestra. This season, Tyzik will celebrate his 23rd season as principal pops conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO).

Frequently invited as a guest conductor, Tyzik has appeared with over fifty orchestras including the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Milwaukee Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

In May 2007, the Harmonia Mundi label released a recording of works by Gershwin with Tyzik conducting the RPO and acclaimed pianist Jon Nakamatsu. This recording stayed in the Top 10 on the Billboard classical chart for over three months. Alex Ross of The New Yorker, called it “one of the snappiest Gershwin discs in years.”

“His concert is the kind of thing that’s likely to give classical music a good name, perhaps even make it seem, dare I say, relevant,” writes John Pitcher of the Gannet News Service.

As an accomplished composer and arranger, Tyzik has had his compositions recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony  and Doc Severinsen with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. He has also produced and composed theme music for many of the major television networks, including ABC, NBC, HBO, and Cinemax, and released six of his own albums on Capitol, Polygram and Amherst Records.

Tyzik worked closely with Doc Severinsen on many projects including orchestrating many of the great band leader’s symphony orchestra programs. He produced a GRAMMY Award winning album, The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen, Vol. 1. Tyzik's subsequent recordings with Severinsen garnered three more GRAMMY nominations.

In his 22 years with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Tyzik has written over 200 arrangements, orchestrations, and compositions for orchestra. A consummate musician, Tyzik regularly appears as a guest conductor in the orchestra’s classical subscription series. He has also been commissioned to compose original works for orchestra, including a Trombone Concerto, which was funded by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts and subsequently performed at Carnegie Hall.

Tyzik conducted the world premiere of his original work New York Cityscapes with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 2010. Tyzik composed a Timpani Concerto, commissioned by the RPO, and also led the RPO in the premiere of his new orchestral suite, Images: Musical Impressions of an Art Gallery to rave reviews. In the 2015-16 season, Tyzik premiered his new work Jazz Concerto for Violin and Orchestra on his Philharmonic Series performance with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

A native of Hyde Park, New York, Tyzik began his life in music when he first picked up a cornet at age nine. He studied both classical and jazz throughout high school and went on to earn both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music. While there, he studied composition/arranging with Radio City Music Hall’s Ray Wright and jazz studies with Chuck Mangione. Tyzik subsequently toured with Mangione as lead trumpet and worked on five Mangione recordings as a producer and performer from 1976 to 1981.

Committed to performing music of all genres, Tyzik has collaborated with such diverse artists as Megan Hilty, Chris Botti, Matthew Morrison, Wynonna Judd, Tony Bennett, Art Garfunkel, Dawn Upshaw, Marilyn Horne, Arturo Sandoval, The Chieftains, Mark O'Connor, Doc Severinsen, and John Pizzarelli. Tyzik has created numerous original programs that include the greatest music from jazz, classical, Motown, Broadway, film, dance, Latin, and swing.

For more information about Jeff Tyzik, please visit www.jefftyzik.com.

Hailing from the musical mecca of Macon, Georgia, and raised in the deep Southern roots of blues music, classic rock and roll, and the fire and brimstone hymns of his father’s Southern Baptist church, for Rick Brantley, a life making music was never really a choice.

Teenage bar bands gave way to a move to Nashville, Tennessee, where he established himself as one of the most in demand young writers on Music Row, with cuts ranging from Meat Loaf to David Nail. An artist and dynamic performer as well as a songwriter, Brantley cut his teeth early and secured a well-earned reputation as a consummate “road dog” touring virtually nonstop all over the world for the next decade, opening for everyone from John Hiatt to Kiefer Sutherland to Zac Brown and Brandy Clark, as well as headlining his own shows from Ontario to Hamburg and back.

Now some 15 years into his career, Brantley has only added to his impressive portfolio, producing acclaimed records with artists like Rob Baird and Justin Halpin, among others, and directing music videos in his down time.

Grace Leer, a Northern California native started singing at age six, knew there was nothing else she would love more than being on stage with a microphone in her hand, making people feel something through her voice. Throughout her younger years, Grace sang everywhere throughout the Bay Area, playing competitive soccer and excelling in her schoolwork. She earned a soccer scholarship to the University California Berkeley to play Division 1 soccer where she not only was voted captain her senior year but led the Bears to the NCAA tournament each of her 4 years.

After graduating from Berkeley, Grace headed to Nashville to pursue her dream of becoming a country music singer/songwriter. After holding down a full-time sales position, performing, and writing songs for four years, Grace auditioned for Season 18 of American Idol. Moving through the competition quickly, it was Katy Perry’s reaction to her performance of “Natural Woman” during Idol’s Top 40 Showcase; “She literally came out here and made everyone else look like they were on a talent show” [Katy Perry] which landed Grace in the Top 20 and then onto Top 10.

As American Idol came to an end Grace headed back to Nashville with a massive fan base and proceeded to sign her first record and publishing deal with 19 Entertainment/Industrial Media, a management deal with Red Light Management, Empire Publishing and UTA.

She also made her Ryman Auditorium debut in November of 2020. Grace hit the songwriting room hard, getting into rooms with Nashville's best songwriters to find what truly makes her “Grace.” After a year, she has found her voice and her sound that incorporates her California roots and her favorite things about 90’s country. She released her debut EP with Producers Dan Fernandez and Jared Hampton in 2021. Grace continues to hit the stage performing and writing.

In addition to her love of song writing and performing, Grace has always had a love of acting and filmmaking. She made her acting debut in the supporting role of Riley in the Hallmark Film, “Time for Her to Come Home for Christmas” which debuted in November 2023 and aired throughout the holiday season. She also wrote, recorded and released “Star on Top of the Tree” a song that in addition to making several holiday playlists, was featured in the Hallmark Film. A multi-talented singer, songwriter, actress, model and athlete, Grace heads into 2024 with more music to release another EP in the works and perhaps more filmmaking.

Dean Berner (acoustic/dobro guitar), photographer and musician, currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Originally from Nashville, Berner was a member of the country music group Eden’s Edge from 2006 to 2013. Consisting of himself and fellow Arkansas-natives, Hannah Blaylock and Cherill Green, the group was signed to Big Machine Records in April 2010. They released a self-titled studio album in 2012 which reached number 9 on Billboard Magazine’s Top Country Albums chart. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the University of Hartford.  

Andrew Sovine is an artist, writer, and producer. As a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, he has worked with Ashley McBryde, Ian Noe, Jaime Wyatt, Kelsey Waldon, Jace Everett, Daphne Parker Powell, Hannah Dasher, and Side Pony. He frequently collaborates with producers Bunky Hunt (Detroit) and Jim Reilly (Nashville). Recent projects include his solo release Good Honest Work, Daphne Parker Powell’s The Starter Wife, and Joseph Shipp’s Free For Awhile. His work with Ashley McBryde has garnered multiple GRAMMY nominations. He is based in Georgia where he lives with his wife.

Bryan Dawley (bass) is a multi-instrumentalist, writer, and producer currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. His two-person pop-country music group, Native Run, from Northern Virginia, has released two EPs and two singles with producer Luke Laird. He holds a degree in classical bass and recently toured with Ruston Kelly on the 29-city Shape and Destroy Tour.

Ross McReynolds (drums) has worked in both live performance and in studio sessions with artists including Colbie Callait, Cory Wong, and Paul Allen, as well as producer Claude Kelly (Whitney Houston, Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande). A self-described member of the “New Nashville” school of sound, he has worked in diverse genres spanning from jazz and pop to Americana and experimental.