The Southern California Brass Consortium (SCBC) is a non-profit organization founded in 2013 with a mission to share the exhilarating spirit of brass ensemble music through concerts, recordings, educational outreach, and world premiere compositions. SCBC is an ensemble of 26 professional brass players and percussionists, as well as a team of highly skilled composers and arrangers within their ranks.

In addition to nine successful seasons of concerts in Long Beach, CA, SCBC also maintains a very active presence in the Southern California community, collaborating with other notable organizations and performing at venues from Los Angeles to Palm Springs to San Diego. In 2014, 2017 and 2021, SCBC was featured as an opening and closing act for the L.A. County Holiday Celebration at the Los Angeles Music Center on Christmas Eve, televised live on PBS.

In March of 2023, in honor of Women's History Month, SCBC partnered with the Alliance for Women Film Composers to present a concert featuring music composed exclusively by women, including five world premieres. SCBC is looking forward to presenting a new and exciting season in 2023/24 for its 10th Anniversary!

The SCBC staff:

HECTOR SALAZAR (Artistic Director/Conductor/Arranger)

Hector Salazar received his Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills where he studied conducting with Frances Steiner. He earned his Master of Arts Degree from CSU, Long Beach, and studied conducting with Larry Curtis. Currently, Mr. Salazar is the conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay and is Music Director for the Carson Symphony and Southern California Brass Consortium. Mr. Salazar has conducted premieres of Kurt Weill’s Marie Galante; Benjamin Lees’s Labyrinths; Douglass Fake’s Symphonic Episode and in 1992 gave the West Coast premiere of Claude Debussy’s Suite bergamasque. In 2009, he conducted the World premiere of Timothy and the Magic Garden composed by Philip Westin and narrated by KOST’s Karen Sharp with the Carson/Dominguez Hills Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Salazar has also premiered Philip Westin’s Lovers at Daybreak, a concerto for Oboe/English horn with the Music Ensemble of Los Angeles that featured Joseph Stone soloist and Sterling Maffe’s Fantasia for Strings, Piano, and Harp with the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay. The Los Angeles Times said that Mr. Salazar “reveals a fluid and clear baton technique and an intelligent sensibility.” Mr. Salazar has also worked on numerous motion pictures and over fifty musical theatre productions throughout the Southland. (www.maestrosalazar.com)

C. LEONARD CODUTI (Executive Director/Arranger)

Lee Coduti has a multi-faceted career as a performer, vocal coach, mentor, musicologist, arranger, and orchestrator. Mr. Coduti was a member of the Opera Pacific Chorus for 17 seasons, performing in over 50 productions. He also performed with the Pacific Chorale for 14 years, and served as Musical Assistant to the Artistic Director, John Alexander. He earned his B.A. in music from Cal State Fullerton and his M.A. in musicology from Cal State Long Beach. Lee serves as a music research and repertoire consultant to several conductors and performers. As an arranger and orchestrator, Lee's work has been played in ensembles across the nation. In September 1992, his all-string arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner was given its premiere by the Long Beach Symphony under JoAnn Falletta. He is currently the Church Administrator for Los Altos United Methodist Church.

DREW NINMER (Trumpet/Concertmaster/Personnel Manager/Arranger)

Drew Ninmer is a freelance trumpet player, composer, contractor, and educator in the Los Angeles area. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and a master’s degree from California State University, Long Beach. As a freelance musician, he has performed with the Los Angeles Opera, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, Juneau Symphony, California Philharmonic, Redlands Symphony, and San Bernardino Symphony. He is an active studio musician for film and TV, having recorded for Mark Mothersbaugh, Nathan Barr, Bear McCreary, Sean Callery, and Russell Brower among others. In addition to performing, Drew has orchestrated music for Paramount, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros., Six Flags, and Viking Cruise Lines. He currently serves as an adjunct professor of music at Long Beach City College, El Camino College, and Fullerton College and maintains a large private trumpet studio.

ANTHONY O'TOOLE (Staff Arranger)

Anthony O’Toole holds a B.A. in Music Theory and Composition from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a M.M. of Composition from George Mason University. He has composed more than 100 works and has written for virtually every major idiom and instrument. His music has been commissioned and performed by musicians and ensembles around the world. Mr. O’Toole’s music for wind band has been performed and recorded by some of the finest bands including the United States Coast Guard Band, the Kansas State University Wind Ensemble, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, and the University of North Texas Wind Symphony. He is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity, ASCAP and The American Composer’s Federation. Anthony currently resides in Long Beach, CA where he fulfills his commissions for new works and does orchestrations and arrangements as a freelance writer.

SCOTT NINMER (Staff Arranger)

Known for his colorful, inventive writing and versatility, Scott Ninmer has established himself internationally as a prolific composer and arranger in a wide variety of genres. Scott has written compositions and arrangements for a wide variety of artists, including Trisha Yearwood, Fred Hersch, Richard Bona, Raul Midon, Gregory Porter, Benjamin Millepied, Steve Wilson, Marcus Printup, Eric Miyashiro, Jim Pugh, John Wojciechowski, as well as ensembles such as the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Metropole Orkest, the Colburn Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the WDR Big Band, the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Band, the USAF Airmen of Note, the USAF Academy Band Falconaires, the Eric Miyashiro Band, the Southern California Brass Consortium, the American Tuba Quartet, and the Denali Brass. His music has been featured at notable venues such as the White House, the Hollywood Bowl, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, Rockefeller Center, Kennedy Center, Strathmore, Wolf Trap, and Chicago Symphony Center. Scott’s music has attracted numerous awards and prizes from the “2 Agosto” International Composing Competition, the Detroit Jazz Festival Arranging Competition, the Jazz Education Network Student Composition Showcase, the Downbeat Magazine Student Music Awards, the New York Youth Symphony First Music Composition Competition, the United States Air Force Sammy Nestico Award, and the ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards. Scott is a graduate of the University of Illinois in jazz performance (BM) and the Manhattan School of Music in jazz composition (MM). In 2014, Ninmer joined "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, where he currently serves as staff arranger. His music can be heard on a number of albums, most recently on the Grammy-nominated album “If You Really Want” by Raul Midón and the Metropole Orkest. His music is published through Kendor Music, UNC Jazz Press, McGinty Music, as well as on his own website, www.ScottNinmer.com.

(The information presented in this publication has been prepared solely by the author and neither "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, the U.S. Marine Corps, nor any other component of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government has endorsed this material.)

PATRICK LENERTZ (Bass Trombone/Production Manager/Librarian)

Patrick is a freelance trombonist and private instructor in the Los Angeles area. He recently completed his Master's degree in trombone performance at Cal State Long Beach, where he performed in two of the top ensembles, Wind Symphony and the Concert Jazz Orchestra. Patrick has appeared on-screen as a featured band member in the 2014 Sundance award-winning and Oscar-nominated film Whiplash.

TAYLOR PRESNALL (Production Assistant)

Taylor Presnall hails from El Dorado Hills, CA, where he appeared in several productions with El Dorado Musical Theatre (EDMT). He relocated to Southern California in 2016 and is holds a B.A. degree from Cal State Long Beach in communications. Additionally, he works as a producer for Live Nation Entertainment in Irvine, CA.

VICKI NEWCOMER (Merchandising)

A Long Beach native, Vicki Newcomer worked as an assistant dental lab technician and dental hygienist for 50 years. After retirement, Vicki returned to school to earn a degree in interior design. She also authored a book on dealing with aging parents and working through memory issues brought on by Alzheimer’s disease.