Courtroom Concert: Copper Street Brass

Hosted by composer Abbie Betinis, our popular Courtroom Concerts take place at noon most Thursdays in the Landmark Center in downtown Saint Paul. This series features accomplished musicians and composers from the Twin Cities and surrounding area, as well as occasional musical newcomers to the area. These one-hour concerts are free and open to the public.

About the Artists:

A native of Wisconsin, Allison Hall earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and Trumpet Performance from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and completed her Master’s degree at The University of New Mexico studying with Dr. John Marchiando. Allison is an S.E. Shires Performing Artist.

She is a founding member of the Copper Street Brass (CSB), performing more than 150 concerts and educational programs each season. In addition to her work with CSB, she has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, VocalEssence, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Fe Symphony, the new music ensemble “Chatter” and dozens of other groups. She has served as Adjunct Instructor of Trumpet at St. Olaf College and has taught more trumpet lessons than one can count from beginners through college students to adults.

Allison serves as the Executive Program Director for CSB. She has a passion to share what she has learned in her career as an arts entrepreneur with young people. She has given masterclasses at the University of Minnesota, University of New Mexico, St. Olaf College, Valley City State University, Minot State University, and the Longy School of Music at Bard College.

In addition to her work with CSB, Allison is the owner of Bird in the Sky Design, a branding, marketing, and consulting company. She is experienced working in graphic and web design as well as sound engineering, recording and production. If she’s not playing trumpet or designing awesome graphics she’s probably gardening, camping, hiking, on a walk with her giant Great Pyrenees/Rottweiler mix named Bernard, or watching the Packers/Badgers/Brewers win!

A graduate of Anoka High School (go Tornadoes!), north of the Twin Cities, Josh Cameron is the only native Minnesotan in Copper Street Brass. He earned his Bachelor of Music Degree at St. Olaf College, under the tutelage of Dr. Martin Hodel, and his Master of Music at the University of Minnesota where he studied with Dr. David Baldwin and Gary Bordner, formerly with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Josh has also studied jazz/commercial styles as well as other performance techniques with trumpeters Kelly Rossum, Eric Jacobsen, and opera vocalist Audrey Stottler.

Widely known as a versatile freelance performer in the Twin Cities and Upper midwest, Josh also spends many of his evenings getting his high note workout in (and also workin’ his dance moves!), playing lead trumpet with the funk/soul group High and Mighty. On the other side of the horn, he has appeared with several regional orchestras and chamber ensembles such as the Wisconsin Philharmonic, Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and Minneapolis Civic Orchestra.

Josh is also a dedicated and passionate educator, formerly teaching at MacPhail Center for Music and Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, and currently maintaining a home studio including students of all ages and ability levels. He welcomes the challenge of meeting each student where they are and helping them develop and achieve their goals. Josh is an active clinician in the Midwest and offers sectional coaching and masterclasses covering a wide array of topics from his broad, diverse career in music.

In addition to being a performing artist in Copper Street since 2016, Josh also lends his fundraising, marketing, logistics, and other administrative expertise in the non-profit field to the staff of CSB. He has been an integral part of growing the organization’s fundraising efforts over the past several seasons and loves to put his energy into an organization where he can be an essential piece of the production both on stage and behind the scenes.

Tim Bradley is a versatile multi-instrumentalist, performer, educator, producer, music creator, and entrepreneur. Tim is co-founder and Artistic Director of Copper Street Brass, a full-time brass ensemble based in Minneapolis, MN, where he performs on horn, guitar, piano, synthesizers, and percussion.

With Copper Street, Tim has created well over 300 unique arrangements and compositions for brass, and is passionate about evolving instrumental music into modern day relevance. He molds music typically not originally written for brass (i.e. orchestra, piano, voice, jazz combo, rock band, etc.) into artistically entertaining and exceptional arrangements for instrumental performers. This music spans the majority of music history: from Gregorian chant to Mozart, Dave Brubeck to Pat Metheny, Led Zeppelin to Queen, the Beatles to David Bowie, Paul Simon to Stevie Wonder, Radiohead to Adele, musical theater to movie soundtracks, and much more.

Teaching is a large part of Tim’s musical career. Since 1999, he has held an active horn studio of students of all ages, and has served on faculty at St. Olaf College, Concordia University (St. Paul), and the MacPhail Center for Music. In addition to private instruction, he also has over 20 years of masterclass and ensemble-coaching experience, and also frequently gives guest lectures and appearances about arts entrepreneurship and the business of music.

Tim is an active performing presence in the Twin Cities live music and recording scene, and is comfortable performing in classical, jazz, pops, and commercial styles. He is a member of the Minnesota Opera orchestra and is often seen performing with Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. His horn playing can be heard on many notable musicians’ records, and in 2015 Tim recorded for Prince.

Tim plays guitar in two rock bands (Treehorn and The MOB) who cover everything from the Beatles and Tom Petty to Alice in Chains and Rage Against the Machine. A long-time guitar tinkerer, Tim incorporated his own electric-guitar making business, Nightjar Guitars, in 2021, specializing in using reclaimed and salvaged materials to build hand-crafted custom electric guitars.

Tim was born and raised in Lawrence, KS, and holds music degrees from St. Olaf College and Southern Methodist University. Tim lives in Minneapolis with his wife Allison and their dog Bernard. In what spare time he has, he enjoys mountain biking, camping, watching college basketball (go Jayhawks!), and tending to his backyard chickens.

Alex Wolff has quickly gained a reputation as one of the Midwest’s most versatile trombonists. Principally a tenor trombone player, Alex also performs frequently on alto trombone and bass trombone. After graduating from high school in his hometown of Mandan, North Dakota, he earned his BM in Performance from the University of Minnesota.

Alex has performed with many diverse groups throughout the Midwest, including Copper Street Brass, Minnesota Orchestra, VocalEssence, and Davina and the Vagabonds. In the summer of 2008, Alex was selected as one of only 21 members of the Disney All-American College Band. He spent the summer performing with some of the world’s elite musicians including Alex Iles, Jiggs Whigham, Rick Baptist, and the Army Blues Band. In 2014, Alex was selected as a finalist for both the Eastern Trombone Workshops’s National Solo Competition and the prestigious Frank Smith Solo Competition at the International Trombone Festival. His multifaceted trombone sound can be heard on all of CSB’s recordings, as well as on legendary Grammy award winning blues artist Big Walter Smith’s album “Royal Blue Cadillac”. Alex is an S.E. Shires Performing Artist.

In his position as Copper Street’s Executive Director of Operations, Alex is responsible for many of the tasks that keeps the organization running. He is the primary contact for concert and educational booking and tour routing, and is the business manager for the group. Alex ensures that the organization meets its budget target for operational income and expenses, maintains all general ledgers and bank accounts, prepares taxes and year-end financial materials, and manages payroll. His skills in the business of music have made him a desirable consultant for other local arts organizations like VocalEssence.

With his performances described as “flawless”, tubist Nick Adragna has enjoyed a busy performing career across the country, performing in ensembles and as a soloist, as well as teaching tuba, euphonium, and trombone.

He began his musical studies in Texas and went on to complete his Bachelor of Music degree in Tuba Performance at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan with Dr. Kenneth Kroesche. While at Oakland University, Nick twice won the Pontiac Oakland Symphony Concerto Competition and served as the orchestra’s principal tuba for four years. He was also an active competitor outside of school and placed in the finals for three years running at the national level of the Music Teachers National Association’s Young Artist Brass Competition.

Nick finished his Master of Music degree in Tuba Performance in 2011 at the University of New Mexico in the studio of Dr. Richard White. At UNM he was awarded a graduate assistantship to perform in the graduate brass quintet, the Sandia Brass. While in New Mexico, Nick performed with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Roswell Symphony Orchestra, New Mexico Symphony Brass Quintet, and the Santa Fe Symphony Brass Quintet. He has performed live on TV and radio with Copper Street Brass and was featured in a tuba quartet on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.

He joined Copper Street in June 2011 and holds an active low brass studio in the Twin Cities. When not performing or teaching, Nick can be found on many long walks around the many beautiful large bodies of water that Minnesota has to offer, come rain, shine, or snow…lots of snow! Nick is an avid reader and music lover. He also loves sports and has been known to hop on the bandwagon for any Detroit sports team when they’re doing well.