Joseph Murphy was the saxophone professor at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania from 1987-2022.  At various times he was also director of bands, department chair, and taught a variety of courses.  He received the Bachelor of music education from Bowling Green State University (OH), and the Masters and Doctorate degrees from Northwestern University.  Dr. Murphy was the music director of Tiffin (OH) Calvert High School from 1983-85.  In 1985‑86 he received a Fulbright Award for a year of study in Bordeaux, France where he received a Premier Prix.  His June 1996 solo recital at Lincoln Center was positively reviewed in the New York Times.  He has performed in all 50 states, 8 Canadian provinces, 25 countries, and 6 continents. He has performed in New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Warsaw, Sydney, Athens, Tokyo, Bangkok, Johannesburg and at 11 World Saxophone Congresses. He has premiered over 100 new works and is a clinician for the Selmer Corporation and Rico Corporation and has recorded 10 CDs. Murphy’s memberships include North American Saxophone Alliance, Phi Mu Alpha, and Kappa Kappa Psi.

Matthew Slotkin is an acclaimed performer, teacher, and scholar, and has appeared in leading venues on six continents. A commitment to contemporary music has resulted in premieres of more than sixty works by composers including Olga Amelkina-Vera, John Anthony Lennon, Scott Lindroth, John Orfe, and many others. Festival performances include concerts at the Peabody Summer Guitar Intensive, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the Walled City Music Festival, the Monadnock Music Festival, the Chautauqua Institution, the Guitar Foundation of America, and the World Saxophone Congresses in Croatia, Scotland, Thailand and Slovenia. He has performed on numerous classical guitar society concert series including New Zealand (GANZ), Montreal, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Iowa, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the Great Lakes. He has given performances with many prominent chamber ensembles including the Atlantic Guitar Quartet, Cantata Profana, Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble, Mallarmé Chamber Players, Duo Montagnard, and Dez Cordas. Recordings on the Summit, Centaur, and Liscio labels have been praised as “wonderful…a very enjoyable disc” (Soundboard), and “a magnificent achievement…the concept of this program is brilliant” (American Record Guide). Soundboard magazine called him an “exceptional” player, and a recent concert review from the Classical Voice of North Carolina states that “Slotkin performed brilliantly.” Slotkin is an Associate Professor of Music at Bloomsburg University, where he has directed the guitar program since 2004. He has given masterclasses at numerous institutions and festivals including the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Northwestern University, Victorian College of the Arts (Australia), ESMAE (Portugal), National University of La Plata (Argentina), the Alexandria Guitar Festival, and many others. In 2016 and 2024 he taught at the Eastman School of Music as a partial sabbatical replacement for Nicholas Goluses. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Music, and Bachelor of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music.