About Us
Woodwind Musicians
Current woodwind players for Occasional Brass and Strings all hail from New England, and enjoy playing weddings and events in the Boston area. Get to know them here.
Mana Washio - Flute
A native of Japan, flutist Mana Washio received her performance degrees from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (B.M.), the Oberlin Conservatory (A.D.), and the Boston University School for the Arts (M.M.). Mana Washio is an active solo, chamber, and orchestra musician. She currently plays principal flute with the New England Philharmonic and the Neponset Valley Philharmonic Orchestra. With a particular fondness for operas, Mana Washio has also played with the Opera New England and the National Lyric Opera in addition to the Boston Lyric Opera. Mana Washio has released 2 CDs: "Spring Sea" in 2002 (Flute & Harp), "En Priere" in 2005 (Flute & Piano). Her newest CD will be released at the end of 2010.
mana@occasionalbrass.com
Mark Zaleski - Sax, Clarinet, Flute
Mark Zaleski is an active saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist, bassist, and educator. He has an impressive level of experience, having performed with leading entertainers like Joe Piscopo, Joan Rivers, and Connie Francis, as well is some of the world's most in-demand jazz musicians like Dave Brubeck, Christian McBride, and Robin Eubanks. Perhaps most notable (and almost comical) was his time spent touring the country in 2006 as the clarinetist and bass clarinetist for classic rock legends Jethro Tull. Out of high school he was one of two college saxophonists in the country selected for the Dave Brubeck Insitute Fellowship Program to study jazz music at University of the Pacific. He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA.
mark@occasionalbrass.com
Tom Cox - Flute, Piccolo
A native Bostonian, Tom attended the Pennsylvania State University to study flute performance and music theory. In addition to weekly performances for 110,000 of the best football fans in the world as part of the Penn State Blue Band, Tom was also a member of the Penn State Glee Club. In his downtime, he could also be seen performing throughout the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Tom is most often found in the pit for many local musical theatre productions, either conducting, playing keyboard, jamming on his sax or clarinet, or playing some version of a flute (piccolo, alto flute, etc). Tom currently serves as the music director for Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts in Concord, MA, and can often be heard performing with the Chelmsford
Community Band, Dracut Community Chorus, and the North
Shore Philharmonic Orchestra.
tomc@occasionalbrass.com
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