Presidio Brass

The Presidio Brass is committed to presenting live musical programs in an engaging way through varied, accessible repertoire and the development of close ties with our audiences. They write… “Our performances include music as varied as our own personal and musical experiences, ranging in style from the Renaissance to contemporary jazz and film scores.”

Our primary focus is to “musicate” children -- the performing arts’ future patrons -- through innovative educational programs that cultivate musical learning, supplement the core curriculum and promote discipline, sensitivity and respect. We encourage musical excellence in students by utilizing lecture-demonstrations and master classes that target individual and sectional development in school music programs.

The Presidio Brass showcases our high artistic quality through recordings of our unique repertoire and by reaching audiences locally, nationally and throughout the world.

Frank Glasson - Trumpet

Frank Glasson, a native of San Diego, California has performed both locally and abroad in the trumpet sections of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, San Diego Opera, Middel Deutsche Rundfunk Orchestra of Germany, Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, State Theater Orchestra of South Africa and National Chamber Orchestra of South Africa and has appeared as soloist with the latter two. Also an accomplished jazz performer, Frank received a Grammy nomination for  “Best Jazz Instrumental Solo” for his improvised solos on the recording “Jazztet” in 2006. . Frank is a Yamaha performing artist and can currently be seen performing with the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Tokyo Opera, La Jolla Playhouse, and Broadway San Diego. He maintains a private teaching studio and has served as Jazz Band Director at Palomar College, adjunct Trumpet Professor at San Diego State University and as conductor of the CYO Wind Ensemble. Frank is the President of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 325.

Ray Nowak – Trumpet

Ray Nowak can be seen performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the Pacific Symphony, Opera Pacific, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the San Diego Symphony. Recently he appeared on both the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Ellen DeGeneres Show performing with Kanye West. Ray was Assistant Principal Trumpet of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife for 5 years in the Canary Islands, Spain and has also held positions with Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Spain as Assistant Principal Trumpet, Festival della Valle d’Itria, Martina Franca, Italy as Principal, Orquesta de Baja California, Tijuana, Mexico as Principal, the Pacific Music Festival, Sapporo, Japan, and the Royal Band at Huis Ten Bosch, Nagasaki, Japan. Ray maintains a busy private teaching studio and coaches for several school programs including one of California’s most prestigious middle school programs, South Pointe Middle School.  Ray holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the California State University at Long Beach and a Masters Degree in Music Performance from UCLA.

Mike McCoy - Horn

Mike McCoy, a San Diego native, currently performs as Principal Horn with the La Jolla Symphony and plays in the horn sections of San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera, Opera Pacific and Pacific Symphony with whom he recently completed a European tour. Mike has played lead horn with the traveling Broadway shows Lion King and Tommy and is an active movie and commercial recording artist with notable credits including lead horn on the Everquest game soundtrack. He has played with the Billings Symphony, Riverside Philharmonic, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Nevada Symphony, Mexico City Philharmonic, Orchestra de Baja California, Strauss Symphony of America, toured the West Coast as a soloist with the New England Youth Ensemble, and played lead horn in Carnegie Hall under John Rutter conducting his choral works. He has been affiliated with the Atlantic Brass Quintet, Westwind Brass, Brador Brass and Helix Brass Ensemble. Mike studied at the San Diego School for the Creative and Performing Arts, followed by San Diego State University and Boston Conservatory of Music.

Sean Reusch – Trombone

Sean Reusch has performed with the San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Pacific Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, New West Symphony, Redlands Symphony, San Bernardino Symphony, and the Riverside Symphony. He is currently a member of the Nittany Trombone Quartet and the Velvet Bones Trombone Quartet and can be heard on Beyond Music and Reference Recordings labels. Sean has performed with artists such as Michael Crawford, Johnny Mathis, Art Garfunkel, David Sanborn, Isaac Hayes, Eddie Daniels, Natalie Cole, and Marvin Hamlisch. As an educator, Sean was the Assistant Band Director at Roosevelt Middle School and Vista High School and has taught trombone at SDSU, Point Loma Nazarene College and Grossmont College and is currently on faculty at UCSD, Palomar College, and Mira Costa College. Sean maintains a large private teaching studio and many of his students have gone on to study music at prestigious conservatories including USC, UCLA, San Francisco Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory and Cleveland Institute of Music. Sean holds a Master of Music Degree in Performance from the Manhattan School of Music and is currently working on completing a doctoral degree in performance from UCLA. 

Scott Sutherland – Tuba

Scott Sutherland currently serves as principal tuba of the Colorado Springs, Riverside County, and Burbank Philharmonic Orchestras and has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera, and the New West Symphony. As a soloist, he has been featured with the San Diego Symphony, Riverside County and Burbank Philharmonic Orchestras. Scott’s notable recording credits include the soundtrack to Pearl Harbor and appearances with such artists as John Williams, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Jerry Goldsmith, Alf Clausen, Christian McBride and Louis Bellson. Scott is also active as a composer and arranger. His jazz composition, What Were You Thinkin’? was recorded by the USC Elf Jazz Ensemble, directed by Shelly Berg, and his arrangement for solo trumpet and orchestra of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess has been performed by the Pacific Symphony. As an educator, Scott was a brass pedagogy teaching assistant while attending UCLA and spent a year as a certificated school band/orchestra director for the Pasadena Unified School District. He has taught at the Idyllwild Arts Summer Music Festival and the Young Musicians Foundation Summer Orchestra Program. He is currently adjunct faculty at Palomar College. Scott earned his Bachelor of Music degree from USC and a Master of Music degree from UCLA.

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