Class of 1980, Scott Litzenberg, Percussion -- Since 1998, Scott has been the Director of bands and music department chairperson, Unionville HS, Kennett Square, PA; Conducts the UHS Concert Band, Marching Band, Jazz Band & Musical pit orchestra; Timpanist for the Chester County Pops Orchestra;  A 1984 Graduate of West Chester University with a B.S. in Music Education; and has taken graduate courses at West Chester University, Villanova University, and Vandercook College of Music; Graduated from Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia in 1980 - Band President; 1984-89 - Band Director at Wilson HS in West Lawn, PA; 1986-89 - Director of the Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps; 1989-1998 - Band & Orchestra Director, Upper Darby HS in Upper Darby, PA; Fall 2006 - Director of the Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps; Lives in Kennett Square, PA with Mary & his daughter Kristin, who is in 10th grade at Unionville High School.

Scott Litzenberg

In 2005, Nick placed second in the University Division of the International Horn Competition of America. In August of that year Nick also won a position with the West Point Band, one of the Army’s three premiere concert bands. His brass quintet, the West Point Brass, has toured south Florida and Oregon. He has also performed with the Dallas, Jacksonville and Tallahassee Symphony Orchestras, the New York Philharmonic, and earned fellowships with the National Repertory Orchestra and National Orchestral Institute.

An active performer in the New York and Connecticut area, Nick is also Principal Horn of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and has been featured at regional and international horn workshops.

Nick also maintains an avid interest in music research. His undergraduate thesis, “The Musical Life of Lorenzo Sansone” is a biography project about his father’s horn teacher and was featured in the February 2005 edition of The Horn Call, the journal of the International Horn Society. He is currently working on a biography of retired Chicago Symphony Orchestra hornist, Norman Schweikert.

Always a proponent of an active and healthy lifestyle, Nick is also a Certified Personal Trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine and maintains a small list of regular clients at a local New York fitness center.

Class of 2002, Kimberly Berndsen - Flute, Piccolo, and Drum Major - After high school Kimberly went to Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia and graduated in 2006 with a B.S. in Chemistry.  In August 2006 Kimberly officially moved to Southwest Virginia to start a job at Polymer Solutions Incorporated in Blacksburg, Virginia, where she is currently one of the wet chemistry technicians.  PSI is a small, private company that analyzes polymers in several aspects including, but not limited to, synthesis, failure analysis, competitor analysis, quality control, and legal cases (patent infringement, liability, etc.).  In July 2007 Kimberly got married to a SWVa native (aka good ol' country boy), and last month (February 2008) they bought their first house.  Outside work and the new house, Kimberly and her husband and dog love to see the sights around SWVa by hiking, fishing, and riding along the Blue Ridge Parkway. In an email update Kimberly said "I didn't stick with music but Mr. Holder definitely influenced who I amnow and who/what I've become and strived to become." (Updated March 2008)

Class of 2003, Eric Roberts -- Percussion - Eric completed the requirements of Juilliard's Master's Program and received his Masters of Music degree on May 22, 2009.

Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times Eric Roberts playing percussion as part of the Focus! festival.

Eric Roberts and Alexander White receive undergraduate diplomas from Juilliard, May 23, 2008.  Both will continue graduate studies at Juilliard next year.

Read the March 27, 2008 Washington Post Article about the four Lake Braddock students at Juilliard - Click Here

Sarah Todenhoft (Click to enlarge)

Class of 2004, Kathryn Farenish, Flute - Read the March 27, 2008 Washington Post Article about the four Lake Braddock students at Juilliard - Click Here

Kathryn Farenish - Photo courtesy of The Washington Post

Class of 2004, Kyle Minor, Horn - Kyle will complete his undergraduate studies at Virginia Tech in May, 2008, receiving degrees in both Mathematics and Music Performance. Studying horn performance with Wallace Easter, Kyle currently serves as the principal horn in the New River Valley Symphony and is a member of the Quantum Brass Quintet. Last summer, Kyle also directed the pit orchestra for St. Bernadette’s Summer Musical Theatre production of ‘Seussical.’ He recently served also as a substitute 4th horn for the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. Kyle’s mathematical pursuits have resulted in a civilian job offer from the U. S. Army, for whom he will work as an operations research analyst at Fort Belvoir. (Updated April 2008)

Class of 2005, Ben Robinette - Alto Saxophone - Ben is having nothing short of a gas pursuing his degree in Saxophone Performance at The University of Tennessee in Knoxville as part of the studio of Dr. Connie Frigo! He has occupied the principal saxophone position in the UT Wind Ensemble for the past two years and has enjoyed performances of both difficult wind band standards as well as premieres of commissioned works by young new composers. Recently he was part of a select quartet of saxophonists from Dr. Frigo's studio that auditioned successfully for the UT Symphony Orchestra to perform in a jazz-inflected program of orchestral literature during a four-day tour of both Virginia and Tennessee. Ben especially enjoyed the chance to occupy the coveted (and VERY exposed!) alto saxophone spot during two performances of Darius Milhaud's intimate, bluesy chamber classic "La Creation du Monde". He is also a founding member and the soprano saxophonist for the award-winning Four-T-Tude Saxophone Quartet, which has been touted as the ambassadorial chamber ensemble for the UT School of Music. Their performance opportunities have taken them from winning the state's MTNA chamber music competition to playing private parties at mansions in the wealthier parts of Knoxville to receiving the Phi Kappa Phi Creative Achievement award following their performance at UT's Showcase of Research and Creative Excellence in 2006. The quartet has even taken part in premieres of new music, such as their performance of "Inverted Pyramid" for saxophone quartet and percussion quartet at the 2007 UT Saxophone & Percussion Project. Most recently the quartet won the UT Concerto Competition with their rendition of Philip Glass's riveting "Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra", giving Ben yet another chance to perform with the UT Orchestra. Ben also won the same competition two years ago as a freshman at UT, performing solo in front of the orchestra to the dissonant strains of Karel Husa's "Elegie et Rondeau". It was also during his freshman year that Ben received the School of Music's Gerald W. Barnes Woodwind Award, a scholarship in recognition of achievement as a woodwind performer. Ben has been active in solo competitions as well as competitions with his quartet, and he took second place last semester in the state's MTNA Solo Artist Competition as part of a grueling spectrum of performers from across Tennessee. He was also the recipient in 2007 of the Music Study Club scholarship, a prize that shall culminate in April 2008 with a private performance for the club itself. Ben teaches privately in the Knoxville and Maryville area and has occasionally coached other collegiate undergraduate and high school saxophone quartets. In April he shall be participating in the premieres of two new compositions by Jacob ter Veldhuis (of whose music Dr. Frigo is an important proponent) at the 2008 North American Saxophone Alliance's national conference in Columbia, South Carolina, one of which shall include him and two other members of Four-T-Tude accompanying Dr. Frigo herself. His advocacy of chamber music as an essential musical experience has already begun to extend outward from Four-T-Tude and is taking shape in the form of a violin and saxophone duet project entitled "Flux Aeterna" that he has co-organized. His support of original student compositions has also resulted in an exciting recent concert effort that he co-organized along with David Pegel, a well-established and talented undergraduate Composition major at UT that wrote the "Playwright Concerto" for soprano saxophone and orchestra for Ben as soon as the two met during Ben's freshman year. The premiere was given to an enthusiastic audience on March 5, 2008 and marked the first time in the university's history that a concert was completely organized, composed, conducted, coordinated, and performed exclusively by students.

Among the many things that Ben remembers most fondly of his experiences at Lake Braddock, Mr. Holder's voice uttering "Stop scaring the faculty!" after marching band practice one day is a memory that he won't soon forget. More than anything, though, it was the persistence, the professionalism, and the passion that was instilled in him from the very beginning as a Bruin saxophonist in Concert I that elevated him to his current status as living a life of low pay and nerve-wracking practice but resulting in extreme happiness and untold opportunity. Writing that poem (entitled "Untitled") for the band banquet of his senior year was a decision that he never regretted, and the decision to listen to Mrs. Holder and pick up that saxophone mouthpiece from that weathered cardboard box o' mouthpieces outside of the music room at White Oaks Elementary was one on which he won't ever turn his back. Traveling to Midwest and performing his first premiere as well as meeting Chicago's own Earl the Shoeshine King (not to mention buying a truckload of Frango mints)...performing the "Nutcracker Suite" with his saxophone quartet for his junior year Winter Concert while ill from the weather and the stress of AP classes...swapping seats with Rich Miserendino between All-District Band and All-State Band during his sophomore year...all of these are timeless tales that he still tells to his friends at UT. As for timeless lessons learned and knowledge gained along the way, though, he owes it to Mr. Holder and the Lake Braddock Band as to one of the biggest reasons why he is still diving head-first into the wonderful world of music. (Updated March 2008)

Wow! Remember these folks? Kyle Emery, Sarah Todenhoft, and Ben Robinette performing
(and joking around, apparently) on various saxophones and implements of destruction in
the pit orchestra for LB's 2004 production of the musical "Bye Bye Birdie".

Class of 2006, Michael Roberts, Percussion - In the summer of 2008 Michael participated under a full-scholarship as a Percussion/Timpani Fellow in the Music Academy of the West’s Summer School and Festival.  At the academy Michael received many honors including being principal percussionist in their final concert, “Mahler 3.”  He also received acclaim at the academy for his narration of Stravinsky’s “La Histoire du Soldat.” 

Not only a sought after percussionist, Michael is also an avid pianist who takes a particular interest in the works of Olivier Messiaen, and is a composer whose compositions are published by Doug Wallace Percussion and by Bachovich.  Michael’s most familiar composition, “7511” for two marimbas, was written for and premiered with his brother, Eric Roberts, who attends the Juilliard School.  Michael is currently in his third year of study at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with Will Hudgins of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  On December 10, 2008, Michael was honored to be solo percussionist in NEC Orchestra’s performance of George Tsontakis’ Miriologhia for Percussion Solo and Orchestra. 

Michael auditioned for and was accepted by several summer 2009 music festivals and has accepted a full scholarship to attend the Orchestral Academy located at the state cultural center, Salzau Castle, 100 km to the north of Hamburg, Germany, from July 11—August 30, 2009.  Ever since its founding in 1987 by Leonard Bernstein, the international Orchestral Academy of the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival has enjoyed a superb reputation world-wide.  Every year, an international youth orchestra is formed by the Orchestral Academy: Young musicians from all over the world are given the opportunity to study and perform great works from the orchestral literature with famous conductors.  More information about the Orchestral Academy is available at http://www.shmf.de/inhalt.asp?ID=4320&Zeit=18:38:47&BesucherID=82291210.  (Updated March 2009)

Michael in front of Carnegie Hall May 2007 (Click to enlarge)

Michael at brother Eric's graduation from Julliard ~ May 2008

Class of 2006, Amanda Ross, Color Guard - Amanda's heroics were recently featured in a "The Connection Newspaper" article:  "Girl on the Train: Burke resident saves a life on Metro."

Click here for the full article.       

Photo by Lea Mae Rice
 The Connection Newspaper   

We're very proud of you Amanda!

Class of 2007, Erin Curran, Percussion - Erin dropped a quick note to tell "y'all" that she made the NC State Drumline.  She attached her picture (below) in her new uniform!  She says that, "It's definitely a lot different than Lake Braddock, and while I do miss being under Mr. Holder, I would never miss out on this experience!"

Erin Curran

Class of 2007, Thomas Junyszek, Trumpet - Thomas, has already performed in his first marching band performance for the University of Southern California at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.  He plays the trumpet and is really enjoying the band.  Thomas is majoring in Electrical Engineering.

         
Thomas Junyszek, USC Band, 2007

"I want to give a thankful shout out to Mr. Holder, Mr., Wheeler, Mr. Bean, and Mr. Luley for inspiring me so much!"

Kate Owen in her new high school band uniform (Fall 2007)
Go purple and gold!