Who We Are
Founded in 2023 by Catie Hickey, Brass Beyond NFP is a network of music professionals committed to the artistic growth of pre-professional female and gender expansive students.
What We Do
Our programming focuses on reaching musicians through a network of educational opportunity. Now in its third year, the Windy City Trombone Retreat hosts collegiate students from across North America for four days of ensemble playing, workshops, and mentorship. A highlight of the retreat, the gender friendly Jazz Jam provides an opportunity for young jazz musicians to play tunes with an all-femme house rhythm section.
Where We Are Going
With a seed grant from the Paul R. Judy Center, we are expanding our outreach to serve high school students through the statewide Side by Side project. This event will feature clinics by female and gender expansive professionals and a mass brass ensemble performing arrangements designed for differentiated instruction. We also aim to expand our summer retreat programming in future years to serve other brass instruments including tuba, euphonium, horn and trumpet.
Our Team
Catie Hickey
Catie Hickey (she/her) is a trombonist, educator and arts advocate based in Chicago. Committed to expanding the role of the 21st century musician, she is the founder of Brass Beyond NFP, a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding opportunities for female and gender expansive brass musicians through workshops and performance. An in-demand educator, Ms. Hickey currently serves on the faculties of Loyola, DePaul, and North Park Universities.
As a performer, Catie's professional experience spans almost every situation where a trombone can be welcomed. Catie gained her road chops touring with the Foothills Brass Quintet from 2010-2013 (ask her about Saskatchewan). Putting her master's degree to work, she has performed with the symphonies of Calgary, St. Louis, Rochester, and Culiacan, Mexico. At home in the Midwest, she performs in theater pits throughout the Chicago area with the Chicago Federation of Musicians Local 10-208, and with her Southeast Asian brass band Butter Chicken. In addition to co-founding Taller de Trombones Panama, Catie is a frequent guest of Trombonanza, Urubrass and many other brass workshops in Latin America. She is a graduate of Eastman School of Music (Bachelor of Music, Jazz and Contemporary Media/Applied Trombone) and Rice University (Master of Music, Trombone Performance).
Serena Voltz
Serena Voltz plays tuba for the internationally recognized brass quintet, Axiom Brass. She is also an active freelance performer and teaches low brass in the Chicago area and Wisconsin. She draws on her studies at Northwestern University (B.M.) and DePaul University (M.M.), where she learned from some of the most world-renowned brass pedagogues. Her main teachers include Rex Martin, Floyd Cooley, and Gene Pokorny.
Besides playing with Axiom Brass, Serena is the Principal Tuba player for the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra. She is a seasoned performer in many other settings as well, ranging from full scale brass ensembles, jazz settings, and solo performances, to folk music recordings, new music ensembles, and English style brass bands.
As an educator, Serena teaches tuba and euphonium at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI and Concordia University Chicago. She also teaches tuba, euphonium, and trombone at numerous public school and community programs in Chicago proper and the northwest suburbs.
In her time away from the tuba, Serena can either be found snuggling with her beloved dog, Monty, crocheting, thrifting, or searching for beach glass along the shores of Lake Michigan.
Destiny Miskel
Destiny Miskel (she/her) is a trombonist and music educator based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. As a performer, Destiny has diverse experiences in classical and commercial settings. In addition to performances for symphonic and pit orchestras, she is a core member of Atomic Lush, a band specializing in jazz-based covers of modern popular music.
Destiny's musicianship has always remained rooted in a strong desire to promote music education in all its forms. She serves as a trombone and low brass sectional instructor at several schools in the Atlanta area. Additionally, she maintains a private low brass studio, has served on staff for marching bands, and been invited to present masterclasses at secondary and post-secondary institutions.
Destiny holds degrees from the University of South Alabama and Western Michigan University. Outside of music, she enjoys reading, watching and participating in sports, and spending time with family, friends, and her two pets.
Priscilla Yuen
Pianist Priscilla Yuen enjoys a rich and varied career as a soloist, collaborator, teacher and administrator. Currently Associate Professor of Collaborative Piano and Coordinator of Accompanying Services at the Eastman School of Music, Ms. Yuen regularly collaborates with musicians from across the world as they prepare for recitals, competitions and recordings. She previously served on the piano faculty at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
A native of St. Louis, Ms. Yuen received her undergraduate training at the University of Missouri where she studied with Dr. Peter Miyamoto and her Master of Music degree in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School, studying with Dr. Jean Barr.