Preston Davis - Junior Orchestra Music Director

Born and raised in Knoxville, TN, Preston Davis was raised to be a musician. At the age of five, his grandmother Eleanor Davis, prior staff pianist for the Chicago Symphony, began to teach him the piano. With dutiful instruction, she taught him what it meant to be musical. He later took up the trombone, the instrument of his father Harry Davis. He marched for the South-Doyle High School Marching Band throughout high school. However, Mr. Davis later found that the double bass was the instrument for him. At the age of seventeen in between his junior and senior years of high school, he began to study with Rusty Holloway, a local jazz bass player and prior student of Edgar Meyer, Sr.. Later that year, he won a position in the Tennessee All-State Orchestra as the fourth chair bassist.

Collegiately, Mr. Davis attended the University of Tennessee to continue his studies with Mr. Holloway. By his sophomore year of collegiate studies, he had earned the position of principal double bass in the UT Symphony. Throughout college, Mr. Davis attended workshops on the double bass by great performers including Edgar Meyer, Orin O’Brien, and John Pattitucci. While in college, Mr. Davis attended the Hot Springs Music Festival. Upon graduation, Mr. Davis and his wife Abbey left for New York to search out playing opportunities and begin his career as professional double bassist. However, it was not meant to be, as he found that teaching children the joy and power of music was his true calling.

Currently, Mr. Davis is finishing up his pursuit of a Master of Music Education at the University of Tennessee and teaches privately in Oak Ridge through Music Arts, a non-profit private teaching collective. When not consumed with the schedule of a musician, Mr. Davis enjoys spending time with his wife, Abbey, and cat, Hunter.

Slade Trammell - Advanced Symphony Music Director

Slade was born in North Carolina, where he began piano studies at an early age, giving his first performance in public at age 10. Five years later, he was accepted as a pupil of David Brunell at the University of Tennessee.  At age 17, he made his conducting debut, leading the Webb School of Knoxville Orchestra and Chorus in concert.

An active performing pianist, past awards have included top prize in the University of Tennessee National Piano Scholarship Competition, first prize in the Celebration of Excellence Competition, and a Music Study Club Prize. Performances have taken him around the United States, and in August 2008 he made his European debut with recitals in Salzburg and Steyr, Austria, where he will return for performances in 2011. In 2009, he made his orchestral debut, performing the Tchaikovsky B-flat Concerto with the American Philharmonic Orchestra for the ensemble’s Tenth Anniversary Gala concerts.

One of the last pupils of the legendary Earl Wild, Mr. Trammell has been invited to perform at tributes to the great pianist-composer in Palm Springs and Pittsburgh in late 2010. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he serves on the faculty of Roane State Community College. In addition to his concertizing, Mr. Trammell studies conducting with Serge Fournier.  Having recently been appointed conductor of the Oak Ridge Youth Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Trammell also serves as Director of the Chancel Choir at Luminary United Methodist Church in Kingston, Tennessee.

Rachel Grubb

ORSC Music Director

Rachel Grubb is a graduating Senior in the prestigious College Scholars Program at the University of Tennessee. Her individualized degree is a double major in Orchestral Conducting and Violin Performance.

Rachel’s principal conducting mentors are Kirk Trevor and James Fellenbaum. She is the Founding Music Director of the Oak Ridge Area Youth Symphony Orchestras, the Founding Artistic Director of the Oak Ridge Summer Conservatory, a tenured member of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Violin Section, a 2010 UT Concerto Competition Winner, and was the Assistant Conductor for Missouri Symphony Orchestra’s “Hot Summer Nights Festival” for the past two summers. Her recent American guest conducting appearances include the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Astoria Music Society Orchestra, The University of Tennessee Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the American Youth Philharmonic, the Oak Ridge Community Orchestra, the Columbia Chorale, and Knoxville area choirs and orchestras. She also guest conducted the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic in the Czech Republic.

Rachel has attended the Aspen Music Festival and School, the International Workshop for Conductors in Czech Republic, the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Conservatory Music in the Mountains in Colorado, and the Music Academy at Schloss Ort in Austria.

When not on the podium, Rachel enjoys taking long hikes with her dogs.

http://quest.utk.edu/2009/college-scholars/