James N. Meador (ASCAP) currently plays bass trombone with the Yucatan
Symphony Orchestra (Orquesta Sinfónica de Yucatán) located
in Mérida,
Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula. He previously held the same position with
the IRIS Chamber Symphony under conductor Michael
Stern and the Acapulco
Philharmonic. As an invited musician he has performed with the Cleveland
Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra,
National Orchestra of Portugal,
Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Canton Symphony
Orchestra, and many others
in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Ohio, Illinois, and
Mississippi.
James has worked with such noted conductors as Alan Gilbert,
Placido
Domingo, David Zinman, James Conlon, Michael Stern, Lan Shui, Carlos
Miguel Prieto, Juan Carlos Lomonaco, Enrique Barrios,
and Enrique Batiz. James was a student at the prestigious Aspen Music Festival in Colorado from 1997-1999, and
while there was a member of the Castle Creek Brass Quintet which performed for President Bill Clinton and his guests at the Denver
Summit of the Eight in 1997. In 2003 he won second prize in the National Solo Competition held at the Eastern Trombone Workshop
in Washington, D.C. He has also won various local competitions and performed as soloist with orchestras
in Texas and Louisiana.
In addition to performing, James is also an active composer and arranger of low brass and
chamber music. His pieces have been performed throughout the U.S., Europe, Mexico, Asia and Australia. Some of his works published
by Warwick Music in the U.K. (available at
www.warwickmusic.com) have been recorded on the Albany label Tim Buzbee (tuba) of
the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Jessica Buzbee (trombone) also of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and Sergio Carolino (tuba) of
the National Symphony of Porto (Portugal). James' arrangement of Elton John's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"
was recently performed
by the Yucatan Symphony Orchestra to open for Elton John himself in concert at the famed Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in April 2010.
A native of Houston, Texas, James N. Meador holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Trombone Performance from Stephen F. Austin State
University in Nacogdoches, Texas, a Master of Music degree from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and additional
Performance Studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music in Cleveland, Ohio. From 2004-2006 he was the adjunct trombone professor
at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His teachers include John Rojak, Tom Klaber, J. Mark Thompson, Randy Hawes, Per
Brevig, and Tim and Jessica Buzbee. James is an active member of the International Trombone Association and writes
reviews of new classical music CDs for the ITA Journal.
In the last couple of years, James has begun to moonlight as
a vocalist with the Merida Big Band and most recently formed a small jazz combo called Taboo Jazz with which he performs
as a singer. Taboo Jazz performs regularly around the city of Merida at restaurants, bars, hotels and haciendas.
For more information, please visit their website at www.taboojazz.com.