Directors
Ben Denne
Ben Denne is a graduate of Northwestern University where he studied Euphonium performance with Rex Martin and conducting with Mallory Thompson and John Paynter. He received a bachelor of music degree with an emphasis in both performance and education. He received his masters' degree in music education from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Mr. Denne has directed the orchestra program at Ellicott Mills MS since 1998. In that time, the orchestra has grown from a small group of 4 violinists to a program that currently reaches ~170 students in four orchestras. Mr. Denne is a frequent guest conductor around the state of Maryland, where he has conducted county middle-school and high-school honor groups. He has also served on adjudication and assessment panels for Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Harford, and Montgomery Counties. He has had a place on the music leadership team in Howard County for 8 years and has worked on many curriculum writing teams over the past 18 years.
A conductor of the Howard County High School Gifted and Talented Orchestra (formerly the Howard Regional Youth Orchestra) since 2002, Mr. Denne has taken students to perform at Carnegie Hall, the Midwest Clinic, and most recently the Kennedy Center, where the orchestra performed a side-by-side concert with the top student orchestra from Beijing, China.
For 10 years, Mr. Denne also served as the director of the Howard High School orchestra, adding a second orchestra and doubling the number of students reached in the program. The Howard High Orchestras and Mr. Denne were awarded recognition and won competitions for performances in Boston, Chicago, Orlando, Virginia Beach, and Myrtle Beach.
Ben maintains a small studio of private students on euphonium, trombone, and tuba, and performs with Butte and Friends and One Flight Up on trombone. He resides in Columbia, MD with his wife Beth, daughter Katie, and puppy Rio.
Colin o'Bryan
Colin O’Bryan has been an educator in Howard County Public Schools since 2000. A graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University with a degree in Double Bass Performance, Mr. O’Bryan has previously been the Orchestra Director at Atholton, Howard, and Mount Hebron High Schools in Howard County Maryland. He is currently the Orchestra Director at Reservoir High School, where he also teaches Music Theory I and Theory II AP. In addition, Mr. O’Bryan has served as Director of the Howard County Gifted and Talented Orchestra, Howard County Repertory Orchestra, Baltimore County Middle School GT Orchestra and the Southern Maryland All County Orchestra. Mr. O’Bryan also served on the review and appointment panel for the position of Conductor for the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra. As a bassist, Mr. O’Bryan has served as a clinician with the Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra, and the New York String Teachers Association Summer String Institute at Ithaca College. He has also been an adjudicator for various county and state festivals and assessments. Colin has been a part of Bassworks since its inception, and serves as director of one of its many chamber groups.
Tim McKay
Tim McKay has been the percussion coach for the youth orchestra organization since 2007. He currently serves on faculty at Howard Community College where he teaches applied percussion lessons and maintains a strong private teaching studio through HCC's Music Institute program. Many of his students have performed in county and state-level ensembles, prestigious national music festivals, and have been accepted into the leading music schools and conservatories across the country. He is the director of the Drummin' Dragons Summer Percussion Camp, and is a former recipient of HCC’s Adjunct Faculty of the Year award.
Mr. McKay is an active freelance performer and enjoys his myriad of playing opportunities - everything from accompanying local choirs and musical theater, to classical and contemporary music. He performs most often with the Apollo Orchestra. Notable performances include Christopher Rouse's percussion concerto Der geretette Alberich with the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and PBS's A Capitol Fourth celebration on the National Mall with American Idol winner Phillip Phillips.
Mr. McKay holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (BM) and the University of Maryland (MM). In addition to music, Mr. McKay enjoys homeschooling his kids, coaching his son’s baseball team, and baking artisan bread. He resides in Columbia with his with his wife, Amanda, and children Isabelle and Zach. In his spare time you can find Mr. McKay hiking and camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains and biking the back roads of Howard County.