The Board of Directors of the International Trombone Festival is excited to announce that the 2019 ITF will be held at:
Ball State University, Muncie Indiana
Festival Host: Dr. Chris van Hof
A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Chris Van Hof is the Assistant Professor of Trombone at Ball State University, and Host of the 2019 International Trombone Festival. He previously held the same position at Colorado State University from 2013-2017. An S. E. Shires Performing Artist, he is also Principal Trombone of the Muncie Symphony, trombonist in both the Da Camera Brass (in residence at Ball State), and the Emerald Brass, and is a regular extra/substitute performer with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as well as jazz and commercial ensembles in the Indianapolis metro area. Chris is an experienced performer in multiple styles, having spent time equally as a symphonic player with the orchestras of Kalamazoo (MI), Rochester (NY), Madison (WI), Fort Collins (CO), and Cheyenne (WY); and as a section member of commercial horn sections, jazz big bands and the trombone funk band the PoBoys Brass Band (2007-2011). Along with bass trombonist Evan Conroy, he performs in the duo Make More Noise, which gave four world premieres in 2018 at the American Trombone Workshop and the International Trombone Festival. Chris has also been an invited artist/faculty member at Rekkenze Brass Week in Bavaria (2018) and the Taller de Trombones Panamá (2017).
This year academic year (2018-2019), Chris will be a featured concerto soloist with the Ball State Symphony Orchestra, a featured soloist on electric trombone with the Ball State Pride of Mid-America Marching Band, a frequent recital collaborator for his own faculty recital and with other BSU faculty on their recitals, and will make his first trip to Costa Rica, teaching and performing for a week in January with BSU saxophone professor Nathan Bogert.
With over ten years of experience in higher education Chris has a deep background in teaching and is passionate about his work at Ball State. He trains his students to be adept at all styles of music on the trombone, to establish clear career objectives, to explore entrepreneurial and alternative paths of employment in the arts, and to focus on a strong process to accomplish all those goals. He has presented clinics for the Indiana All-State Orchestra, Colorado Music Educators Association Conference, and BIGXII Trombone Conference, he is a regular clinician and coach in high school music programs nationally and internationally, and he promotes a keen attention to teaching style and ability among his students at BSU. Chris studied with Mark Hetzler for his Doctorate (UW-Madison, DMA), Mark Kellogg for his Master’s (Eastman School of Music, MM), and Steve Wolfinbarger for his Bachelor’s (Western Michigan University, BM Music Education). He lives in Muncie with his wife Andrea and their two sons, Dexter and Fritz.
