Judges for Concerto/Aria Competition 2025-2026

Dr. John Irish is Professor of Music at Angelo State University, San Angelo, Texas. In addition to his duties with the high brass studio, he directs ASU brass ensembles. Prior to this position, he taught at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio and at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas.

His career includes performances with the Southwest German Radio Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic, the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, many chamber orchestras, brass quintets, and a wide variety of dance bands and commercial projects. He currently holds the position of principal trumpet of the San Angelo Symphony Orchestra, section member of the West Texas Symphony, and is active in the musical life of the area as well as a founder of Jazz Concho, a jazz combo made up of local professionals.

This university position follows a distinguished career in the Air Force Band system in which he performed in all fifty states, Canada, Mexico, and Western Europe. He has recorded often, premiered new works for winds, and soloed with bands and orchestras. Dr. Irish was featured in 2005 as a guest artist in a series of master classes and as a soloist with an orchestra in Chihuahua, Mexico as well as performing a solo recital in Taipei, Taiwan in 2010. In May 2011, he gave the world premiere of a new work for trumpet by Australian composer, Brendan Collins at the 36th Annual Conference of the International Trumpet Guild in Minneapolis. Since the summer of 2012, he performed as Principal Trumpet in the orchestra of Opera Maya, touring with that group throughout the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Additionally, he held the position of Co-Principal Trumpet of an International Music Festival located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and Dallas, Texas.

As a contributor of a series of articles in the Journal of the International Trumpet Guild (ITG), he has illuminated world-renowned trumpet players who have made a significant impact on the trumpet. In addition to his other frequent contributions to the ITG Journal, his writing has been featured in the Bandmasters Review (an educational publication of the Texas Bandmasters Association), the Newsletter of the International Women’s Brass Conference, the popular British periodical, The Brass Herald, along with a variety of publications and web resources in the music industry.

Irish completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music; he earned the MM and BM degrees from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Prominent teachers include Bert Truax, Alan Siebert, John Carroll, Vince DiMartino, and Dale Marrs. Dr. Irish is a clinician/artist for the Conn-Selmer Company.

Corey Robinson is a Wichita Falls, Texas based percussionist, educator, and composer. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Percussion and Associate Director of Bands at Midwestern State University. Previous appointments at the University of Texas at Tyler, Texas Woman’s University, the University of North Texas, Abilene Christian University (TX) Flower Mound High School (TX), Argyle High School (TX), and Coppell High School (TX) allowed Dr. Robinson the opportunity to work with hundreds of percussionists of all ages and ability levels.

Many of Dr. Robinson’s recent performances have been as part of a percussion/saxophone duo with his wife, Amy. They have premiered numerous commissions and a number of his own works at saxophone conferences around the world including the World Saxophone Conference and seven North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences. Dr. Robinson has also performed at three Percussive Arts Society International Conventions including a concert with the University of North Texas Percussion Ensemble at PASIC 2016. This performance included the world premiere of his large percussion ensemble work, Twisted Metal. His percussion methods textbook and video series, Methods for Teaching Percussion (Murphy Music Press) was published in the fall of 2022 and is currently being used in a number of university Percussion Methods classrooms.

Dr. Robinson received his Bachelor of Music Education from Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, his Master of Music in Percussion Performance from Indiana University, Bloomington, and his DMA at the University of North Texas. His percussion teachers include Mark Ford, Christopher Deane, Paul Rennick, Ed Soph, Poovalur Sriji, Stockton Helbing, José Aponte, Ed Smith, John Tafoya, Kevin Bobo, Michael Spiro, and Dr. David Glover. Dr. Robinson is currently an endorsing artist for Marimba One instruments, Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets and Remo drumheads. His compositions are available through Murphy Music Press and Musicon Publishing. He resides in Wichita Falls, Texas with his wife and two children, Noelle and Theo.

Dr. Fagner Magrinelli Rocha serves as Associate Professor of Music at Angelo State University where he teaches violin, viola and directs the ASU Symphony Orchestra. Before his appointment at Angelo State, Dr. Rocha served as Assistant Professor of Violin at the Universidade Federal de Alagoas in Maceió, Brazil. He currently serves as concertmaster for the Big Spring Symphony Orchestra, Ballet San Angelo and San Angelo Symphony Orchestra.

A versatile musician, Dr. Rocha has appeared as a performer, conductor and clinician in concerts and festivals through South and North America, as well as in Europe. As an ensemble musician, Dr. Rocha has performed with several orchestras in the United States and Brazil. Dr. Rocha is a constant guest in Texas public schools, having conducted multiple Honors, All-Region and Youth Orchestras around Texas. He has also published music and arrangements. His most recent project is the musical “The Pearl”, a collaboration with composer and writer Cynthia Jordan, which tells the story of San Angelo in the 1920s during the first West Texas oil boom. The musical was premiered in San Angelo in June 2023. Hi “Valse for Livy” was premiered by the ASU Symphony in November 2023. His doctoral research, entitled “An Analysis of Violin Sound Spectra with Different Shoulder Rests” was awarded 1st Prize at the 6th Annual Arts and Humanities Research Conference hosted by Texas Tech University.

Dr. Rocha holds a Bachelor of Music in Violin performance from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre, Brazil) and a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Violin Performance from Texas Tech University. His major teachers include Dr. Fredi Gierling, Prof. Hella Frank, Dr. Kirsten Yon and Prof. Annie Chalex-Boyle.

Dr. Rocha performs on a modern 2011 Luiz Amorim violin and a 1970 Garner Wilson bow. He lives in San Angelo with his wife Emilee and daughter Olivia (both violinists).

During the Summer months, Dr. Rocha teaches at the Angelo State Music Camp and the Hill Country Youth Orchestra Camp. When not working with music, he enjoys reading, running, and doing home projects.