Kevin Long, trumpet, holds both his undergraduate degree in music education and master of music in performance degree from West Chester University. He has studied trumpet with current and former members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Delaware Symphony and the United States Marine Band “The President’s Own.” In 1986, Kevin and trombonist Bryan Hay co-founded the Mainstreet Brass and continue a friendship that began in high school. Kevin has performed with the Allentown Symphony, Allentown Symphony Pops, the Allentown Band, Philadelphia Brass, Appalachian Brass and the Bethlehem Bach Festival Brass Choir. His enduring friendships with several former brass players who served in the Regimental Band of Her Majesty’s Coldstream Guards have led to may unique musical collaborations and experiences for the Mainstreet Brass.
Ed Hirschman, trumpet, earned his bachelor’s degree at Rutgers University and a master’s degree at New York University. He leads a multi-faceted life in music as an arranger, composer, publisher, sheet music retailer, bandleader, trumpeter, and mute designer/manufacturer. Ed has composed numerous works including “Four Bridges,” winner of the Ars Nova Brass Quintet Composition Contest, and has arranged more than 200 works for a variety of instrumentations. His arrangement of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” was performed by the New York Philharmonic Brass as part of its 2020 Holiday Brass Concert conducted by legendary trumpeter Phil Smith.
Ed’s works are published and sold by his sheet music company, Art of Sound Music, which sells more than 3,000 works by over 120 composers and arrangers. He is especially proud of the collaboration with Gary Beard and the Ryan Anthony Foundation/Cancer Blows to make available to the public, for the first time, the trumpet and organ arrangements played by the late, great Ryan Anthony.
Founder and leader of three chamber music ensembles, the Atlas Brass Quintet, the Princeton Symphonic Brass, and Thrice (a trio featuring horn, trumpet and piano), Ed is also a member of the Trenton Brass Quintet Plus 1 and plays freelance trumpet for church services, wedding ceremonies, big bands, rock bands, chamber ensembles, and orchestras.
He is the founder and president of Hirschman Mutes, a company that designs and manufactures mutes and accessories for brass instruments. Ed’s line of mutes (co-designed with Kenny Rampton of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra) is played by many of the world’s top trumpet players including Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Bergeron (first call trumpet in Hollywood), Tom Hooton (LA Philharmonic), Thomas Gansch (Mnozil Brass), and Rashawn Ross (Dave Matthews Band). Hirschman Mutes products can be purchased directly at artofsoundmusic.com or through its worldwide network of authorized dealers.
Bryan Hay, trombone, is a graduate of Moravian College, where he received a bachelors degree in journalism and pursued trombone performance with a concentration in music. Co-founder of the Mainstreet Brass, Bryan performs with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra and has performed at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and with the Pottstown Symphony, Schuylkill Symphony, the Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra, Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, the Central Jersey Symphony, the Hunterdon Symphony Orchestra, the Moravian Music Festival Orchestra, the Lehigh Valley Pops, the Allentown Band, the Atlas Brass, and Appalachian Brass. When he’s not playing trombone, he’s singing bass with the bach Choir of Bethlehem.
Allen Frank, tuba, holds a bachelor of arts degree in music from Moravian College (now Moravian University), having studied tuba with Grant Moore II and Ronald Demkee. Growing up in Ohio, Allen was active with youth ensembles at Akron University and Bowling Green State University. After high school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and attended the Armed Forces School of Music in Little Creek, Va., studying tuba with Tom McGrady. As a member of the Marine Corps Band in Quantico, Va., Allen served as principal tubist and soloist and performed with the band’s brass quintet, the Ambassador Brass. While in Quantico, he had the opportunity to perform with the Canadian Brass, the Neville Brothers, the President’s Own Marine Band, among many others. In 2002, Allen became a cast member of the first national tour of the Tony and Emmy award winning Broadway musical BLAST!. He is an active freelance player in the Lehigh Valley, having performed with multiple tours of Celtic Woman, the national tour of Chicago, Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, and the Dickinson College Orchestra. Allen is involved with the Moravian Music Foundation, serving as a conductor for various festivals in Winston-Salem, N.C., Cape Town, South Africa, and Bethlehem, Pa. He is currently the director of instrumental music at Liberty High School in Bethlehem.
Steve Mathiesen, percussion, received a Master of Music degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Ithaca College School of Music. In addition to performing with the Mainstreet Brass, He plays in the percussion section of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic and also serves as principal timpanist with the Binghamton (N.Y.) Philharmonic and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra in Allentown, Pa. He’s also made appearances with the Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, Allentown Symphony and Reading Symphony and has accompanied many professional entertainers in their appearances at area venues.
Steve has appeared on recordings with the Mainstreet Brass, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, as well as numerous studio recordings for Shawnee Press and Alfred Publishing. He played timpani in Don’t Be a Carbon Sasquatch, part of the Disney DVD Schoolhouse Rock: Earth. His compositions and arrangements are published by Shawnee Press, Honeyrock Publications, C-Alan Publications and Permus Publications. His principal teachers were William Youhass and Allen Otte. A teacher at Marywood University, Moravian College and Lehigh University, Steve is a graduate of East Stroudsburg (Pa.) Area High School and was inducted into that school district’s Music Hall of Fame in 2005. He and his wife Carla and their three children live in the Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania.