Fifth Bridge is an electro-acoustic trumpet quintet committed to the creation and performance of new music.
Jason Crafton
Jason Crafton is an assistant professor of trumpet at Virginia Tech. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in China, Greece, and across the United States including two performances at Carnegie Hall. Crafton is a member of the Charlottesville Opera Orchestra and has performed professionally with the Dallas Opera, the Des Moines Metropolitan Opera, and the Dallas Wind Symphony. He can be heard on numerous recordings on the Mark and GIA labels, including over a dozen releases by the North Texas Wind Symphony and four volumes of Teaching Music Through Performance in Band.
Also in demand as a teacher and pedagogue, Crafton has presented clinics at the International Trumpet Guild Convention, the Trumpet Festival of the Southeast, and at over a dozen major universities. His students have been accepted into competitive summer festivals and to top graduate programs including the University of North Texas and the Eastman School of Music. Crafton holds degrees from Drake University and the University of Northern Colorado in addition to a doctorate from the University of North Texas, where he studied with Keith Johnson. He has undertaken further study with Vincent DiMartino, Adam Gordon, and John D’earth.
Dr. Crafton is a Conn-Selmer Artist/Clinician.
Gabriel Dimartino
Gabriel DiMartino has performed as a member of The Wichita Symphony, The New Columbian Brass Band and the Doc Severinsen Big Band. He has been a featured recitalist, performing both jazz and classical music, at The International Trumpet Guild in Australia; Denver, Colorado; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. DiMartino has been an assisting artist in groups performing with Patti Austin, Allen Vizzutti, rock groups Chicago and Mannheim Steamroller, and other touring artists. He has recorded CDs as a soloist with The Syracuse University Wind Ensemble and with his father, well-known trumpet soloist Vince DiMartino.
DiMartino has also been a member of the summer faculty at Interlochen Center for the Arts and has presented master classes both there and at other institutions. He returns to his hometown of Danville, Kentucky, every summer to perform with The Advocate Brass Band at The Great American Brass Band Festival.
DiMartino was a frequent recitalist and member of orchestras, big bands and chamber ensembles in the central New York area where he lived. He also served as adjunct professor of trumpet at Syracuse University. He is a graduate of The Interlochen Arts Academy, DePaul University, and Wichita State University where he was a graduate teaching assistant and received a master’s degree in trumpet performance.
Nadje Noordhuis
Australian-born trumpeter/composer Nadje Noordhuis possesses a deeply-felt clarion tone that has been described as having ‘beyond-category beauty (Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz). Her evocative compositions meld classical rigor, jazz expression, and world music accents into a signature sound.
Noordhuis specializes in teaching, writing, and performing across genres including jazz, classical, rock, pop, global, and Irish folk. She was a semi-finalist in the 2007 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition and the 2010 National Jazz Awards in Australia, and a Carnegie Hall Young Artist in 2010. Noordhuis has played on two GRAMMY-winning recordings, and seven GRAMMY-nominated albums. She regularly tours with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Anat Cohen Tentet, Matt Wilson’s Honey and Salt, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. Compositions by Noordhuis have been commissioned by a diverse range of groups including the legendary British brass institution Grimethorpe Colliery Band, modern classical string and brass ensembles, in addition to pieces for solo trumpet + fixed media.
Noordhuis has released four albums of original compositions featuring her quintet and duo projects through her Little Mystery Records label, as well as two vinyl releases through Newvelle Records. Her atmospheric album inspired by world travels, Gullfoss (2018) was recorded live in Switzerland, featuring a lineup of trumpet with effects, celtic harp, guitar, bass and percussion. Her 2015 contemplative neo-classical album with pianist Luke Howard, Ten Sails, currently has over 17 million digital streams. Her melodic jazz quartet album, Full Circle, featuring pianist Fred Hersch, was Textura music review's #2 Jazz album of 2022. Her 2023 electro-acoustic duo record with vibraphonist/synthesist James Shipp, Multitudes, embraced new mechanisms for development with extensive editing and layering.
Noordhuis is Assistant Professor of Trumpet at Lawrence University, WI. She has taught at Manhattan School of Music, Hunter College, Berklee College of Music, Sydney Conservatorium, and maintains a busy private international studio. She is currently undertaking postgraduate research into the pedagogical influence and lineage of Laurie Frink and her mentor Carmine Caruso.
KELLY ROSSUM
Kelly Rossum is an international trumpet artist, improviser and composer. He has performed everything from lead trumpet at New York’s famed Birdland jazz club to baroque trumpet in Bad Säckingen, Germany; and from improvised free jazz in Bangkok, Thailand to traditional Son in Santiago de Cuba.
His original compositions, incorporating improvisational and contemporary avant-garde techniques, have been commissioned, performed and recorded by individual artists and large organizations alike. He has provided original scores for both film and dance and has received support from the American Composers Forum and the Jerome Foundation.
Kelly Rossum is currently Professor of Trumpet and Director of Jazz Studies at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia.
Peyden Shelton
Dr. J. Peyden Shelton has emerged as an accomplished performer, teacher, and clinician throughout the United States. In 2014, he was the winner of the National Trumpet Competition's Graduate Soloist Division performing Joseph Turrin's Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra. Since that time, he has performed recitals and solo performances at universities and new music venues across the country. As an ensemble and chamber musician, Dr. Shelton has performed with numerous ensembles including the Rochester Philharmonic, the New World Symphony, the U.S. Army Field Band, and the Eastman Wind Ensemble. He currently serves as the principal trumpet of Baltimore's premier new music ensemble, Symphony Number One.
As an educator, Dr. Shelton currently serves as the Assistant Professor of Trumpet and the University of Utah’s School of Music. Dr. Shelton has also served on the faculties at the University of Rochester and Cornell University. He is a frequent guest at festivals and clinics throughout the United States providing a unique and effective approach to fundamental brass development. In addition, Dr. Shelton is a strong supporter of new music, especially that which reflects a contemporary compositional voice for trumpet and piano.
Ashley
Hall-TIGHE
Former Fifth Bridge member (2017-2022) and one of the original founders of the ensemble, Ashley Hall-Tighe is an internationally renowned musician, educator and certified life coach. With her exuberant and relatable approach and her passion for building authentic and meaningful connections, Ashley enjoys engaging audiences as a soloist and ensemble musician, facilitating coaching courses, working with individuals in her private coaching practice, and leading professional and personal development workshops.
With an international performing career that spans nearly 2 decades, Ashley has performed as a soloist on 4 continents and in over 10 countries. She has been the principal trumpet of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra since 2008, enjoying the cross-discipline artistic collaborations of their Summermusik Festival. Ashley has been a featured soloist with many orchestras, brass bands, and wind ensembles including her recent appearance as one of the featured Holiday Pops soloists with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra in December of 2021. Ashley regularly performs as a recitalist at universities and concert series venues. In 2019, she was the first trumpeter to perform for the esteemed concert series, Matinee Musicale in Cincinnati, OH. Of this performance, classical music critic Janelle Gelfand said, “In each piece, she displayed a warm tone, stunning technique and expressive artistry. Best of all was the joy she found in each note, and that communicated to the audience.” Ashley is highly regarded for her work as a cornetist, having served as the principal solo cornet with the North Carolina Brass Band and the New England Brass Band and being a frequent guest artist with brass bands around the globe.