Dr. Paula Hunter Swartz is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in Music Theory and Trumpet Performance, Yale University School of Music In Trumpet and Organ Performance, and Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Music Education and Trumpet Performance. Her teachers include Alan Dean, Phil Collins, James Darling, Thomas Murray, and Haskell Thompson. Paula has held teaching fellowships at the University of New Mexico (instrumental conducting) and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (Theory and Musicianship).

Paula has led the music programs at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wallingford, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, and St. Nicolai Church, Dortmund. She has played trumpet with several orchestras, including the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Wallingford Symphony Orchestra, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Wilhelm Hansmann Orchester, Hamilton Fairfield Symphony Orchestra, Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Ambler Symphony Orchestra, Independence Symphonia, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Prime Orchestra (Seoul, Korea), and the Sante Fe Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2005, Paula has been music director at St. Petri-Nicolai church in Dortmund, Germany, a 9,000 member protestant parish in the heart of the city. She is head of the music department at the Internationale Schule am Rhein in Neuss where she leads the student orchestras and choirs, and is currently an adjuct lecturer at the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Herford (College for Church Music in Herford) in organ literature and service playing. Paula performs on organ, harpsichord, and trumpet with regional orchestras, including an appearance as organ soloist with the Dortmunder Philharmoniker on the acclaimed Klais-Organ.

Paula currently resides in Neuss, Germany with her soulmate, Suk Chul (Charles) Kim, tenor extraordinaire. She is in the USA to celebrate her parents’ 50^th wedding anniversary, and to visit her dear friends at St. Paul’s.

Craig Hlavac, a native of Wallingford, performs widely across the state of Connecticut and the greater Northeastern United States. An active orchestral trumpeter, Mr. Hlavac performs regularly with orchestras throughout the region, including the Bridgeport, New Britain, and Wallingford Symphony Orchestras. Also an active freelance artist, Mr. Hlavac has performed with the Yale Camerata, the Yale Glee Club, the Hartford Pops Band, the Hartford Brass Ensemble, the Fairfield County Chorale, the Greenwich Choral Society, the Cape Cod Chamber Music Society, the New Canaan Choral Society, the Providence College Brass Quintet, the Constitution Brass, the Battell Brass, the UCONN Brass Ensemble, and various other ensembles throughout the region. Mr. Hlavac has also been a featured soloist with the Wallingford Symphony, the Hamden Symphony, and twice as a part of the annual Chatham Benefit Concert in Chatham, MA.

Mr. Hlavac received his B.A. in Music and B.S. in Education from the University of Connecticut, where he studied trumpet with Dan Patrylak, Gene Young, and James Ackley, and also holds a M.M. degree from Yale University, where he studied with Allan Dean.  Mr. Hlavac is currently an Assistant Professor of Music and the Director of Bands at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT, where he conducts the SCSU Wind Ensemble and teaches Music Theory and Ear Training.  A dynamic and energetic music educator, Mr. Hlavac founded the SCSU Drumline, the SCSU Pep Band, and the SCSU Colorguard, and is currently pursuing his Ed.D in Educational Leadership at the University of Hartford. He currently resides in Southington, CT with his wife, Rebecca.