Join us for an evening featuring two of the greatest trumpeters in the United States right now. A rare opportunity to hear these two in one night!
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Hermon Mehari was the recent winner of the 2015 Carmine Caruso International Trumpet Competition and a semifinalist in the 2014 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition. In 2014 he released the CD "Our Journey" with Diverse, which was recorded in Paris featuring Logan Richardson on alto saxophone. He was the headliner of the 2014 Jazz en Tête Festival in Clermont-Ferrand, France and was featured on the world renown saxophonist Bobby Watson's 2013 release, "Check Cashing Day". This album explores and honors the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream Speech". In addition to Bobby Watson and Hermon Mehari, the ensemble is comprised of Robert Johnson on piano, Eric Kennedy on drums, Curtis Lundy on bass, Glenn North with spoken poetry and special guests.
Hermon was also the winner of the 2008 National Trumpet Competiton and placed 2nd in the International Trumpet Guild competition in Sydney, Australia. As a founding member of Diverse, whose eponymous debut album on Seattle-based Origin Records reached the Top 40 on the Jazzweek Radio Charts, Hermon has performed professionally with noted saxophonists Jaleel Shaw, Logan Richardson, Bobby Watson, and Ben Van Gelder. He has also performed with Hubert Laws, Randy Brecker, Paul Mckee, Dave Pietro, Clay Jenkins and many other great musicians. The band Diverse notably shared a double bill with Roy Haynes' Birds of a Feather band as headliners of the 2008 Gene Harris Jazz Festival.
Hermon received his BM in Jazz Performance from the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance in 2010. In addition to performing, he dedicates himself to being a serious educator. Hermon has participated in clinics and panels around the country and has served as the director of the Kansas City High School All Star Jazz Ensemble.
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Justin Kisor began playing trumpet professionally at the age of 13 with territory bands in Sioux City, IA. By the age of 17, Mr. Kisor was receiving international recognition as a jazz soloist, by becoming 1 of 5 recipients of the Clifford Brown/ Stan Getz Fellowship. This led Kisor to a full ride scholarship to the New School of Jazz at Mannes College in New York City. After seven years in the big apple, Justin Kisor played and or recorded with Wynton Marsalis, Wycliff Gordon, Ben Wolfe, Winard Harper, Nora Jones, Charles Persip, and many more. In 2001, Mr. Kisor was selected to be part of the first class of jazz at the Juilliard School, from where he graduated in 2004. In 2007, Mr. Kisor auditioned and won the open chair in the premier navy jazz ensemble, the United States Navy Band Commodores, based in Washington, D.C. Upon completion of his duties with the Navy, Justin moved back to Sioux City where he currently teaches trumpet at Morningside College, Northwestern, and plays regularly throughout the area.