As a soloist, Mr. Balio has appeared throughout Europe, South America, Japan and the United States under such conductors as Mehta, Temirkanov, Rozdestvensky, and Herbig.

As a teacher, Mr. Balio has taught master classes regularly in Russia and Italy, the Conservatorio Nacional of Mexico as well as in Brazil, Chile, Scandanavia, Israel, Japan and the United States. He has recorded for the Sony, RCA, Angel, Phillips and Teldec labels. In 2006, he founded Futuresymphony.org, an online think tank to examine innovative ways of making symphony orchestras financially viable while preserving their artistic mission.

A native of San Diego, California, RENÉ SHAPIRO is as comfortable in his role as Assistant Principal of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as he is as a soloist, teacher or chamber musician.  His skills as an orchestral musician have taken him around the United States and to more than a dozen countries with such orchestras as the Boston Symphony, the Boston Lyric Opera, the Boston Philharmonic, the Colorado, New Hampshire and Albany Symphony Orchestras, the International Symphony in Jerusalem, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia in Spain, the Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado De Mexico, and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano in Italy where he met his wife Silva.  In addition to Maestro Yuri Temirkanov, a few of the notable conductors with whom Mr. Shapiro has worked are Simon Rattle, Michael Tilson Thomas and Lorin Maazel.

NATHANIEL HEPLER joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as Second Trumpet in 2013.  He attended Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, earning a Bachelor of Music while studying with Frank Kaderabek and David Bilger. He then attended the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Mark Gould and earning a Master of Music degree.

Before joining the Baltimore Symphony, Nate enjoyed an active schedule as a freelancer and teacher primarily based out of Philadelphia, while serving as Principal Trumpet of the Sarasota Opera and Second Trumpet of Symphony in C (formerly the Haddonfield Symphony).   He has been invited as Co-Principal Trumpet of the Santo Domingo Music Festival, three years as Principal Trumpet of the Artosphere Music Festival, and five summers with the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.  Nate is currently adjunct faculty at Temple University and continues to enjoy an active schedule of teaching, performing chamber music, and arranging music for his own company, Valley Music Press.

MATTHEW BARKER joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as the Fourth/Utility Trumpet beginning in the 2016-2017 Season. A native of Houston, he earned a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University in 2013 where he studied under the tutelage of Barbara Butler, Charles Geyer and Robert Sullivan. He also served two years in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a premier training program for emerging professional musicians, continuing his studies with Christopher Martin. Matthew returned to Houston and his former teachers Butler and Geyer in pursuing his Masters at Rice University’s esteemed Shepherd School of Music in 2015, where he frequently subbed with the Houston Symphony Orchestra.

Matthew is an accomplished arranger with a few of his numerous arrangements being featured at the Fischoff National Chamber Competition and the National Trumpet Competition as well as in professional settings by Yo-Yo Ma and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago Brass Ensemble.