SRCCF grant awarded to IVCC Director of Jazz Studies by NCI ARTworks

Press Release - For immediate release
Contact Julia Messina, Executive Director, outreach@nciartworks.com or 815-866-5167

PERU, IL (Monday, September 29, 2025) – NCI ARTworks Executive Director, Julia Messina, presents a grant from Starved Rock Country Community Foundation to Brandon Czbuchowski and Laurie Smudzinski for coordinating the masterclasses and concerts of famed trumpet master Dr. Stephen Hawk at IVCC.

IVCC Director of Jazz Studies, Brandon Czubachowski, and Jazz Wind Ensemble member, Laurie Smudzinski, coordinated the masterclasses and concerts by internationally renowned trumpet player, Dr. Stephen Hawk. According to NCI ARTwork’s Executive Director, Julia Messina, Dr Hawk’s masterclasses and concerts at IVCC were sponsored in part by a generous grant from the Starved Rock Country Community Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the Illinois Arts Council through local arts agency NCI ARTworks.

Ottawa native, Hawk has enjoyed a distinguished career throughout the US and abroad for over 35 years. He was Principal trumpet with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Broadway Orchestra, The Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, The MCG Jazz Big Band, The Three Rivers Jazz Orchestra, and The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, as well as orchestral and solo opportunities. He also performed with The Pittsburgh Symphony and Pops Orchestras, Austin Symphony Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony and Pops Orchestras, Pittsburgh Opera and Ballet Orchestras, and numerous regional orchestras. Since 2017, Stephen has been touring across the country with the first national tours of The Bodyguard, Kinky Boots, Aladdin, and Tootsie. 

In addition, Dr. Hawk has played lead trumpet with jazz legends including;  Dizzy Gillespie, The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni Big Band, The Woody Herman Orchestra, The Bob Mintzer Big Band,  Arturo Sandoval, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, The Manhattan Transfer, The New  York Voices, Nancy Wilson, Diane Schuur and entertainers such as Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Ray Charles, Frankie  Valli and the Four Seasons, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Natalie Cole, and Mannheim Steamroller.