Albert Grijalva is an active musician, teacher and conductor in Phoenix, Ariz.  Mr. Grijalva is Associate Conductor and principal saxophonist with the adult community band Arizona Winds, as well as a music instructor for the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC). He continues to work with The Phoenix Symphony as a music teacher and coordinator for “One Nation,” a project he created and implemented while serving as the Education and Outreach Manger for the symphony in 2001. This collaborative project between The Phoenix Symphony and SRPMIC was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant that same year.

As a lecturer, performer, clinician, adjudicator and private instructor, Mr. Grijalva works actively throughout the Phoenix area and southern Arizona. His lecture series on music, symphony orchestras and the saxophone have been well-received, notably with the Lifetime Learners Elderhostel programs, which he has been a part of for nearly ten years. When freelancing as a saxophonist, Mr. Grijalva has performed with The Phoenix Symphony, Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra and Chandler Symphony Orchestra. He also performs on multiple woodwind instruments for various community theatres, playing for many of the most popular Broadway shows.

Mr. Grijalva is honored to have performed under the batons of many renowned conductors, including John P. Paynter and Colonel John Bourgeois, retired conductor of the “President’s Own” United States Marine Band. Mr. Grijalva was also principal saxophonist on four compact discs produced by Northern Arizona University. Two of the recordings were in collaboration with The William Grant Still Foundation, including a multi-cultural program promoting African-American composers that airs regularly on NPR.

Mr. Grijalva holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Saxophone Performance, for which his teachers were Dr. Michael Hester and Dr. Wildy Zumwalt, and a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Conducting, earned under Dr. Patricia Hoy from Northern Arizona University. 

Founder and Music Director John Thrasher still has a strong passion for music and music education. After his retirement from Glendale Community College in 1999, he continues to work with young musicians in the Deer Valley Unified School District as Band Director for Mountain Shadows and Legend Springs Elementary Schools.  Thrasher is active as a guest conductor, clinician and trumpet instructor, working with students from elementary school through college. He also is the director of the over 300 member "Play It Again Band", founded in 1987 for the Fiesta Bowl Parade.

Throughout his career, John Thrasher has been a part of many music professional and educational organizations in the US. He is past president of the College Band Directors National Association (C.B.D.N.A.), Western Division. He is also a member of the Arizona Music Educators Association and Music Educators National Conference, and is a life member of the C.B.D.N.A.

Prior to his retirement, he taught for the Northern Arizona University Summer Music Camp, his alma mater, for 23 years. He also played trumpet for the duration of the Festival Symphony and the Festival Brass Quintet. In 1997, he received the "Distinguished Alumni Award" from Northern Arizona University.