Band Hall of Fame
The members of the BHHS Band Hall of Fame have not only had outstanding accomplishments during their time at Bloomfield Hills, but have also gone on to distinguish themselves musically in their ongoing endeavors.
Ethan Neuvirth
(BHHS '18)
Ethan was in the Grinnell Symphony Orchestra (GSO) for 7 semesters.
Jaron Kirshenbaum
(BHHS '15)
Jaron earned 1s division ratings at S&E every year, was a member of the District 4 Honors Band, and WMU All-Star Band. He served as the Western Michigan University Drum Major. He is currently the director of bands at Holland Woods Middle School.
Nicholas Albaran
(BHHS '18)
Nico is an Alumni brother of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Delta Iota Chapter and marched at Western Michigan University.
He participated in High school Solo & Ensemble while at BHHS and put on a piano recital his senior year
Joe Garascia
(BHHS '16)
Joe received a Division I Rating State Solo and Ensemble, was 4-year member of the Bloomfield Marching and Symphony Bands; 2016 MSBOA Scholar Instrumentalist; 4-year member of the Spartan Marching Band (candidate for Drum Major 2017-19); President and Vice President of ΦΜΑ Music Fraternity Gamma Epsilon Chapter.
Lauren Sofen Soleimani
(AHS '03)
Lauren received the John Philip Sousa award while she was a member of the Andover Band. She participated in the University and Campus Bands while at the University of Michigan and performs with the Detroit Medical Orchestra.
Matthew Gutman
(BHHS '20)
Matthew was a part of the 2019 & 2020 District 4 Honors Band and 2020 All-State Band. He is at MSU where he is a music education major and a member of the Spartan Marching Band.
Ross Federman
(LHS '03)
Ross' primary current musical accolades are the commercial success of of my two music projects Tally Hall (Atlantic Records) and Miracle Musical which currently have ~3.5M monthly listeners combined. He released two records under Tally Hall and performed at various large music festivals including south by southwest and Lollapalooza. He performed on late night television and had songs licensed on major network TV shows including The O.C. and The Goodwife. He also produced several records and EPs throughout this time
Dylan Young
(BHHS '22)
In high school, Dylan Young was selected for the all-state band and was drum major of the BHHS marching band his senior year. He is currently a member of the Michigan Marching Band. His favorite part was being apart of the championship winning season and traveling to the Big 10 Championship, Rose Bowl, and National Championship. In the future, he hopes to teach private brass lessons and play trombone semi-professionally.
Nicholas Simonelli
(BHHS '22)
Nicholas is a trombonist and member of the Bloomfield Hills High School Class of 2022. During his time at BHHS, he was a part of many ensembles including four years in the Black Hawk Marching band, where he also served as an assistant section leader for one year. He additionally played for two years in Symphony Band, four years in Jazz band, two years in the pit orchestra, and two years in the Symphony Orchestra.Nicholas was also a member of the DSO Civic Symphonic Band for two years and the DSO Civic Philharmonic Orchestra for one year. He made the 2021 MSBOA High School All-State Band in his junior year. Nicholas was also a candidate for the Traub music scholarship his senior year.
After graduating from BHHS, Nicholas pursued an education at Michigan State University. Here, he has played trombone in the MSU Concert Orchestra, and Spartan Brass starting in his freshman year. Nicholas is also a member of the Spartan Marching Band as of his sophomore year at MSU. He continues to play in the SMB as a bass trombonist and plans on continuing to play in the Concert Orchestra and Spartan Brass.
Anna (Battle) Baker
(LHS '04)
Anna graduated from Lahser High School in 2004. While in high school she performed at numerous MSBOA solo and ensemble festivals, participated in marching band, jazz band, symphony band, and the symphony orchestra, and performed in the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. After high school, Anna attended Miami University (OH) where she earned her undergraduate degree in PK-12 Music Education. She moved to Van Wert, OH where she taught Kindergarten music and 5-12 band for 10 years at Lincolnview Local Schools. During that time she earned her Masters in Music Education from Kent State University. In 2018 she left teaching music to take on different roles at Vantage Career Center, where she is now the Early Childhood Education instructor. Anna resides in Van Wert, OH with her husband Seth and their two children Grayson and Lettie.
David Reed
(Instructor)
David Reed retired from the Bloomfield Hills Schools after teaching there for 32 years. He has a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Michigan State University and a Master of Music in Violin Performance from the University of Michigan. He has performed with a number of Detroit area orchestras and continues to perform locally as a soloist and in numerous chamber ensembles as well as in Klezundheit. His orchestras at bloomfield were consistently in demand and had been awarded Division I ratings every year during his tenure at Andover High School and Bloomfield Hills High School. His Orchestras performed at concerts and festivals in Edinburgh, Scotland; London, England; Chicago, Orlando and at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Robert Ambrose
(Instructor)
Robert H. Ambrose, 2002 Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association Teacher of the Year, retired in 2015 after 38 ½ years of public school teaching. A graduate of Hope College and the University of Michigan, he spent 28 years at Andover High School , and in 2013, he became director of bands for the newly created Bloomfield High School. Bands under his direction consistently received Division I ratings at MSBOA District and State Festivals and were praised for their musical interpretation and their technical execution. During his tenure at Andover, the Andover High School Bands were featured in the Lord Mayor of Westminster’s New Year’s Day Parade and Concerts in 1996, 2000 and 2008, and the Edinburgh Easter Festival Parade and Concert in 2004 and 2012, and performed at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2010. The Andover Symphony Band was selected to perform at the Midwestern Conference on School Music in Ann Arbor in 1987, 1994, 2001, and the BHHS Symphony Band performed at the Michigan Music Conference in 2014. He lives in West Bloomfield with his wife Laura.
Alumni can apply to be in the BHHS Bands Hall of Fame here: