We have great pleasure in announcing the winners for these awards for 2026.
The International Trombone Association presents several awards each year. The individual awards are the ITA Award, presented annually to an individual who has greatly influenced the field of trombone; the Neill Humfeld Award, which recognizes outstanding trombone teaching while honoring the teaching excellence of the late Neill Humfeld; the Legacy Circle Award, which recognizes unparalleled accomplishments in the trombone community; and the Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors contributions to the trombone profession over the course of a long career.
ITA award
Katy Jones
Principal Trombone of Manchester’s world-renowned Hallé orchestra since 2012, Katy Jones was previously the first ever female brass principal in the history of the London Symphony Orchestra. She can be heard on numerous soundtracks, including Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, The Marvels, and the Harry Potter series. As a young student, Katy won the Don Lusher Prize in the BBC Big Band Competition, BBC Young Musician of the Year Brass Prize, and was a finalist in the Shell/LSO competition. More recently she has received the Sheila Tracy Award, as well as Teacher of the Year, and Player of the Year awards, nominated and voted for by the British Trombone Society Membership. An alumni of the pan-European Gustav Mahler Jügendorchester, she continues to be a member of Fine Arts Brass, and a regular guest with many other UK orchestras, plus the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Senior trombone tutor at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music and a National Youth Orchestra coach, Katy is also on the faculty of the OAcademy, working online with students from across the world. As a soloist and clinician she has appeared worldwide, including at the Arctic Trombone Festival, Dublin Brass Week, and several International Trombone Festivals. In 2019 Katy gave the world première of John Casken’s concerto The Madonna of Silence with the Hallé, broadcast by BBC Radio 3. Confirmed plans this year include visits to the Cimvo Brass Festival (Spain) and Gravissimo in Portugal and she will be a member of the jury at the Aeolus Competition 2026.
Katy has a Master’s Degree in Pharmacy, and has maintained an active interest in health education and injury prevention throughout her career. She was awarded a Senior Fellowship at the RNCM in recognition of the broad scope of her work. Continually pursuing her extensive research into breathing, and the impact it has on our anatomy and physiology, she is fully qualified to teach the Buteyko method and has presented successful lectures and workshops for many students and professionals of all instruments. Her aim is to enable all students of music to become more confident and articulate about their own bodies and health, whilst providing them with the foundations of good breathing practice.
Katy comes from a rural area on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales in the UK, and began playing the trombone in Kirkby Lonsdale Brass Band. Recognising this route as an essential path for professional British brass players, she started a new Youth Band in her current Yorkshire village, which is building in strength every year. She is a regular supporter of the British Trombone Society, an organisation which inspired her as a very young player and allowed her to meet and learn from former recipients of this ITA award, such as Ian Bousfield and Don Lusher.
The neill humfeld award
Niels-Ole Bo Johansen
Born in 1961, Niels-Ole Bo Johansen grew up in his native Viborg, Denmark, where his musical journey began at the age of seven as a euphonium player in the local youth wind band. At sixteen he switched to the trombone, and just three years later, in 1981, he secured his first professional position as bass trombonist in The Prince of Denmark Regimental – 4 years later auditioning for the Funen Life Guard Band – this time as principal trombonist.
Johansen served in the military until the age of 25, when he successfully auditioned for the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, where he remained a member until 1998.
His first teacher was the trumpeter John Leth, the energetic conductor of the local wind band in Viborg. After changing to trombone, Johansen began studying with Rolf Sandmark, who had recently been appointed principal trombonist of the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. Further artistic inspiration came from leading international trombonists including Ingemar Roos (Sweden), Ron Barron (USA) and, not least, Benny Sluchin (France), with whom Johansen undertook an extended period of study in Paris.
Alongside his orchestral career, Niels-Ole Bo Johansen has been highly active as both a chamber musician and a soloist. He was a co-founder of Århus Sinfonietta and has maintained long-standing artistic collaborations with the organist Ulrik Spang-Hanssen and the pianist Erik Kaltoft. Together they have recorded the majority of Johansen’s extensive CD-output.
As a soloist, Johansen has released approximately 20 CDs and has appeared on numerous recordings with ensembles including the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Århus Sinfonietta, Aarhus Jazz Orchestra and New Music Orchestra. His discography also includes collaborations with prominent Danish jazz, pop and rock artists.
Teaching has been an integral part of Johansen’s professional life from an early stage. Already as a young army bandsman he taught around fourteen young trombone students on a weekly basis and conducted amateur wind and brass bands. In 1988 he was offered teaching positions at smaller academies in Denmark and Norway, and the following year he was invited to join the faculty of the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. He was promoted to Associate Professor (Docent) in 1995 and, following a successful audition, appointed Full Professor of Trombone and Chamber Music in 2000.
Over the years, around 100 trombone students have studied with Niels-Ole Bo Johansen, with very few exceptions now active in professional musical life.
Niels-Ole Bo Johansen was first invited to perform at the International Trombone Festival in Feldkirch, Austria, in 1996, and has since appeared at festivals in Helsinki, Las Vegas, Beijing, Rotterdam and Nashville. In 2009 he hosted the International Trombone Festival at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark. He served alongside John Drew and Tom Plsek on the first ITF Board until 2017, helping to facilitate festivals around the world. He also served as Second Vice-President of the International Trombone Association from 2011 to 2014.
The 2025–26 academic year has been particularly busy, featuring guest teaching engagements and masterclasses at the University of Stavanger in connection with the Bjergsted Brass Festival, Toneheim Folk High School in Norway, the conservatoires in Vicenza and Málaga, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany. Later this year Johansen will travel to Barcelona to teach at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya.
Together with colleagues he will also take part in the 3rd European Low Brass Festival, to be held in September this year in Stavanger, Norway. In the spring he will host no fewer than four masterclasses at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus.
In parallel with this extensive international activity, Johansen is currently working on a book about the history and traditions of the trombone in Denmark. Based on interviews with leading trombonists, the book aims to document the development of the Danish trombone tradition from 1940 to the present day, focusing on key figures, repertoire and stylistic trends.
Furthermore, Niels-Ole Bo Johansen is closely involved in the organisation of the 1st International Christian Lindberg Solo Competition for brass and percussion, to be held at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus from 13 to 19 September 2027.
lifetime achievement award
Gordon Cherry
Gordon Cherry grew up in Toronto, Canada and took up the trombone at age 11. His family was always very encouraging to his love of music and the trombone. Those early years included studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
He attended performances of the Toronto Symphony and opera regularly and became enthralled with the sound of the low brass and in particular principal trombonist, Gordon Pulis, whose magical sound and style was an epiphany and lifelong inspiration.
Gordon Cherry performed as the Principal Trombonist of the Vancouver Symphony and C.B.C. Vancouver Radio Orchestra from 1974 to 2009 working under conductors Kazuyoshi Akiyama, John Avison, Rudolf Barshai, Sergiu Comissiona, Bramwell Tovey and Alain Trudel as well as hundreds of guest conductors. Previously, he performed in the same capacity with the National Arts Centre Orchestra under Maestro Mario Bernardi from 1970 to 1974, starting while he was still in school with the encouragement of Emory Remington and trumpet virtuoso Frederick Mills.
The Vancouver Symphony low brass section was one of the highlights of Gordon’s musical life and performed together for 33 seasons featuring Gregory Cox on 2nd, Douglas Sparkes on Bass with Dennis Miller and Ellis Wean on Tuba.
Gordon was honored to study with legendary teacher and mentor Emory Remington at the Eastman School of Music. Remington had a major impact on his life musically and personally, preparing him for his career in music and the rigors of life. Ralph Sauer, Gordon Pulis, Henry Charles Smith III, Edwin Anderson, Eugene Watts, Donald Knaub and Donald Hunsberger were also very big influences in his career and helped him in many ways. His colleagues from Eastman are still a big part of his life and they meet regularly on Zoom to reminisce about their time at Eastman and their lives and careers.
Gordon taught at the University of British Columbia School of Music from 1975 to 2007, teaching and encouraging many students who have positions in orchestras and educational institutions worldwide. During that time Gordon conducted brass ensembles and a long-standing trombone choir for over 30 years.
Gordon was active during the summers and taught at a number of great festivals including the Banff Festival, Courtenay Music Centre, Saskatchewan Band Camp, the Waterloo Festival Orchestra under the baton of Gerard Schwarz in New Jersey, the S.O.A.P Festival and PRISMA Festival in Powell River as well as the VSO Institute of Music Festival in Whistler, BC.
As a soloist he has performed with orchestras, bands and chamber groups including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the CBC Radio Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the VSO Brass Quintet, the Vancouver New Music Society, the UBC Wind Ensemble, the Northern Symphony in Prince George and the Greenwood Concert Band. He is also a clinician and is asked to do masterclasses for trombone and brass at many institutions.
Gordon runs Cherry Classics Music, a publisher of high-quality music for brass with over 2,000 works in the catalog. He started by self-publishing his own arrangements and selling them online while still performing in the orchestra. This eventually grew as composers and arrangers discovered a new publisher on the scene who worked with attention to detail and respect of their artistry. Much of the success of Cherry Classics is due to the incredible talents of over 250 composers and arrangers, Gordon’s Associates, as he calls them. Getting to work with them daily is a real inspiration. In particular, he and Ralph Sauer have formed a special collaboration over the years and have jointly published over 600 works for brass including the amazing Practice With Bach series and other innovative works that have become almost legendary in their day.
Gordon has been a longtime member of the The International Trombone Association and is humbled by the recent honor of receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award.Gordon’s wife Joyce, an elementary school teacher, has been his longtime partner for over 54 years as well as his very accomplished accompanist and collaborator on countless recitals and concerts. He is also blessed with a wonderful and loving family, daughterRebecca, a violinist; her husband Yossi and their daughter Ara; and son Avi, a software engineer.
legacy circle award
James Erdman
A treasure within our trombone community, Jim contributed a legacy of incredible musicianship, countless unbelievable and true stories, and a web of people whose lives he touched in profound ways. Jim was known especially for his Arthur Pryor-like style and musical charm as well as his soulful renditions of popular song. His performances of Annie Laurie, Thoughts of Love, Tara’s Theme, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Concerto, amongst so many others, were masterpieces.
During his tenure at Lebanon Valley, he influenced many students, often those not even in his own studio. His gift for music was infections and sought out by many. He founded the trombone quartet, “Die Posaunen,” the only quartet-in-residence at the time. Their work resulted in a number of new unique quartet arrangements.
Jim served the International Trombone Association for years. He attended festivals and offered his expertise for thousands. He was a recurring judge for the Larry Wiehe competition. He and the late Dr. Vern Kagarice became close friends and collaborated on trombone ensemble arrangements as well.
During his time in the Marine Band, he performed alongside his two brothers, Fred and Tim, both trumpet players. He played for five American presidents and performed with Frank Sinatra as well as Louis Armstrong. He loved the Green Bay Packers and once met Bart Starr on a Marine band tour. Jim also had another brother, Michael.
