Dakota Corbliss, Horn

Dr. Dakota Corbliss is currently the assistant professor of french horn and the director of graduate studies in music performance in the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University. As an ensemble performer, Dr. Corbliss is the Fourth Horn in the Western Piedmont Symphony while playing frequently with many other regional orchestras including the North Carolina Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Augusta Symphony, Virginia Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, and Long Bay Symphony. In the past, he has performed with the likes of New World Symphony, Miami City Ballet, the United States Navy Band Southwest, the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band, South Florida Philharmonic, and many others.

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An avid chamber musician, Dr. Corbliss helped found Vice City Brass, a collective of brass and electronic musicians aiming to bridge the generational gap between the past, present, and future. Corbliss has recently co-founded a new music group called PIVOT, a horn and saxophone duo dedicated to promoting perspective shifts among their audience.

In an administrative role, Dr. Corbliss is currently the Chief Operations Officer for the Brass Institutes of America, a series of brass chamber music festivals that take place across the country. He has also worked logistics on many projects including the Savvy Arts Venture Challenge and the College Music Society Summit.

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Dr. Corbliss holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from University of South Carolina. He earned a Masters of Music at the University of Miami, and a Bachelor of Arts at Virginia Tech.

Abigail Pack, Horn

Dr. Abigail Pack, Professor of Horn at UNCG and a native of Roanoke, Virginia, received her training from East Carolina University (BMA), University of Iowa (MM), and University of Wisconsin-Madison (DMA) where she was a Bolz Teaching Fellow.  Before assuming her current position at UNCG she was horn faculty at James Madison University from 2001 to 2008.  She has also been on faculty at Knox College in Galesburg, Il, Western State College in Gunnison, CO and in the Gunnison Watershed School District.  An avid symphony player Dr. Pack has held positions with the Barton Symphony Orchestra, Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Green-Bay Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and currently has a position with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, the Southwest Chamber Orchestra, the Greensboro Opera, Amici Musicorum (chamber orchestra),  and the Opera Roanoke Orchestra.  Other orchestral subbing engagements include the Greensboro Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, and the Charlotte Symphony. Other venues have included performances with the Western Piedmont Wind Symphony, North Carolina Brass Band, the Iowa Brass Quintet, Western Slope Brass Band, and Massanutten Brass Band.  Performance and presentation highlights include the National Flute Association (Washington DC with the Montpelier Winds), the International Horn Symposium (University of Cape Town, South Africa, Ithaca, NY, Montreal, Canada), the International Midwest Band and Orchestra Conference (Chicago 2009, 2022), International Double Reed Society (Athens, GA), Western International Band Clinic (2022), the American Band College (2017, 2021, 2024) and The Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts (Washington).  She is a founding member of System 5 Brass Quintet and CORalina Horn Quartet and can be heard on the Centaur label.