Cody Hinson

Director 

​Cody has been heavily involved with music and the marching arts ever since the age of 13 when he attended Powhatan High School and was a member of their successful marching band and Varsity Indoor Percussion ensemble.

After graduating, Cody attended Longwood University and studied Music Education under Simpson Distinguished Professor Dr. Gordon Ring. In 2018 Cody established Empyrean Winds as the first ensemble to perform under the Empyrean Performing Arts banner, and has since directed them to see continuous growth during each competitive season.

Cody currently consults with numerous high school marching bands in the central and southwest Virginia areas and serves as the assistant marching band director for Cumberland High School.

Savanna Harrison

​Assistant Director

​Savanna has been involved in the performing arts since middle school and music as a whole since elementary school. During this time she has explored many different aspects of the activity. Throughout high school she competed with Powhatan High Schools marching band in the fall as well as their indoor drumline and winter guard programs. She later joined Empyrean winds for the 2020 season and maintained involvement through the pandemic for a strong return in the 2022 season as horn line captain. Savanna has earned an associates degree in social sciences and currently attends High Point University as a music major with plans to pursue music education. She is involved in university wind ensemble and the Spirit of High Point marching band.

Matt Hahn

Music Arranger

Matt Hahn is an active designer and percussion educator in the Dayton, OH area. Matt is currently the Front Ensemble and Sound Designer for the Madison Scouts Drum And Bugle Corps. In 2012, Matt founded Resonant Music Design, a company specializing in marching arts design and education of all kinds. You can view samples of his work at www.resonantmusicdesign.com.

Matt was a member of Rhythm X from 2005 - 2008 and was a staff member from 2009 - 2015. Matt also was a member of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps from 2006 - 2007 in the front ensemble, and was a staff member from 2009 - 2012. Matt graduated from Miami University (OH) in 2008 with a Bachelor's of Arts in Music Education degree. 

In 2013, Matt was elected to the Board of Directors of the Mid East Performance Association (MEPA) circuit and was recently elected as Vice President of Percussion for the circuit.
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Matt is a proud sponsor of Innovative Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, and Evans/Planet Waves products. He currently lives in Springboro, OH with his wife Sara, his sons Micah and Ezra, and their dog Remi.

Matt Hartwell

Drill Writer 

Matt is the current Staff Coordinator & Visual Caption Head for Pulse Percussion. Matt has marched with Capital Regiment, The Cavaliers, and Aimachi Marching Band. Matt is a full time drill designer and teacher. He has taught The Santa Clara Vanguard since 2010 and served as the visual caption head from 2017 to 2022. In 2010, he had the extreme honor of designing a production for His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said’s Royal Guard of Oman Marching Band. Matt spends his month of May working as the Show Director for a Drum Corps style stage show called "Mix It Up" at Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, VA. Matt is a full-time visual designer and instructor based out of Anaheim, CA.

Alex Askew

Music Co-Caption Head

​Alex AsKew currently resides in Winston Salem NC. He was born and raised in Greensboro and attending Ragsdale High School. Afterwards, he attended UNC Greensboro and received his undergraduate degree in music education in 2016. He taught at Cuthbertson High School from 2016-2018, and then moved to East Forsyth High School where he has been teaching for five years. He currently lives in Winston Salem with his wonderful wife, Emily AsKew.

Alex has performed in many different kinds of groups- collegiate orchestras and bands, brass quintets, chamber ensembles, brass bands, marching bands. He also performed with the Spirit of Atlanta Drum and Bugle corps from 2010 to 2013, and won back to back DCI Championships with the Concord Blue Devils in 2014 and 2015. 

Alex currently works with the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle corps as a brass tech, works at High Point University as program coordinator for the marching band, plays horn with the Guilded Brass Quintet, plays horn and trumpet with the Winston Salem Civic Orchestra, conducts the Triad Area Medical Orchestra, conducts the Wachovia Winds Youth Wind Ensemble, and serves as the Clinic Chair for the Northwest Band Directors Association.

David Norton

Music Co-Caption Head

David Norton grew up in Cary, North Carolina and quickly fell in love with music through piano, singing, band, and of course the marching arts throughout his school years. David earned a BM in Music Education from the University of North Carolina- Greensboro in 2021, and has previously taught marching band as well as middle school general music classes in Davidson County Schools.

In addition to high school marching band, David also participated in "The Power Sound of the South" at NC State, "Bands of Sparta" at UNCG, and marched three summers of drum corps from 2018-2021 with Blue Stars, The Academy, and the Oregon Crusaders.

David currently serves as the band director at Thomasville Middle School, and assists with the marching band at East Forsyth High School. When not teaching, he enjoys playing euphonium in the Greensboro concert band, running, hiking, and hanging out with his dog, Summer. David resides in High Point, NC.

Matt Harloff

Music Consultant

After graduating from Indiana University in 1996 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education, Matt Harloff was appointed the Assistant Band Director at Avon High School in Avon, IN. He earned a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Indianapolis in 2001.

Matt co-conducts all five concert bands at Avon HS. The Avon Wind Symphony has had the honor of performing at the Indiana Music Educators Association Conference, as well as Indiana State Concert Band Championships where they have been named Indiana State Concert Band Champions numerous times. Mr. Harloff is the conductor of the Avon Brass Choir which has performed throughout the Midwest and shared concerts with various collegiate brass choirs including the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Brass Ensemble. The Avon Brass Choir was honored to be a performing ensemble at the 2015 Midwest Band & Orchestra Clinic. Mr. Harloff is one of the directors for the Avon Marching Black & Gold - a group that has won numerous Indiana State Marching Band Championships, been a consistent Bands of America Grand National Finalist, including being named Grand National Champion several times, and has also performed in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade.

In 2003, Matt joined Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps as the Brass Caption Head. Matt, with the support of management, a committed staff, and talented members, has built CrownBRASS to be one of the elite programs in the country. The Carolina Crown Brass Section has been awarded the Jim Ott Memorial Award for Excellence in Brass several times. Carolina Crown is a consistent Drum Corps International World Class Finalist and celebrated their first ever DCI World Class World Championship in the summer of 2013. Matt was a performing member of the DCI World Champion Star of Indiana Drum and Bugle Corps from 1989-1995 and was drum major in 1993.

Matt Harloff is proud to be a Yamaha Performing Artist.
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Matt is a native of Mt. Pleasant, IA, and is very proud of his musical family. His father, Bill is a retired band director and his brother Ben is a band director in Minnesota. Matt’s most important job is helping raise his two beautiful children, Tyson and Shaelyn. Matt is married to his wonderful wife, Susie, who shares his passion for the happiest place on earth: Walt Disney World.

Ryan Scott

Program Designer

Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Ryan has been actively involved with the Marching Arts since age 13. Beginning with the award winning Mills E. Godwin drumline, Ryan then marched bass drum with United Percussion in 2009 and with the George Mason University Indoor Drumline from 2010 - 2013 – winning the WGI Independent Open Class gold medal in 2012 and finishing 8th in the Independent World Class in 2013. Ryan also marched bass drum with Spirit of Atlanta Drum and Bugle Corps from 2010 to 2012, performing as a DCI Finalist in each of their last two seasons. In 2015, Ryan served as a Bass Technician for Spirit of Atlanta and was on staff as Bass Technician for the George Mason University Indoor Drumline from 2014 to 2018. 

In 2019, Ryan joined the Empyrean Performing Arts team, serving as the Program Designer for Empyrean Winds and additionally serving as the Director and Creative Director of Empyrean Percussion. 

Ryan is a graduate of the Virginia Commonwealth University Psychology program with a minor in Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies and is the Operations Coordinator for a VR/AR company based in Ashburn, VA. Residing in Herndon, VA with their spouse Lilianna and two cats, Remus and Tonks, Ryan likes to spend their free time playing video games, plane spotting and watching horror movies. ​

Jessica Mishico

Creative Director

Jessica serves as the choreographer and Creative Director of Empyrean Winds. She began her marching career with the Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets in 2013 where she earned her first Drum Corp International Open Class championship. She remained a member of the Vanguard Cadets during the 2014, 2015, and 2017 seasons, winning two more additional championships as well as one silver medal. For her age out season in 2018, she marched with the Santa Clara Vanguard where she helped them win the Drum Corp International World Class championship for the first time in more than fifteen years. Additionally, she was a member of George Mason University's Indoor Winter Guard during their inaugural season in 2018 helping them reach open class finals at WGI World Championships. 

Kirsten Vis

Woodwind Technician

Timmy Bright

Visual Technician

Timothy started his marching career on mellophone with the Liberty High School Marching Eagles. After his high school career he marched mellophone with the Jersey Surf in 2019 and aged out with the Jersey Surf Color Guard  in 2022. Additionally, he marched Contra with Empyrean in 2020 and spun with Revolutionary Winter Guard for their 2022 season.

Attending Old Dominion University from 2019-21 majoring in Music Education with a primary in bassoon performance. At ODU he was the principal bassoon in the universities wind ensemble, symphony orchestra, and chamber wind ensemble. Additionally he was a member of the Pride of Old Dominion’s color guard.

Timothy is currently serving active duty in the Navy and has plans to return to music school after his naval career.

Evan Chown

Visual Consultant

​Evan Chown is an experienced visual designer, instructor, and educator based in Virginia. He marched with Jersey Surf from 2017-2020 and was on their visual staff for the 2022 season. He will also be returning to Surf on the visual team again for the upcoming 2023 season. Currently, Evan is the lead Visual Coordinator at Ocean Lakes Highschool.

Evan has had the opportunity to teach and assist multiple different ensembles in both instructional and design roles throughout the Virginia Beach area. From 2018-2019 Evan worked with Landstown High school, his alma mater, on the visual instructional staff. In the summer of 2021, Evan was chosen to be the lead Visual Coordinator at Ocean Lakes High school. His past accomplishments include various leadership positions in high school including head drum major when Landstown HS won State Championships in 2016. He also served as Horn Sergeant at Jersey Surf in 2019.

​Evan is an alumnus of Tidewater Community College where he earned his associate’s degree in general studies in preparation for transfer to James Madison University for his bachelor’s degree in Music Education. While at TCC, he performed with the Blue Moon Jazz band, and plans to be in various ensembles once he transfers this spring.

Caleb Freeman

Visual Technician

Jabrond “JB” Gamble

​Audio Engineer

​Jabrond is a freelance Musician and sound engineer and currently resides in the greater Richmond, VA area. Jabrond is an active consultant, clinician, and instructor on the east coast. His skills learned by engineering venues, concerts, and various outdoor events have proved invaluable in the marching arts and beyond.

Jabrond is an audio engineer with The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps and has held that position since 2021. He is also the Assistant Director at Powhatan High School in Powhatan, Virginia and has been the Front Ensemble Coordinator and Sound Designer for the award winning Indoor Drumlines there since 2012. In addition, he is in charge of all things audio for the entire district.