The Dream of Angus

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Francesca Arnone has been featured as a flute and piccolo soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and educator in the US and abroad. She has held Principal Flute, Second Flute, and Piccolo positions in orchestras in the US and Mexico and currently performs with orchestras and opera companies throughout Florida. Now the flute professor at the University of South Florida, Dr. Arnone, has taught at Boise State, West Virginia, and Baylor universities, as well as many summer festivals and camps. She has been a concerto soloist and recording artist on flute, alto flute, and piccolo, in repertoire ranging from Bach to Chen Yi. Raised in Port Charlotte, Florida, Dr. Arnone is a grateful musician nurtured by music educators in the Florida school system. Please see www.francescaarnone.com

Amy Collins has served as adjunct Professor of Oboe at The University of South Florida since 2004. She leads a diverse and active career as a performer and educator throughout the greater Tampa Bay area. She spends her summers on the faculty of The Governors School for the Arts in Tennessee and teaches and performs in several summer music festivals throughout Europe. She performs regularly with a myriad of ensembles in the Tampa Bay area including as Principal Oboist in both The Venice Symphony and The Villages Philharmonic. 

Collins also regularly performed for the numerous touring Broadway productions, The New York City Opera Company, Miami City Ballet Company, Joffrey Ballet, The Moisiev Ballet, Mannheim Steamroller, Cirque de Sole, and with such greats as Andrea Bocelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Tony Bennett, Diana Ross, Josh Groban, Lindsey Stirling, and Evanescence to name a few. She was honored in the Fall of 2007 to perform for Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in Rome, Italy, where she made history as being the first instrumentalist to perform in the Basilica of St. Peters since Pope John Paul I. Collins is president of her own business; The Stellar Corporation, Inc. dba Stellar Oboe Products. In 2023, The Stellar Corporation, Inc. celebrates twenty-five years in business.

Tony Negron has enjoyed a richly varied career as a professional clarinetist, chamber musician, concerto soloist, and music educator. As a performer, Tony serves as principal clarinet with the Florida Wind Band and second clarinet with the Punta Gorda Symphony. He has performed with The Florida Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic, and Disney Candlelight Orchestra. Tony has won several competitions, including first place in the Robert Shankovich Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition with Scott McAllister's Black Dog. He has been a featured soloist with Alia Musica Pittsburgh, the Duquesne Symphony Orchestra & Wind Ensemble, and the Florida Wind Band. He served as a resident artist with the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay and has been a featured artist on Pittsburgh’s Classical Music Radio Station WQED 89.3. Tony has also performed alongside notable musical acts, including Celtic Thunder, the Italian pop opera trio Il Volo, Il Divo, and Sarah Brightman. 

Javi Rodriguez is the band and chorus teacher at Tinker K8 on base at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. He teaches music lessons (bass guitar, drum set, acoustic/electric guitar, and voice) at the Studio of South Tampa. Javi earned his Bachelor of Music at the University of South Florida and his Master of Music at Baylor University. Javi is a freelance bassoonist, playing with Venice Symphony and the Gulf Coast Symphony. He is constantly inspired by his students and hopes to pass on the wisdom and knowledge of his teachers to the next generation! 

Patrick Meighan, the Albert N. Tipton Professor Emeritus of Music at The Florida State University College of Music, was appointed the college’s first artist-teacher of saxophone in 1974 and served in that capacity until his retirement in 2016. Described as “a musician to the fingertips…a golden-toned saxophonist with the nonchalance of mastery” by The Western Australian, he has concertized as a soloist and ensemble recitalist in Australia, China, Colombia, Croatia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Peru, Puerto Rico, Scotland, and throughout the United States. Professor Meighan has been the recipient of a 1988 Partners of the Americas Grant to Colombia; a 1992 Fulbright Grant to Australia; and a bronze medal at The 1993 International Chamber Music Competition and Festa in Osaka, Japan. A student of Galan Kral, Larry Teal, and Sigurd Raschèr - a pioneer of the classical saxophone - he holds degrees from Baldwin-Wallace College and The University of Michigan.