Andrew Allegretti

Andrew studied music theory at Brown University as an undergraduate and later graduated from Brown Medical School in 2010. While there, he played in the Brown Wind Symphony, Brown Jazz Band, and was a founding member of the Smokin' Reed Saxtet, Brown's premiere all-saxophone chamber ensemble. He has studied saxophone with Brian Sparks, Ed Tomassi, and Bill Vint and has performed with prominent musicians including Bob Mintzer, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Joe Lovano, and David Amram. In 2010, Andrew moved to Boston where he completed internal medicine and nephrology training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is now does research and is a nephrologist at Massacgusetts General Hospital. He joined the Saxyderms in 2011 and has served as the assistant director since 2013. He and his wife live in Cambridge.

Laura Bailey

Laura is the elementary instrumental music teacher for the Riverside and Highlands schools in Danvers, Massachusetts. She studied saxophone at The University of Massachusetts - Lowell, where she received both her bachelor's and master's degrees in music education. During her time at UMass she performed with the University Marching Band, Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Saxophone Quartet, and the Jazz-Rock Big Band. Since graduating, Laura has performed in a number of ensembles including the Atlantic Wind Symphony, the North Shore Philharmonic, the Concord Band, the Middlesex Concert Band, the Harvard University Wind Ensemble, and the Metropolitan Wind Symphony.

Tom Beraldi

Tom studied concert percussion and steel drums at Florida State University while he was supposed to be studying political science and Spanish. He later went on to Tufts University where he earned his master’s degree in urban planning even though he continued to sneak off to play in numerous musical theatre productions sponsored by the student-led troupe Torn Ticket II. He has served as the principal percussionist of the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra, Seminole County Honor Band, and Tufts University Wind Ensemble. He also has been a section percussionist with the Middlesex Concert Band and the Metropolitan Wind Symphony. He is the Saxyderms’ founding soprano saxophonist but being a percussionist at heart and thanks to our now-stellar soprano section he is delighted to be doing more conducting, arranging, and occasional cowbell support. During the day Tom is a college administrator and policy researcher. Tom’s interests include doing impressions of his dad, parallel parking, getting hospitalized frequently, making craft cocktails, and engaging in critical analysis of mac ‘n’ cheese dishes with his wife Emmy.

Ethan Brush

When it came time to choose an instrument in elementary school, Ethan could not decide which one was for him. Fortunately, his mother took care of things and signed him up for the saxophone at the tender age of 9. Notable accolades include sitting first chair baritone sax in the Vermont All-State and All-New England wind ensembles as well as the Vermont All-State jazz band. In college, Ethan played alto sax for a number of local funk/groove bands around the University of Maine campus and in the UMaine jazz ensemble under the direction of Karl Lidral. After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering Ethan moved to the Boston area and was the Saxyderms' first baritone player when the group was founded in 2006. Ethan left the group for two years for the cornfields of Indiana to get a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. He triumphantly returned to the Saxyderms in 2009. He currently works at Acentech, an engineering acoustics and vibrations consulting firm in Cambridge, MA. Ethan's other interests include bicycling, skiing, and basketball.

Jessica Destramp

Jess earned a bachelor's degree in jazz saxophone performance at the University of Rhode Island where she was the recipient of the Presser Scholar Award, given to an outstanding musician in his/her senior year, and the Presidential Award, earned by the graduating senior with the highest GPA in his/her field. She completed her master's degree in music theory at Tufts University studying with Janet Schmalfeldt. Jess has performed with the URI Wind Ensemble, URI saxophone quartet, URI big band, URI jazz combos, and The Ticonderogas, a Rhode Island-based ska group. She is also a freelance performer for local composers in the Boston area. When she's not playing awesome music with the Saxyderms, Jess teaches middle school general music and band at Innovation Academy Charter School in Tyngsboro, MA.

Nick Dragoni

Nick studied sound recording technology at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He works at Acentech as a technical assistant, managing the company’s instrumentation lab and supports their sound lab as well. Nick is also a freelance mastering engineer which means he makes recordings sound awesome. He has played in a number of ensembles at UMass-Lowell where he first met Laura Bailey (cue: “Reunited and It Feels So Good”). A survey of social media platforms also indicates that Nick may have once been a stunt double for a young Jonathan Frakes.

Michael Feldman

Michael has been playing alto and tenor saxophone since 1997. He has played in various concert and jazz bands as well as several chamber music groups over the years, most notably the Smokin' Reed Saxtet of Brown University where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science. Michael originally moved to the Boston area to work at Harmonix Music Systems as a software engineer, programming audio and gameplay systems of music video games. He now works at Proletarian, a game development company. When he's not at work, he enjoys playing video games, launching model rockets, and arranging music for the Saxyderms.

Peter Goransson

Peter was born in Venezuela on public television with a saxophone already in hand. At Tufts, Peter studied computer engineering and astrophysics, competed for the cross country and track teams, and traveled the world climbing mountains. In 2012, Peter completed his master's degree in computer systems engineering at Northeastern University, and now works as a senior software engineer at Curriculum Associates. He is also a member of the Boston area’s most beloved New Orleans brass band, Dirty Water Brass Band. He now lives with his wife Rachel in the tiny suburb of Tyngsborough where he raises chickens.

Steven Hatcher

Steven was born and raised in the vibrant city of Austin, Texas. He then moved up to Dallas for five years where he obtained a bachelor's and master's degree in electrical engineering from Southern Methodist University. During his time in high school and college, he participated in all possible ensembles where a saxophone was welcome - from marching band to jazz bands large and small, with some concert band and saxophone ensembles sprinkled in. Steven currently works at MathWorks as a software engineer, enjoying the mix of engineering, math, and software that working on a product like MATLAB provides. He currently resides in Belmont, Massachusetts, with his better half and wife, Katie, and a few too many cats.

Jordan Jastrab

Jordan is the co-founder of the Saxyderms and although he left for 9 years he returned to the group in 2019 with about 10 doctorates.

Nathan Lamy

Nathan is a recent graduate of Southern New Hampshire University and teaches middle school music in the Litchfield, New Hampshire public schools. As a percussionist and vocalist he has performed with numerous ensembles including the SNHU Wind Symphony, SNHU Concert Choir, SNHU Jazz Ensemble, Mount Washington Valley Community Band, and North Conway Community Orchestra. While Nathan is skilled in the entire family of percussion instruments, he is developing a really impressive niche as a melodica virtuoso.

Noam Levine

Noam discovered the baritone saxophone in high school in Columbia, Maryland, and hasn't looked back since. Prior to joining the Saxyderms in 2016, Noam played at the John Payne Music Center in Brookline, MA for over 20 years in a number of small jazz ensembles and held down the baritone saxophone chair for the Center's Saxophone Choir. He also performs occasionally with other combos and big bands in the Boston area. He attended Boston University and Northeastern University in the pre-internet era, earning BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering. Noam works in technical marketing and business development for a Boston-area software company and plays with cars in his spare time. He and his family live in Arlington.

Amara Lucci-McShain

Amara started her musical career playing the trumpet in the fourth grade. Apparently her practicing only kept the neighbors up, so she switched to saxophone in the sixth grade. She chose the saxophone because it has the most keys, and more is better, right? In her youth Amara played in the Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble at the New England Conservatory, the Patrick S. Gilmore Society Honors Community Band, and the Massachusetts All-State Band. She had a brief stint writing music with a singer-songwriter and doing the coffee house thing. Of course she couldn't live without playing sax, so she dusted off the old horn and got to work searching for groups to play with. She played soprano and alto with the Sultans of Sax for six years, and is currently principal saxophone in the Metropolitan Wind Symphony. In the daylight hours Amara wears many professional hats, in the travel and culinary industries. In her free time, Amara loves to travel, cook, arrange music, and be with her family. She has grand dreams of one day playing with a bell choir or whistling choir.

Nicole Mlyncazk

Born in Virginia and raised outside of Buffalo, New York by a family of musicians, Nicole was destined to be a band director and educator like her parents, regardless of how much she dreamt of becoming a lawyer (which would have made her parents very happy). A classically trained clarinetist and saxophone doubler, Nicole explored her semi-southern roots and moved to Louisiana where she went to school at Louisiana State University, majoring in clarinet performance and music education. Instead of going to law school, she embraced the inevitable, returning to LSU after teaching elementary music for a year to earn a Master of Music in music education with a concentration in wind conducting, making her parents a different kind of happy. After teaching band for almost a decade, she and her dog chased a boy (her husband, John) 1,750 miles up north to Boston where she currently works at Berklee College of Music as a career advisor, supporting and educating students and alumni in career and professional skill development. Nicole plays clarinet in the Metropolitan Wind Symphony and conducts as often as possible, working with groups young and not as young.

Kose Yamaguchi

Kose has been internationally performing since 1990. He has vast knowledge and experience in different styles of music such including classical, jazz, Japanese, Cuban, Brazilian, Andean, Afro Peruvian, R&B, Haitian, Cape Verdean, Chilean and Argentinean. He has worked on concerts with notables such as Youssou N'Dour, Kassav, Martinho da Villa, Milton Nascimento, Huey Lewis and The News, Toots and Maytals, Daniela Schächter and Mauricio Zottarelli among others. He has also worked on numerous recordings with Frantz Rolles of Legendary Haitian Group Volo Volo. Besides the Saxyderms, Kose locally performs in Boston area with Po-Boys, Eleanor and The Tasties, and Bloco Afrobrazil.