ACMS Director: Natalia Tomasello |
THS Director: Jesse Steele |
Natalia Tomasello is the band director at Alder Creek Middle School. She is in her 7th year as a music educator. She was previously employed as the Director of Bands at Robert E. McQueen High School in Reno, Nevada (from 2018-2020) and the middle school band director in Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified School District (from 2016-2018). Natalia serves as the President of the Board for Donner Mine Music Camp. She works every aummer for the camp as the musical assistant and librarian. She has been a part of DMMC for over 16 years. This year, she will serve as the Concert Band conductor for DMMC.
Natalia Tomasello currently teaches 6th, 7th and 8th grade band classes and Jazz Band at Alder Creek Middle School. She is an active member of the site council for the school as well. Natalia is an active member in the Truckee Community where she serves for the local P.E.O. organization. She also dedicates her time as a member in the Tahoe Truckee Community Chorus. Natalia attended Fresno State University from 2010-2014, where she graduated with her Bachelor Arts Degree in Music Education. Natalia worked on her Masters in Instrumental Performance and her Single Subject teaching credential in Music from 2014-2016. During her graduate and credential studies, Natalia worked as a Teachers Associate teaching introductory music classes to non-music majors, and she gave saxophone lessons to first year college students. In her last year of her graduate work, Natalia served as a Graduate Assistant for the Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band and Scholarship Bulldog Beat groups under the direction of Steve McKeithen. When Natalia graduated in 2016, she was awarded the Dean’s Medal for the Arts and Humanities Department at Fresno State. Natalia Tomasello is a versatile musician who has been playing and studying saxophone for over half of her life. Throughout her schooling, Natalia has participated in several ensembles including Fresno State’s top wind ensemble, the Fresno State Wind Orchestra. Natalia also became a member of Fresno State’s top jazz ensemble, the Fresno State Jazz Orchestra, where she performed on both tenor saxophone and alto saxophone. Throughout her jazz practice, Natalia focused on woodwind doubling including performing on the flute, piccolo and clarinet. She also spent three years in the Fresno State Scholarship Band “Bulldog Beat.” Natalia was an active member in marching band for 10 years of her life. Through this practice, Natalia has become a leader in both her high school marching band and her college marching band. She has had the honor of serving as the Drum Major for two years each in both her high school and college careers. Natalia Tomasello also enjoyed performing in The Fresno State Saxophone Quartet. She performs as a singer for the Resisting a Rest Acapella group. From 2011-2013 Natalia taught for the Clovis East Marching Band as a Visual and Music coach. She also spent her time giving saxophone lessons to college, high school and middle school students. |
Jesse Steele has been teaching at Truckee High School for the last eleven years. Steele graduated from CSU Sacramento in 2002 with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Music. After performing professionally and giving private lessons in various locations including Maui, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Tahoe, and Reno he went back to school at the University of Nevada Reno. In 2014 he received his teaching credential and Masters in Music Education. He then began teaching at Truckee High School.
The Truckee bands have received numerous awards and nearly unanimous superior festival ratings during his time there. He has received various honors including the Sierra Sun Teacher of the Year Award in 2019 and 2024, the Truckee Sunrise Rotary Teacher of the Year in 2021, and the Linda Brown Fellows Award in 2021. He now resides in Reno with his wife, two children, and two dogs and enjoys skiing, river rafting, and fly fishing when he is not busy performing or teaching. |