Faculty and Staff

Bona Opatich has been teaching musicians in public and private schools for over 30 years. The subjects she has taught include high school, middle school and elementary band and choir, advanced-placement music theory, piano class and studies of jazz. She became the director of the Motor City Youth Brass Band in January 2011.

Miss Opatich received her Bachelor of Music Education from Michigan State University and was the baritone section leader in the Spartan Marching Band. She received a full scholarship for her Master of Music degree from Bowling Green State University, where she was the conductor of the tuba and euphonium ensemble and a graduate assistant.

During her first three years of teaching, Miss Opatich was the K-12 Director of Music in De Tour Village, which is in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Following her Master of Music degree, she became Director of Music at Wayne Trace High School in Paulding, OH. She returned to Michigan in 1996 to teach band in the Waterford School District in the middle school and high school. Miss Opatich also recently directed the Saints Band which is a combination of students from two Catholic Schools in St. Clair Shores.

Throughout her teaching career, Miss Opatich has always been an active performer in many ensembles. Significant are her performances in Europe with the Michigan State Alumni Band, 1995 and with the Empire Statesmen Drum and Bugle Corps from Rochester, New York, 2001, in the United Kingdom, 1997 and in China, 2013. In 1997, she joined Motor City Brass Band to play English Baritone and has been a member of the board of directors as Secretary, Treasurer, Artistic Committee Chair and is currently the Education Outreach Chair.

MCBB is active in the Metropolitan Detroit area as well as elsewhere in the United States. In January of 2001, MCBB performed at the Midwestern Band and Orchestra Clinic in Ann Arbor and in October of 2001 in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. For several summers MCBB was the guest performing ensemble at the Greenfield Village July 4th celebration with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Miss Opatich currently plays Euphonium in Motor City Brass Band and in Detroit Community Concert Band under the direction of Damien Crutcher. She also teaches private euphonium lessons, tutors computers at Oakland Community College, is very active in her church and loves to travel.

Erica studied music at the University of Kansas under Professor Scott Watson, and after a transfer graduated from the University of Arizona in 2018 with a degree in English Literature and a minor in Euphonium Performance. Since 2022 she has been the principal euphonium with the Motor City Academy Brass Band. She has served on the MCABB board as Personnel Manager and is the current Chairperson.

Andrew Cicchelli has played trumpet since age 11, when he started taking private lessons from Ray Oset. While in high school, he performed with the Youth Brass Band of Battle Creek in 2014 and 2015, as well as the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association Honors Band for the Michigan Youth Arts Festival in 2014 and 2015. He also received the John Philip Sousa Award in his final year of high school.

Andrew was introduced to the cornet in his first year of attending Oakland University by playing in the Oakland University Brass Band. During this time, he participated in two award-winning performances in the Dublin Festival of Brass and was principal cornet in the 2019 summer semester. While attending Oakland, he also played with the Symphonic Band, sitting principal trumpet for a year, Wind Symphony, and Pep Band. Currently Andrew is sitting second chair in the solo cornet row of Five Lakes Silver Band. He is also finishing his bachelor’s degree in computer science at Oakland University, planning to graduate in April, 2021.

Pat is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music in Ann Arbor (Bachelor's and Masters degrees) where her principal teachers were Charles Owen and Michael Udow.

Pat was the second female Percussionist to become a member of the United States Army Band (Pershing’s Own) in Washington, D.C. (the band that performs in Arlington National Cemetery, at the Pentagon, and for the President of the United States). She was also a member of the Arlington Symphony and the Fairfax Symphony while in the Washington, D.C. area.

Along with being Timpanist/ Percussionist in Motor City Brass Band, Pat is currently the Principal Percussionist of the Rochester Symphony and the Livonia Symphony. Pat was also the Principal Percussionist of the now defunct Southern Great Lakes Symphony. She has also performed with the Ann Arbor Symphony, the Warren Symphony, the Flint Symphony, the Grosse Pointe Symphony, the Saginaw Symphony, the Royal Oak Symphony, and the Oakland Symphony.

As a pop/commercial/theater musician, Pat has performed for the Birmingham Village Players, Stage Crafter’s Theater, Showbiz Kids Theater Group, the Avon Players, the Grosse Pointe Theater, the Farmington Players, the Ladies of Jazz group, the Plymouth Chorale, the Southfield Madrigal Chorale, The Downriver Voices, the Seaway Chorale, the Dynamics, and the SGLS Big Band.

Pat has performed in back-up groups for Marvin Hamlisch (with the Fairfax Symphony), Robert Goulet (Warren Symphony), the Chenille Sisters (Rochester Symphony), PDQ Bach (at United Methodist Church of Birmingham), and as a percussionist for Aretha Franklin performances at Soaring Eagle Casino, Detroit Music Hall, The Tom Joyner Mistle Toe Jam at Joe Louis Arena, and the Detroit Jazz Festival.

Pat can be heard on the St. Mary’s church 100th Anniversary Recordings, the U.S. Army Brass Band Firestorm CD, the Oakland Brass Band recording Pioneer Edition, the K Phunk Track on the Chill Beenz Album called Birth of the Chill, two Christian Rock Theater recordings by Carl Fernstrum (Come Home for Christmas and Remember I am With You Always), the Vanguard Voices and Brass Recording titled Vanguard Premieres 2007, and the Deustche Grammaphon recording of Stockhausen’s Samstag aus Licht with the University of Michigan Symphony Band.

Pat teaches privately and has been a percussion coach and extra player with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony since 2010 and the Motor City Academy Band since 2022.Pat is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music in Ann Arbor (Bachelor's and Masters degrees) where her principal teachers were Charles Owen and Michael Udow.

Along with being Timpanist/Percussionist in Motor City Brass Band, Pat is currently the Principal Percussionist of the Rochester Symphony and the Livonia Symphony. Pat was also the Principal Percussionist of the now defunct Southern Great Lakes Symphony. She has also performed with the Ann Arbor Symphony, the Warren Symphony, the Flint Symphony, the Grosse Pointe Symphony, the Saginaw Symphony, the Royal Oak Symphony, and the Oakland Symphony.

Pat teaches privately and has been a percussion coach and extra player with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony since 2010 and the Motor City Academy Band since 2022.

Colin Holstein graduated in 2020 from Oakland University with a Bachelor degree in Tuba Performance. During his time there, he was a part of many groups including the Oakland University Brass Band, Oakland Symphony Orchestra, Oakland University Wind Symphony, and the Golden Grizzlies Athletic Band.

Colin began his brass band journey in the Motor City Youth Brass Band in 2011, where he spent 5 years as a Bb tuba player.

Colin has placed in multiple international competitions, and won the NABBA Tuba Slow Melody Competition in 2019. At Oakland University, Colin was awarded multiple Matilda Awards, both for Outstanding Student in Instrumental Performance (2020) and for winning the OU Chamber Music competition (2017). He has also won the MTNA Brass Young Artist Competition at the State Level in 2019.

Jennifer Kmet is a tenor horn player with Motor City Brass Band. She has played Horn for 35 years, tenor horn for 22 years. Jennifer has two wonderful children and an amazing husband, all who are musical. Jennifer graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in Music Therapy, and now is a paraprofessional in a special needs classroom in Wyandotte Schools. She performs regularly with Motor City Brass Band and on the praise and worship teams at Wyandotte First United Methodist Church (vocal).

Scott Voytush graduated in 2020 from Oakland University with Bachelor’s degrees in Trombone Performance and Music Education. Scott was awarded the Matilda Award for Outstanding Student in Instrumental Performance.

Scott is currently the Solo Trombone of the Five Lakes Silver Band, where he has been a member since the fall of 2020. With this group he would be a part of several first-place finishes including the 2022 and 2023 US Open; 2022, 2023, and 2024 Dublin Festival of Brass; and the North American Championships in 2023. In addition, he has many section and solo accolades: three “Best Trombone Section” awards (Dublin 2022, Dublin 2024, and US Open 2022), and one “Best Trombone” individual award (Dublin 2023).

Scott has been a public school teacher since 2020. He is currently the music teacher at the Ypsilanti International Elementary School, and he hopes to continue the brass band spirit within them by raising 450 young trombone players at a time.