Biographies

Jack Furlong
Co-Founder
Executive Director
Musical Director, Hopewell Valley Community Jazz Ensemble, HV CAMP Jazz Combos

Sean Ryan
Co-Founder
Musical Director, Hopewell Valley Pops Orchestra

Recording artist Jack Furlong is known as a performer, composer, arranger, woodwind doubler, and educator. A baritone saxophonist by trade, Jack diversifies his sound to other saxophones and woodwinds to achieve the proper tone color, mood, and musical message he hears and wishes to portray. Jack delights audiences with his wit and mastery at gigs, a talent that exudes from his albums, including the critically acclaimed “And That Happened,” his philanthropic release “Charity,” and his latest release "Opportunity."

With cool phrasing and a simple, melodic approach, Jack credits his style as heavily influenced from a wide variety of jazz pioneers, citing Gerry Mulligan, Miles Davis, Count Basie, and John Coltrane as the parents of his sound; yet he notes that his technique is personalized for today’s jazz scene. Jack has been on stage alongside greats such as Phil Woods, Peter Nero, Jim McNeely and Mulgrew Miller. An accomplished performer, Jack leads his own quartet and 12-piece jazz orchestra.

Furlong earned his B.A. in Music from Lafayette College and his M.M. in Composing and Arranging from William Paterson University.

---

With twenty years of experience as a composer, educator, audio producer, and engineer, Sean Ryan has compiled an expansive body in professional music, spanning multiple disciplines and genres.  Sean earned his B.A. in Music Education from The College of New Jersey and his M.M. in Music Composition and Scoring from Academy of Art University in San Francisco.  Although his main instrument is saxophone, Sean has diversified to play a number of wind and string instruments.  He teaches instrumental music, music theory, and music composition at Music Notes Academy in East Brunswick, where he serves as the chairperson of Band and Orchestra Instrument Studies.  He has previously taught at The Hun School of Princeton as well as across the public school districts in Morristown, Hackensack, and Paramus.

Sean served as Musical Director for the Glen Rock Pops Orchestra in Bergen County, New Jersey, from 2006-2016.  He has been commissioned to compose music for The Waldick Community Band, The Teaneck Summer Band, Paramus High School, The College of New Jersey, and the Eastern Wind Symphony Clarinet Ensemble.  His experience in scoring has led to various media opportunities, most notably scoring the video game "Goldfinger 64."

Along with esteemed colleague and professional composer/audio engineer Philip Vasta, Sean owns Soundspring Studio LLP, which composes, mixes, masters, and engineers music for all media and all occasions.