Les Elkins
Trumpet
Les is originally from West Virginia, growing up in Chuck Yeager's hometown. He played trumpet in high school marching bands and continued playing while he attended the West Virginia Institute of Technology in Montgomery, WV. There he also sang with the Guy Owen Baker Chorale, traveling with them to Germany, Austria, Poland, and Hungary.
When Les moved to Maryland he was pleased to find many opportunities to continue playing. These included the Columbia Community Band, Rockville Brass Band, and the employee's band at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at White Oak, MD. (When the White Oak band re-convened for the last time to play for the ceremony officially closing White Oak, Les lobbied hard to add "Nearer My God To Thee" on the program. However the band director was continuing with the Navy at another area lab and was afraid someone important would get the joke. Thus was a great opportunity missed.)
In addition to HOTS Les currently plays trumpet with the Jefferson Street Strutters Dixieland band, the Rockville Brass Band, and has been a regular at recent Potomac River Jazz Club jam sessions. He has also played in some fifty-odd pit bands for community theaters in the area.
Les has also appeared on stage in musicals and operettas, appearing in choruses and as an occasional role in community and professional theaters in DC and Maryland. He is trying to collect the whole set of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas- currently he's been in fully staged productions of nine of the thirteen surviving ones ("The Grand Duke" and "Utopia, Ltd." are rarely performed, but on the other hand "The Gondoliers" and "Iolanthe" just keep coming around at bad times). His only role as a lead so far was Billy Crocker in "Anything Goes" not too long ago with Chevy Chase Players, and he needs to do more of that sort of thing.
Les also has a ten year stint as membership secretary of the Victorian Lyric Opera Company under his belt, and has been master carpenter and many other things, but swears he'll never produce.