President George Troia, Jr. is a 46 year member of the Detroit Federation of Musicians, AFM Local 5, and has served as its President since May 2012. Prior to that, he served as an Executive Board member for six years, Theatre Musicians Association (TMA) Detroit Chapter President for eight terms, National TMA Vice President Emeritus, TMA AFM Convention delegate for three terms, Players Conference Council Representative in 2002, 2007 2008, Pamphlet B negotiations Representative for TMA and Local 5, and as former chair of TMA History and Conference Committees.
George earned his Master of Music degree at Wayne State University, and his Bachelor of Music Performance/Music Education and Social Studies at the University of Michigan. He also was an Honors Student at Cass Technical High School in Detroit.
For fifteen years, he served on the faculty of Wayne State University as an applied trombone teacher.
George is a member of the Retirees Chapter of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 231, after a 32-year career as a band/orchestra director for the Detroit Public Schools.
George has been very grateful to have a performance career that has spanned over forty years.
Performance Career Highlights
His experience includes musical theatre at such venues as the Fisher, Masonic Temple, Birmingham, Pine Knob/DTE, and Meadowbrook Theatres. He has also performed with various symphonies and opera companys, including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Michigan Opera Theater, the Flint Symphony, the Canary Islands Opera Festival, as well as with many ballet, community, and chamber orchestras.
He has recorded with all major labels including, ABC, ABC Dunhill, Columbia, CBS Epic, London, Stax, Grovesville, Atlantic, Invictus, Westbound/Bridgeport, as well as for industrial films, the Detroit Symphony, the Detroit Concert Band, and the Galliard Brass ensemble. Noted artist recordings include Aretha Franklin, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Gladys Knight, the Dramatics, Detroit Emeralds, Enchantment, Chapter Eight, Johnny Taylor, Dr. John, Marilynn Macoo and Billy Davis Jr., Staple Singers, Dennis LaSalle, Millie Jackson, Shirley Caesar, Chicago, CJ and Company, King Erisson, and the Mike Theodore Orchestra. He has performed for many headliners, including Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald and Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, Henry Mancini, Sammy Davis Jr., Steve Lawrence and Eddie Gormet, Julie Andrews, Ann Miller, Robert Goulet, Dionne Warwick, Mickey Rooney, Rock Hudson, Chita Rivera, Natalie Cole, Roberta Flack, Rosemary Clooney, Helen O’Connell, Ginger Rogers, Marie Osmond, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, Ames Brothers, Pearl Bailey and Louis Belson, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth,Nancy Wilson, Barry White , Barry Manilow, Lena Horne, Mel Torme, Glenn Campbell, Roger Miller, Donna Summers,Steve Allen, Frankie Avalon, Johnny Mathis, Bette Midler,Sarah Vaughn, Thad Jones, Liberace, and many more.
Tours included Paul Anka, David Clayton Thomas, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Dennis Edwards, Eddie Kendrick, and David Ruffin, the Temptations Review, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, spanning the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.