​The Four Horsemen Tuba/Euphonium Quartet came together to perform fresh, enlivened interpretations of standard quartet repertoire, as well to introduce audiences to exciting original music and new transcriptions. All four of us began our journey in a traditional academic setting. After graduating from the University of Kentucky, we took off down our individual paths of life-- teaching, performing, composing, traveling, studying outside of music, adopting pets, having quarter-life crises, etc. Yet we continued to share a craving that was not so easily satisfied: the desire to perform chamber music at the highest possible level while enjoying the camaraderie of our fellow musicians and audience members.

The Four Horsemen originated in 1982 as a professional entertainment group for The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky.  The group performed during the summers for almost a decade.  In the 1990s, the Horsemen transitioned into a student ensemble; its members  comprised of undergraduate and graduate musicians under the tutelage of Dr. Skip Gray. Through many reincarnations, they performed frequently throughout Central Kentucky and in chamber music competitions.  In 2015 the Four Horsemen established itself as a professional chamber music ensemble, commissioning new works for tuba-euphonium quartet, performing regularly throughout the country, and working towards expanding the tuba and euphonium repertoire.  This latest edition of the quartet is comprised of George Palton, J.D. Salas, Aaron Meacham, and Jeff Barbee.

George Palton is active as a tuba/euphonium performer, arranger, and pedagogue, and is currently the Recruitment and Enrollment Coordinator for the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis.  J.D. Salas currently serves as Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Stephen F. Austin State University.  Aaron Meacham is a published composer with particular interests in brass, sacred, and wind music, who now works as a medical physicist. Jeff Barbee completed a DMA at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and works for the Ohio State University College of Medicine as a Research Specialist.  Through our unique blend of talents and backgrounds, our goal is to provide our audiences with a distinctive experience and bring a fresh interpretation to the genre of the tuba/euphonium quartet.