Dr. Marcellus is currently Emeritus Professor of Trombone (Retired) at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester and past Chairman of the Woodwind, Brass and Percussion Department. He also is Music Director of the Bemus Bay Pops and the Chautauqua Lake Pops in Mayville, NY since 1988, Emeritus Music Director of the Brighton (NY) Symphony Orchestra (1980-2014), Principal Trombone with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra since 1978 and a Clinician for the Buffet-Crampon Group for Courtois Trombones. As a free-lance trombonist locally he performs with the Florida Wind Band, Tampa Bay Symphony, St. Pete College Wind Symphony, Villages Philharmonic Orchestra, and is a substitute trombonist with the Helios Jazz Orchestra and the TomKatz Jazz Orchestra and recently formed the Marcellus-Winding Trombone Septet a jazz trombone ensemble.
He attended Florida State University (1957-1960) and completed a B.S. in Education from University of Maryland (1960), Master of Music and Doctorate of Music Degrees are from Catholic University of America in 1972 and 1974. His major trombone teachers include William F. Cramer (FSU), Lewis Van Haney (NY Phil), Edward Herman (NY Phil), Gordon Pulis (Met Opera Orchestra) and conducting studies with Lloyd Geisler (NSO) and Richard Lert of the American Symphony Orchestra League.
In 1997 the New York Brass Conference was dedicated to him for his contributions to trombone performance and teaching and he was named Musician of the Year by the Alumni Chapter of the Mu Phi Epsilon Fraternity in Rochester that same year. In June 1999 he received the International Trombone Associations’ award in recognition of his accomplishments in Trombone Performance, Literature and Pedagogy and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. The American Trombone Workshop awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.
His articles have been published by The Brass Player of the New York Brass Conference for Scholarships, The Instrumentalist, NACWPI Journal, International Trombone Association Journal, Accent and trombone and brass arrangements have been published by Kendor, Belwin-Mills (Warner Music), Kagarice Publications, Cherry Music Classics and Ensemble Publications. Recordings on trombone are on London/Decca, Nonesuch, Library of Congress, Turnabout, Opus One, Stolat, Pantheon, and solo Euphonium with the Empire Brass on Sine Qua Non, the Non Parielle Band and the All-American Main Street Band on EMI Angel Records. A solo CD, Songs, Dances and Incantations: American Music for Trombone was published by Albany Records.