About Pathfinders Trio
Pathfinders Trio is a modular ensemble creating modular music. Members McKinley Baker (clarinets), Hannah Markun (trumpets), and Lyndsey Dean (multiple woodwinds) comprise a mixed woodwind and brass trio founded in Greensboro, North Carolina. Coming from North Carolina, Illinois, and Texas, respectively, their paths crossed completing their Master’s degrees at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Recognizing a gap in chamber music of pieces for mixed brass and woodwind ensembles, Pathfinders Trio uses their unconventional instrumentation to reintroduce traditional repertoire with a fresh soundscape and promote new compositions that inspire musicians to step out of preconceived musical boundaries, crossing the sectional divide of woodwind and brass. Pathfinders Trio is commissioning five new pieces in 2025, including the composer duo Ivory Out of Time’s Instrumental Transit Authority, a multi-movement work for doubling trio and piano. They have also completed a new arrangement of Francois Devienne’s Trios I, II, and III. Recently, Pathfinders Trio won the Music for a Great Space Chamber Artist Residency in North Carolina, where they held weekly educational programs for Swann Middle School in Greensboro, NC, and performed a series of concerts for the public. Outside of music, the trio loves to travel together, and watch movies.
Core Members
McKinley Baker - Clarinets
McKinley Baker (he/him/his) is a performer and educator based in Oklahoma. Specializing in auxiliary clarinet performance, he aspires to commission new works by emerging and forward-thinking composers, adding new avenues of expression and soundscapes to the clarinet repertoire. As an educator, he aims to educate future clarinetists on the pedagogy and growing repertoire of the auxiliary clarinets, building the skillset of the twenty-first century clarinetist.
Baker’s performance career has spanned from solo performances to larger ensembles. Originally from North Carolina, he has performed with the Piedmont Wind Symphony, Danville Symphony Orchestra, Lee County Orchestra, and Mallarmé Music, ranging from soprano clarinet to contrabass clarinet. As a passionate chamber performer, he is a core member of the Pathfinders Trio, a mixed woodwind and brass trio with trumpeter Hannah Markun and multiple woodwind specialist Lyndsey Dean. The trio strives to use their unconventional instrumentation to step outside preconceived musical boundaries, crossing the sectional divide of woodwind and brass.
As a soloist, Baker has performed at the ICA Low Clarinet Festival and the International Music by Women Festival, the latter being where he performed his first commissioned work for solo Eb/Bb/bass clarinet and electronics. In 2025, he was selected as a Clarinet Chamber Fellow for the Newfound Chamber Winds Festival in Norfolk, Virginia.
Baker is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts in Clarinet Performance at the University of Oklahoma, where he serves as a clarinet graduate assistant and instrument warden for the School of Music. Previously. He earned his Master of Music in Clarinet Performance and Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Musicology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he served as a clarinet graduate assistant. He also earned his Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance and Bachelor of Music in Music Education from East Carolina University. His primary teachers include Suzanne Tirk, Anthony Taylor, Luke Ellard, and Douglas Moore-Monroe. McKinley is proud to serve as a J. Copeland Young Artist, performing on the Harmonia Eb clarinet.
Hannah Markun - Trumpets
Hannah Markun (she/her) is a trumpet player, educator, and scholar in Greensboro, North Carolina. She pairs her deep dedication to healthy musicianship with advocacy for creating welcoming, inclusive spaces for women and other marginalized brass musicians. She aspires to be a "well-rounded classical musician" with roots in the orchestral tradition and fluency in commercial styles.
Hannah sustains an active musical lifestyle performing in various professional ensembles and pit orchestras across North Carolina. She is a full-time contracted member of the North Carolina Brass Band, in her third season on second cornet. She embraces her love of chamber music with her co-founding several ensembles, including Pathfinders Trio, a modular woodwind and brass trio and winners of the 2024 Music for a Great Space Artist Residency, Greensboro Chamber Brass (brass quintet), and Valkyrie Brass (all-women brass quintet).
Hannah was invited as a performer to the International Women’s Brass conference in 2025 to premiere a new composition, Play. by Emma Lippert, on the New Works Recital. Play. is a work for piccolo trumpet and piano commissioned by Markun in 2024 to expand the collection of modern piccolo trumpet works, many of which are not written by women nor are accessible to those new to auxiliary trumpets. In the fall of 2022, Hannah was selected as a finalist in the Next Generation Trumpet Competition, an international “virtual new music contest” where trumpet players compete with their recordings of brand-new etudes composed for the competition. She was the third place winner of the 20th annual Hollis Prize in 2022, the most prestigious music competition at Millikin University. She is a member of International Trumpet Guild, International Women’s Brass Conference, Chamber Music America (Pathfinders Trio), and Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity.
Her scholarly work focuses on connecting the sociohistorical effects of Victorian-era social trends to the gender binary divide in the modern orchestra. This research has allowed her to analyze feminist history within the context of the music world, filling a gap in scholarship outlining why the gender divide in the modern orchestra exists. This work inspired her to craft her Master’s recital to exclusively highlight trumpet works by women composers.
Hannah’s academic pursuits are highlighted with dedicated study under esteemed educators. She graduated with her MM in Trumpet Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, studying under Dr. Garrett Klein. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Trumpet Performance from Millikin University, where she studied with Dr. David Moore, Randall Reyman, and Dr. Robert Sears.
Lyndsey Dean - Multiple Woodwinds
Lyndsey Dean, a Young J. Copeland Artist, is a performer and educator living in Greensboro, North Carolina. Originally from Texas, Dean has experience as both an assistant and head band director for grades 6-12 in Seminole, Texas. She also has a diverse performing career, performing with ensembles such as the Plainview Symphony Orchestra and Lubbock Moonlight Musicals. Dean also co-founds and performs regularly with Pathfinders Trio, a mixed woodwind and brass chamber group. Dean earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Education at Wayland Baptist University, studying under Dr. Sandra Mosteller. Dean also completed her Master of Music in Multiple Woodwinds Performance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is pursuing a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Clarinet Performance at UNCG under both Dr. Anthony Taylor and Dr. Luke Ellard. She will be pursuing a DMA at Shenandoah University this fall.