Hill College Performing Arts Series: Drs. Kent and In-Ja Eshelman

Hillsboro, Texas—The Hill College Phillip H. Lowe Performing Arts Series continues its 33rd season with Drs. Kent and In-Ja Eshelman. The husband-and-wife duo will take the stage at the Vara Martin Daniels Performing Arts Center at the Hill County Campus (HCC) on February 26, 2026, at 7 p.m. 



Dr. Eshelman is an instrumentalist, specializing in the tuba and the euphonium, a low-pitched, valved brass instrument in the “tuba family.” He is currently a professor of euphonium and tuba at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He has won numerous solo competitions, including the Jeju and Leonard Falcone international solo competition, the Midland-Odessa Symphony national young artist competition, and the Rich Matteson international jazz competition. 

A Denis Wick Artist and a Yamaha Performing Artist, he was the featured guest artist for the 2022 Falcone Festival at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan. He has appeared as a soloist with the Ventoscala Symphony Orchestra in Budapest and with the U.S. Army Blues Jazz Ensemble in Washington, D.C.

He is the principal tuba of the Waco Symphony Orchestra and has performed with orchestras in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; and San Antonio, Texas. He is the recipient of the Roger Bobo Award for Excellence in Recording from the International Euphonium-Tuba Association and received the Outstanding Professor award from Baylor University. 

Dr. Eshelman has recorded two solo albums, “Message in a Tuba” and “Flavors;” as well as two chamber albums, including “Firm Foundation” (with QuinTuba) and “Four American Stories” (with Baylor Brass); a jazz album, “Life is Good;” and a boogie-woogie and stride piano album, “In the Pocket.”

A native of Seoul, South Korea, Dr. In-Ja Eshelman is a pianist and lecturer in the keyboard division at Baylor University. She has served as a faculty member at Baylor’s summer piano institute and an adjudicator for the Baylor/Waco piano competition, and the Waco Music Teachers Association Young Artist Festival. 

She also serves as a collaborative pianist and has performed with internationally renowned soloists Michel Debost, Øystein Baadsvik, Steven Mead, Dr. Brian Bowman, and David Childs. Together, she and her husband have released two albums. She was named an “outstanding collaborator” by the American Record Guide.

Dr. Eshelman maintains a private piano studio in Waco, Texas, where she lives with her husband and their two sons.

“Hill College is fortunate to welcome Dr. Kent Eshelman and his wife, Dr. In-Ja Eshelman, to perform as part of the Phillip H. Lowe Performing Arts Series. Dr. Eshelman’s technical mastery and personal charisma take the tuba to a whole other level of fun and artistry that many will not expect to encounter. With his wife accompanying him on the piano, together they will present a performance that will be hard to forget,” said Professor of Music & Coordinator of Visual & Performing Arts Larry McCord.
Become a member of the Phillip H. Lowe Performing Arts Series. Membership levels include: BENEFACTOR ($100), a SUSTAINER ($50), a PATRON ($25), or a SUPPORTER ($10) of the Hill College Performing Arts Series. For a donation of $1,000 or more you can become a LIFETIME BENEFACTOR. Names of donors appear in each program.
All supporting donations are charitable contributions. Your donation can be made in person, by calling 254.659.7707, or mailing a check or money order to:

Office of Institutional Advancement 
Attn: Kailey Wilkinson
Hill College
112 Lamar Dr.
Hillsboro, Texas 76645
All performances are free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served. 
For more information on the Phillip H. Lowe Performing Arts Series, please visit https://www.hillcollege.edu/CampusLife/PerformingArts/PASeries.html.