“Philip Smith, who has led the New York Philharmonic’s trumpet section for 35 years, announced on Tuesday that he will retire in June 2014 to become a professor at the University of Georgia’s school of music,” writes Brian Wise on Tuesday (11/5) at WQXR. “Smith, 61, was named co-principal trumpet of the Philharmonic in 1978 and became its principal trumpet in 1988. His bright, assertive yet lyrical tone can be heard in everything from Mahler and Shostakovich symphonies to pieces like Gershwin’s An American in Paris. The Philharmonic reports that he has appeared as a soloist in over 200 concerts, premiering concertos by Joseph Turrin (1989), Lowell Liebermann (2000), and Jacques Hetu (US premiere, 2003), and playing standard works like the Haydn Trumpet Concerto….. While still a student at Juilliard in 1975 he joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra…. But after three years, Philharmonic music director Zubin Mehta hired him away. He has remained in New York since, serving on the faculties at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music.… Smith’s retirement comes just as Glenn Dicterow is to step down in June from the concertmaster position of the Philharmonic.”
Posted November 6, 2013
