Richard Stoelzel is the newly named artistic/music director of Florida’s Punta Gorda Symphony.
Florida’s Punta Gorda Symphony has appointed Richard Stoelzel as artistic/music director. Stoelzel is trumpet player, conductor, and music teacher, and has founded chamber-scaled music groups. As a trumpeter, he performed with the United States Coast Guard Band, served as principal trumpet for the New Orleans Symphony, and was principal trumpet for the Punta Gorda Symphony for four years. He has appeared with Syracuse Symphoria in Syracuse, New York, and serves as principal trumpet with the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra. Previously, Stoelzel held the position of pops conductor at the HARID Conservatory in Boca Raton and was artistic/music director of the Florida Wind Symphony. Currently, he continues as artistic/music director of the Lakeshore Concert Band in Quebec, a position he has filled since 2016. Stoelzel holds a tenured professorship in trumpet and serves as the brass area coordinator at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal. He is the founder, first trumpet, and director of the Avatar Brass, and cofounded the New World Brass. Jennifer Bitner is executive director of the Punta Gorda Symphony.
