In the spring of 1998, I played my first paid professional orchestra job with the Northern Kentucky Symphony just outside of Cincinnati. It was not the first time I played in symphonic orchestra but it was definatly the first time I was contracted to play specifically. Sure, I did the occasional wedding gig, but I was 19 years old and was very excited. I was playing the fourth trumpet part on Mahler's 1st symphony, I had a very enjoyable time. It's 2012 now, and i've played that piece 4 more times since then, under a whole lot more stress. What's fascinating about that first performance was that I got excited to play it. I recall a few other memorable performance that I was really excited for.

1999 - Copland's Third Symphony with the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Philharmonia Orchestra - I was playing principal and it was fun.

1999 - Bartok Concerto for Orchestra with the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Philharmonia Orchestra - I was playing the most awesome 2nd trumpet part ever written for this show.

2000 - Tchaikovsky 4 and Symphonic Metamorphesis with the University Orchestra at Indiana University - First performance at IU, enough said, bit of a crazy program, I had a horrid head cold too.

2001 - Heldenleben with the IU Philharmonic Orchestra - Ok, so this one was really loud but it was totally killer. Tom Brown (US Coast Guard band) sound pretty awesome on the E flat part that night. Probably not the most tasteful playing of my career, but thats what college is for right?

2001 - Mahler 2 with the IU Philharmonic Orchestra - Mahler 2, enough said.

2003 - Sibelius 5 with the New World Symphony - first time playing first trumpet at New World

2004 - Mahler 5 on tour with the New World Symphony - Playing Mahler 5 in Rome at the Saint Cecilia Academy was incredibly, a fantastic hall, we went to Carnegie later that year, but seriously this one took the cake.

2006 - Firebird on 2nd Trumpet with LA Philharmonic - So I didn't win the job, but the orchestra sounded amazing, Disney hall is a very neat place.

2006 - Shostakovich 7 with New World - The audience probably hated it, lets jam 700 people into a small theatre, oops.

2008 - Tchaikovsky 5 recording Project with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra - Let's just call this the one bright spot in the dark period of my life, professionally that is.

2008 - Alumni reunion show with the New World Symphony and Rite of Spring - It went well, I did miss one of the 13 high d's though, still stewing over that one.

2009 - Copland 3 with the Colorado Symphony - This time it was a lot more  pressure, but it was killer fun at Breckenridge with a side by side NRO performance.

2009 - Mahler 1 - First large masterworks performance with the Colorado Symphony

2010 - Prokofiev 5 with the Saint Louis Symphony

2011 - Mahler 9 with the Colorado Symphony

2012 - Bartok Concerto for Orchestra with the Colorado Symphony

Now, what's the point of this all. I've been playing trumpet for a long time, I never know when the time I'll get really excited and up for a performance. Don't get me wrong, i'm always in the zone, ready to go but just every so often the planets align for some absolutely fun and exciting. It's like the playoffs for an athlete. 17 performances over the past 14 years sure isn't alot since the average over the past 5 seasons has been well over 100+ shows, but seriously every once in a while, it gets really exciting. I also found that under each of these performances, the entire orchestra played rather well. A couple of them were probably just my own personal feelings since it was my new experience, most though it was a pretty uniform experience.

So, now my point - Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture, Bill Hill's Third Symphony and Bartok Concerto for Orchestra last night. I really got excited for this one. First of all, our new principal trombone was in town and that really made the difference. I love our trombone section anyways so it's pretty cool to have a new person add to the destruction :-). I also really like playing for Larry Rachleff, he's at Rice where my teacher Marie Speziale, that puts a little more pressure on, however it makes it fun and exciting. My friend Guy Piddington was in town playing the 2nd trumpet part and covering Bill HIll's piece, he did a fantastic job, puts the pressure on for sure, but I love every second of it.

Next week we're playing Pictures at an Exhibition, always a challenge but not quite the same as Bartok. Reminds me to an important line about trumpet auditions, Pictures is in the Prelims, Bartok's in the finals. The thing is, just cause it's an excerpt doesn't mean it's hard, it's expected of the job, so let's get going. Thanks for all that attended last weeks performance. I listened to Bill HIll's Symphony, it really was pretty a pretty awesome piece, wish I could have played it, Guy did a fantastic job. With Berlioz and Bartok on the program, it was already over the top, don't need to "sprain my tongue". Seriously, contrary to jokes that Mike Rosen may make on the radio about Trumpet players, they can get injured, this summer I had a pretty severe cut on my lip, recovered pretty well, but I got a bit scared since I had so much work to do. People that don't know the business can act as if they do, write their newspaper articles and bring down us for our supposed 20 hour work week, but anyone that knows me, I put in a lot more than 20 hours on Bartok this week, and i'll put in just as much if not even more next week. Classical music is not dead, as long as people at the Denver Performing Arts Center keep hitting the level 1 button in the elevator when they wanted to go to level 3, that tells me were still getting new audience members and as funny as it to see peoples faces, it shows that in a metro area of 2+ million people, theres always someone out there that cares and enjoys the music.

Have a great week and Roll Tide Roll Monday night!

Justin