WTS SPOTLIGHT
Saturday, February 3, 2024
7:30 PM | Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center
Gary Lewis, Conductor
Ben Fairfield, Trumpet
Overture to The Marriage of Figaro | Mozart
Andante Moderato | Price
Trumpet Concerto | Haydn
Symphony No. 5 | Schubert
This annual event features one of your very own orchestra musicians, co-principal trumpet Ben Fairfield!
Tickets $12 - $60, Students $12
CLICK TO PURCHASE ONLINE
800-514-3849 or Wagner Noël Box Office W-F, 1-5pm
Scheduled programs and individuals are subject to change. Ticketing is handled by the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center - all ticketing, security, and venue policies apply.
ABOUT BEN FAIRFIELD...
Ben Fairfield, a native of Staunton, VA, is the Co-Principal Trumpet of the West Texas Symphony, a member of the Symphony’s Lone Star Brass Quintet, the Principal Trumpet of the Abilene Philharmonic, and the Artistic Director of the West Texas Symphonic Brass. He frequently performs as a guest member of trumpet sections throughout the United States including the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, New Mexico Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, Boulder Philharmonic, San Juan Symphony, and the San Angelo Symphony. Recent engagements have taken him to New York, NY, Dallas, TX, Albuquerque, NM, Denver, CO, Miami, FL, Philadelphia, PA, and San Francisco, CA. Prior to his time in Texas, he performed in the orchestras of the Florida Grand Opera and the Miami City Ballet in Miami, FL.
Ben is a veteran of the United States Army, performing as a member of the United States Continental Army Band at Ft. Monroe, VA. With this group, he performed throughout the United States on tours with both the Concert Band and Brass Quintet. He has performed as featured soloist with the United States Continental Army Band and several orchestras, performing works ranging from Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 to Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in Eb and Copland’s Quiet City, performed with conductors Robert Spano, Marin Alsop, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and with noted opera singers Placido Domingo, Denyce Graves, Ailyn Perez, and Bryn Terfel. He has performed in many of the nation’s leading concert halls including Carnegie Hall, the Meyerson Symphony Center, Bass Performance Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
In March 2017, Ben and pianist Liana Pailodze Harron gave the New York City premiere of Grammy Award winning composer Michael Daugherty’s The Lightning Fields for trumpet and piano at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, NYC. The duo has also worked with Eric Ewazen on his popular Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, with plans to record the sonata in collaboration with the composer in the near future. The duo’s recording of Lucid Dream, an arrangement of Michael Nyman’s Flugelhorn and Piano can be found on iTunes and YouTube.
Ben currently resides in Arlington, TX. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from James Madison University and graduate degrees (MM, DMA) in trumpet performance from the University of Miami Frost School of Music. His teachers include Craig Morris, former Principal Trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Gilbert Johnson, former Principal Trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and James Kluesner Professor Emeritus of Trumpet at James Madison University. Additionally, he has studied with Philip Smith, former Principal Trumpet of the New York Philharmonic and Michael Sachs, Principal Trumpet of the Cleveland Orchestra.
Ben is a Vincent Bach performing artist, a division of Conn-Selmer.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY:
Denise & Thomas W. Elrod
Ann Parish & Betty Ann Prentice
