UA School of Music to Host Alessi Trombone Seminar

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.  —The University of Alabama’s School of Music will play host to the Alessi Seminar from Saturday, July 27, to Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Moody Music Building on the UA campus.

The event features concerts, workshops and seminars. Joseph Alessi, principal trombonist with the New York Philharmonic, is the host for the event.

This year’s seminar features eight participants and 16 fellows. Seminar concerts are free and open to the public. Each will take place in the Concert Hall of Moody.

The Joseph Alessi Solo Recital will be  at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 27, in the Concert Hall. Quartet Night will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, in the Concert Hall. The Participant Solo Recital will be 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, in the Concert Hall. The Trombone Choir Concert will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, also in the Concert Hall.

The seminar is held biennially in the United States. Seminar organizers select participants through an anonymous process that features a recorded audition. It generates international interest, and players have come from many countries.

More than 400 trombonists have attended the seminar, representing ages from 15 to 80. Professional trombonists from some of the top orchestras in the world have participated, including the Atlanta Symphony, Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, the U.S. Navy Band and “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band. Trombone professors from several universities, including UA, also have attended.

The seminar’s format consists of group warm-ups and a master class in the morning, another master-class and scheduled rehearsal time in the afternoon and a concert or master class in the evening. Each master class features several participants performing solo works and orchestral excerpts. The master classes also feature the coaching of quartets and orchestral low brass sections.

Alessi was appointed principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic in 1985. He began musical studies in his native California with his father, Joseph Alessi, and he trained at the Curtis Institute of Music. Before joining the Philharmonic, Alessi was second trombone of The Philadelphia Orchestra for four seasons and principal trombone of La Orchestre symphonique de Montreal for one season. In addition, he has performed as guest principal trombonist with the London Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall led by Pierre Boulez.

The School of Music is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships, Truman Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.