Featuring..
Dr. Eric Yates, Trumpet Professor, University of Alabama
With
Dr. P. Bradley Ulrich, Professor of Trumpet, Western Carolina University
&
Lillian Pearson, Piano, Western Carolina University
Program Information:
Trumpet Duet Recital
Dr. Eric Yates and Dr. P. Bradley Ulrich, Trumpets
Dr. Lillian Pearson, Piano
Arabesque Joseph Turrin
Concertino Classico Joseph Horovitz
Con brio
Larghetto
Allegro rustic
Concerto for Two Trumpets Erik Morales
Boldly
Rubato-flowing
Allegro
INTERMISSION
Under Western Skies Kevin McKee
Sundown
Sunup-High Noon
Excursions I Bruce Frazier
Epilogue
Oblivion Astor Piazzolla/arr. Bragato
Bios:
Dr. Eric Yates
Eric Yates serves as Associate Professor of Trumpet at the University of Alabama School of Music, principal trumpet of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, first trumpet of the Alabama Brass Quintet, and a founding member of the internationally-touring Fortress Brass.
Yates is also an in-demand soloist and clinician and has appeared throughout the United States and the world as a soloist, ensemble member, and teacher. He has performed in England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Cuba, the Republic of Georgia, and numerous times in Russia where he has presented master classes and recitals at the St. Petersburg and Moscow Conservatories five times since 2009. He has also appeared at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana, Cuba; the American University of Rome, Italy; the Tbilisi State Conservatory in Georgia; and at numerous institutions in the U.S., including Emory University, Furman University, the University of Georgia, Mississippi State University, Western Carolina University, Northwestern University, and many others.
He has hosted the large regional trumpet conference the Trumpet Festival of the Southeast at the University of Alabama three times and serves on its board of directors, and he has judged several years at the National Trumpet Competition. He was awarded the Best Cornet Player of the 2006 U.S. Open Brass Band Championships; toured with the award-winning Fountain City Brass Band of Kansas City, MO; and served two years as Principal Solo Cornet of the Prairie Brass Band of Arlington Heights, IL. In 2012, he and four other university brass professors from around the United States formed the Fortress Brass, a quintet which has engaged in numerous tours in the U.S. and abroad.
Before his appointment at The University of Alabama in 2007, Dr. Yates was an active performer in the Chicago area as principal trumpet of the Northbrook Symphony, co-principal trumpet of the Chicago Brass Choir, and a faculty member of the Lake Forest College Department of Music and Wright City College Department of Fine Arts in Chicago. His performance career has included engagements with numerous professional orchestras in the United States, including the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, the South Bend Symphony, the Illinois Symphony, the Elmhurst Symphony, the Northwest Indiana Symphony, and the Nashville Symphony, and he performs regularly with the Alabama (Birmingham) Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Yates’s trumpet performance skills and experience encompass all aspects of classical trumpet and cornet playing, from modern symphonic, chamber, and solo work to authentic period performance on historic natural trumpets. He earned his Doctor of Music degree in trumpet performance from Northwestern University, and his principal teachers include Charles Geyer, Barbara Butler, Vincent Cichowicz, and Gary Armstrong.
Dr. P. Bradley Ulrich
Dr. P. Bradley Ulrich, professor of music, has been the trumpet professor at Western Carolina University since 1989. Dr. Ulrich received his Bachelor of Music degree in Trumpet Performance from the Florida State University, where he studied with Bryan Goff. His Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Trumpet Performance and Literature were awarded from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where he studied with Ray Sasaki and Michael Tunnell. He has had additional lessons with Raymond Mase, George Vosburgh, Adolphe Herseth, James Thompson, Vincent DiMartino, and Chrispian Steele Perkins.
Maintaining an active performing career, Dr. Ulrich currently performs with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. He has formerly held positions in the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra, Greenville Symphony Orchestra (SC), Brevard Chamber Orchestra, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (IL), the Champaign-Urbana Symphony (IL), Sinfonia da Camera (IL), and the Cedar Falls Waterloo Symphony (IA).
In addition to his orchestral experience, Dr. Ulrich has performed countless recitals both as a soloist and in brass quintets. He has performed and taught across the United States and in Russia, Canada, England, Ireland, Wales, St. Barths, Italy, China, German, Jamaica, Hungary, Romania, and the Czech Republic. Dr. Ulrich is the Artistic Director/First Trumpet of the Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet, Quintet-in-Residence at WCU, which gave its New York debut at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in June 2007.
Dr. Ulrich has published over a dozen articles in the International Trumpet Guild’s Journal and was for 10 years Public Relations Director for ITG and the Competition Page Editor for the ITG Youth Website. He has also served on the Membership Development Committee for ITG.
Dr. Ulrich is the Executive Director of the Trumpet Festival of the Southeast and Artistic Director for the International Trumpet Festival of Russia. He is an Artist/Clinician and member of the Product Advisory Council for the Jupiter Band Instrument Company.
Dr. Ulrich has three times won the Western Carolina University School of Music’s James Dooley Award for Excellence in Teaching Music (2002, 2008, 2015) and in 2013 he was awarded the prestigious University Scholar Award from WCU.
Dr. Lillian Pearson
Lillian Pearson has appeared throughout the continental United States, England, Costa Rica and China as a soloist and collaborative artist. She is also certified as a teacher of the Alexander Technique. She holds positions at the University of MA-Amherst and at Westfield State College. Dr. Pearson holds degrees from Florida State University and the University of Illinois, her principal teacher being the Hungarian trained pianist Edward Kilenyi. Her interest in historically informed performance practice has led her also to study harpsichord and fortepiano.
Lillian has served as the official pianist at the International Flute Festival in Costa Rica and has appeared in Weill Recital Hall, NYC, in a concert of four international flutists. On numerous occasions she has had opportunity to collaborate with internationally known artists. Pearson’s solo orchestral appearances include performances with the Jacksonville Symphony (FL), the Asheville Symphony (NC), the Breckenridge Festival Orchestra (CO), the Western Carolina Civic Orchestra (NC), the National Chamber Players (NC), and the Brandenburg Ensemble (FL). For many years she was a member of the Breckenridge Music Festival and the Cullowhee Summer Music Festival. She has served as an accompanist for many conferences and workshops.
Dr. Pearson has actively pursued training in Alexander Technique for over 15 years, including studies in England with Nelly Ben-Or, pianist and teacher of the Alexander Technique and member of the faculty at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She is especially interested in the integration of Alexander Technique with musical performance
