Jeremy Wilson is Associate Professor of Trombone at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. Prior to his appointment at Blair, Mr. Wilson was a member of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and its sister organization, the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera. He joined those orchestras at the age of 25 after winning what was his first-ever orchestral audition, and in 2010 became one of just a handful of Americans to have ever been made a full member of the Vienna Philharmonic Society.
Mr. Wilson was appointed to the Vienna orchestras as a Wechselposaunist, or ‘switching trombonist’, splitting his time between second trombone, first trombone, and bass trumpet. He performed hundreds of concerts as a ‘Wiener Philharmoniker’, the vast majority of which were under the batons of the world’s leading conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, and Franz Welser-Möst.
At the Vienna State Opera, one of the world’s finest and busiest opera houses, Mr. Wilson played over 550 performances of 85 different operas and ballets, including 5 complete Wagner Ring cycles. He had the honor of performing with numerous prominent opera singers, including Renée Fleming, Juan Diego Florez, Elīna Garanča, Edita Gruberova, Thomas Hampson, Jonas Kaufmann, and Anna Netrebko.
In 2011, Mr. Wilson was invited by Seiji Ozawa to perform in the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra in Matsumoto, Japan, and tour with them in China.
Mr. Wilson was privileged to travel extensively while with the Philharmonic, peforming in 28 countries throughout Europe, East Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and North America, often with renowned soloists such as Lang Lang, Yefim Bronfman, and Yo-Yo Ma. He performed in many of the world’s most famous concert halls, including Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Los Angeles’ Disney Hall, London’s Royal Albert Hall, and New York’s Carnegie Hall, not to mention the Golden Hall of the Philharmonic’s legendary home venue, the Wiener Musikverein.
In 2011, Mr. Wilson was invited by Seiji Ozawa to perform in the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra in Matsumoto, Japan, and tour with them in China.
Mr. Wilson is an active soloist, chamber musician, and jazz artist. He was a featured guest artist/clinician at the 2011 International Trombone Festival, and has given many solo recitals, concerto performances, masterclasses, and lectures around the United States, including at the University of North Texas, the University of Southern Mississippi, Roosevelt University, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Mr. Wilson has won numerous solo competitions, including the International Trombone Association’s Frank Smith Competition and the Eastern Trombone Workshop National Solo Competition, which he won four consecutive times.
As a chamber musician, Mr. Wilson performs with the Blair Brass Quintet and other chamber chamber ensembles, especially in the medium of trombone quartet. His quartet from the University of North Texas was the winner of the ETW National Quartet Competition as well as the International Trombone Association’s Trombone Quartet Competition. As a jazz artist, he was a member of the North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band and the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, and won several national and international competitions as lead trombonist for Tennessee Trombonery, a jazz trombone ensemble from the University of Tennessee.
Mr. Wilson holds degrees from the University of Tennessee (BM 2005), where he was also a Presser Scholar, and the University of North Texas (MM 2011), where he was a graduate teaching fellow. He studied with Don Hough, Vern Kagarice, Jan Kagarice, Tony Baker, and Tom Lundberg.
