Danish Trombonist Lecture with Performance

Danish composers contributed meaningful repertoire for solo trombone in the early 20th century. Their music has become a lasting part of the catalog, and, over a century later, it continues to grace trombone recital programs the world over.

This presentation is a three-pronged examination into the factors that led Danish composers to begin writing for trombones as a solo instrument, and how it was later performed by the international trombone community as established works: The lecture discusses the rise of trombones in the European renaissance and their eventual assimilation into Danish culture, the stylistic qualities of two pieces written for solo trombone and the musical elements they share with other pivotal works from within the Danish community, and some non-musical factors that helped propagate these trombone solos.

About Kevin A. Virgilio Hailed by the New York Music Daily as a “carefree” and “soulful” player, Kevin A. Virgilio is a Boston-based trombonist and educator whose performances run the gamut of contemporary and classical styles. An active freelance musician, Dr. Virgilio recently appeared with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the New York Festival Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale, the Bergen Symphony Orchestra, and the Westchester Oratorio Society. Dr. Virgilio appears regularly in local musical theater productions, including West-Side Story, In the Heights, A Christmas Carol, An American in Paris, Disney’s Frozen, and the Music Man. He is currently on faculty at Groton Hill Music Center, Needham Music in Needham, Massachusetts, and Brookline Public Schools, and has held faculty positions at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Luzerne Music Center in Lake Luzerne, New York, and with the Handel and Haydn Society.

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