Christopher Martin was appointed principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2005. Mr. Martin came to the CSO from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, where he served as principal trumpet since 2001.
Before joining the Atlanta Symphony, Mr. Martin was associate principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was an affiliate trumpet professor at Emory University in Atlanta and Temple University in Philadelphia, and has given master classes at conservatories and colleges throughout the United States, including at the Manhattan School of Music. He has performed as principal trumpet with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, and the Grand Teton Music Festival.
Mr. Martin, a native of Marietta, Georgia, comes from a musical family. His father, Freddy Martin, is a band director for a prestigious Georgia private school, and his mother, Lynda Martin, sings in the Atlanta Symphony Chorus. While a member of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, Mr. Martin trained with then-Atlanta Symphony Orchestra trumpeter Larry Black. He later received his bachelor's degree in trumpet performance in 1997 from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where his primary teachers were Charles Geyer and Barbara Butler. As principal trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, he can be heard on a number of recent recordings, including the ASO's 2003 Grammy Award-winning recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony conducted by Robert Spano.
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