Biography
Chris Scanlon, D.M.A. is a dynamic performer and educator with a diverse performing career. He has appeared with orchestras and chamber ensembles in Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, the Middle East and across the United States. An active chamber musician, Scanlon has recorded, performed and commissioned new works as a member of Axiom Brass, the Palisade Trumpet Collective and the Silver Spruce Trio. He has performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, the Kennedy Center in DC, Mexico’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Vienna Musikverein, the Zurich Tonhalle, Opera Houses of Dubai and Tokyo, and in Broadway theaters for Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, An American in Paris and Kiss Me Kate. Chris has performed as Co-Principal Trumpet of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra since 2008 with broadcasts on medici.tv and international tours with artists such as Joshua Bell, Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Daniil Trifonov, Andras Schiff, Yuja Wang, and others.
He has performed with orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Quad Cities Symphony, Elgin Symphony, Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, Miami Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of New York, Boston Lyric Opera, Singapore Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Charleston Symphony, US Coast Guard Band, Westchester Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and under the batons of Valery Gergiev, Klaus Mäkelä, John Williams, Simon Rattle, James Levine, Kurt Mazur, Seiji Ozawa, Robert Spano, Daniel Harding, Gianandrea Noseda and others. Chris performed in NY and Mexico as a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas and served as Associate Principal Trumpet of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey Mexico. Past festival invitations include Artosphere, Banff, Spoleto, Music Academy of the West, National Repertory Orchestra, Verbier and Tanglewood where he was the recipient of the Roger Voisin Award.
As a soloist he has performed Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Trumpet with Yuja Wang, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, Copland’s Quiet City, Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Trumpets, and with the Illinois Brass Band. Equally at home in contemporary music settings, Chris has recorded new music with the GRAMMY award winning Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Xenakis’s Eonta with the Callithumpian Consort, Andy Akiho’s Speaking Tree for 2022’s Oculus, premiers of works by Rodion Schedrin with the VFCO and the Elliot Carter Brass Quintet, coached by the composer, at Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music. Chris has commissioned and premiered chamber works by notable composers such as Augusta Reed Thomas, Kevin Day, Catherine McMichael and Jessica Meyer.
He has appeared on stage with popular artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Harry Connick Jr, Neil Patrick Harris, Ben Folds, Hanson, Questlove, Paul Shafer, Patti Labelle, Rufus Wainwright, Paul Giamatti, with Broadway stars such as Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lena Hall, and Kelli O’Hara, and Latin stars such as Aleks Syntek, Natalia Lafourcade, Mariachi Vargas and Pedro Fernandez. Television credits include The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS Sunday Morning and the award-winning Amazon series, Mozart in the Jungle. Scanlon performed on stage in Sufjan Steven's ILLINOISE at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2024. Scanlon founded Banda Nueva York, a cross-cultural, Mexican brass band whose original arrangements by Latin Grammy winner Julio Lizarraga can be heard on iTunes, Spotify and YouTube.
Scanlon has been an adjudicator for the Next Generation Trumpet Competition, Illinois all-state and solo and ensemble competitions, and brass coach for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. Scanlon has presented masterclasses at instututions such as Northwestern University and the University of British Columbia and performed at the International Trumpet Guild Conference, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, International Women’s Brass Conference, Indiana Music Educators Conference and MOXsonic, the Missouri Experimental Sonic Arts Festival. Scanlon currently serves as the Chair of the Chamber Music Division of the Ryan Anthony Memorial Trumpet Competition for the International Trumpet Guild. Scanlon’s students have gone on to win positions with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and regional orchestras, graduate assistantships in top doctoral programs, and teaching positions in college and secondary education and have been invited to compete in the National Trumpet Competition, ITG Chamber Music Division and the National Brass Quintet Competition.
In 2024, Scanlon became Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Florida where he also performs with The Florida Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony and as Principal Trumpet with The Gainesville Orchestra. Prior to his appointment at UF, Scanlon served as Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Brass Area Coordinator at Northern Illinois University where he also taught Banda and Mariachi ensembles performing traditional music from Mexico, performed with Axiom Brass and regularly appeared with the Milwaukee Symphony.
Scanlon received the Bachelor of Music degree from Boston University, the Master of Music from Rice University, Professional Studies Certificate from Manhattan School of Music and the Doctorate of Music Arts from Stony Brook University. His principal teachers include Thomas Rolfs, Mark Gould, Marie Speziale, Joseph Foley, Terry Everson and Kevin Cobb.
Scanlon can be heard on Naxos, Mode records, Mark Records, BMOP/Sound and Deutsch Gramophone. Chris’s work editing etudes and the Caruso method has been published by Hal Leonard and Charles Colin publications. Scanlon is a Bach Performing Artist.