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Celebrating 64 Years of Inspired Music Making!

June 28 – August 2, 2025

Chris Gekker

CHRIS GEKKER is Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maryland School of Music. He has been featured as soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. ” He is featured on more than thirty solo recordings, more than 100 chamber music, orchestral, jazz and commercial recordings, as well as numerous movie and television soundtracks. CD Review called his 1985 recording of Aaron Copland’s Quiet City “a model of quiet perfection” and in a 1994 overview of several solo Hovhaness recordings, Gramophone Magazine described his performances as “astonishingly poised.” Of his 1995 recording of Eric Ewazen’s Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, American Record Guide stated “Ewazen writes that he had Gekker’s sound in his mind when he wrote the Sonata, and I can understand why. It is round, soft edged, gorgeous at soft dynamic levels, and always full and well controlled at fortissimo.” Gekker is one of the featured artists on the 2005 Deutsche Grammophon compilation “Masters of the Trumpet.”

Gekker’s many solo recordings include the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 (2000) and Winter (2004), a CD of music for trumpet and piano by Eric Ewazen and David Snow. Of the Bach, Classics Today wrote “Chris Gekker plays with brilliance and panache,” and BBC Magazine stated “the trumpeter gives a secure and glittering account.” Of Winter, American Record Guide wrote “I cannot think of another trumpet player I’d rather listen to than Gekker, and he is at his sweet, velvet-toned best in these pieces.” Of the 2009 Unchanging Love, music of Larry Bell, Fanfare Magazine stated “Chris Gekker has made himself known over the years as a superb trumpeter who is able to produce meltingly flute-like tones at one extreme, and to bring down the house at the other.” 

In 2017, Divine Art Recordings Group released Ghost Dialogues, a solo CD featuring music by Robert Gibson, Lance Hulme, Carson Cooman, David Heinick, and Kevin McKee. Fanfare Magazine wrote “Chris Gekker is a master of the trumpet. His technique is impeccable: the Metier recording is so clear one can hear every detail of attack, and one would hear every smudged slur (if there were any – that suggestion is hypothetical). In addition, there is real musical intelligence at work, here coupled with a fervent belief in the music he plays.” The American Prize awarded Ghost Dialogues 2nd Place in their 2018-2019 Solo Artist Category. In May of 2020, Divine Art Recordings Group released Moon Marked, solo trumpet music by Richard Auldon Clark, Lance Hulme, Carson Cooman, Eric Ewazen, Alistair Coleman, and Franklin Kiermyer. Reviews for Moon Marked praise “Chris Gekker’s honeyed legato and the beauty of his tone throughout all of the instrument’s registers” and have stated “Gekker’s playing is notable for the warmth of his tone and the suppleness of his phrasing.” In 2021 Moon Marked was awarded 2nd Place in the Instrumental Performance Category of The American Prize.

Gekker was a member of the American Brass Quintet for eighteen years, and on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Columbia University. He was principal trumpet of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and a member of the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, where he was awarded Emeritus status for his work with this organization. He frequently performed as principal and soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and often featured with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has been a guest principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, the Santa Fe Opera, and the Baltimore Symphony. Gekker has performed and recorded with many jazz and commercial artists, and often for television and movies. In 2009, he recorded and toured with Sting and is featured on the DVD “A Winter’s Night,” which was recorded live at Durham Cathedral in Durham, England.

In the Washington D.C. area Gekker serves as principal trumpet of the National Philharmonic at Strathmore, the Washington Ballet, Washington Concert Opera, and the PostClassical Ensemble. During the summer he is principal trumpet at Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Gekker has been committed throughout his career to education and community service. In 2013, the Maryland Classics Youth Orchestra awarded him the Chester J. Petranek Community Award “for outstanding community service in enriching the musical life in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area.”

Many of his students occupy orchestral positions in major symphonies throughout the world, as well as being prominent in jazz, chamber, and commercial music. His “Articulation Studies”, “44 Duos,” “Endurance Drills,” “Piccolo Trumpet Studies,” “24 Etudes,” “Slow Practice” and “Focal Point Exercises” are available from Charles Colin Publication, and are sold worldwide. “Slow Practice” (2016) has been translated to Japanese.

Gekker was born in Washington D.C., grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Maryland. His teachers include Emerson Head, Sidney Mear, Adel Sanchez, and Gerard Schwarz. 

In 2018, the University of Maryland awarded Gekker the rank of Distinguished University Professor. He is the first professor from the School of Music to receive this honor.

For more information, pictures, recordings, and videos, please visit his website: