Meet the CSO's new principal trumpet

Somewhere on the road with the CSO last week, I found out that Robert Sullivan, the trumpeter who is with us on tour, has been appointed the new principal trumpet of the orchestra. He will succeed longtime principal Phil Collins (check out the link to Phil's blog on this site).

Sullivan won over more than 50 trumpeters who were invited to audition. More than 100 applied for the spot.

Sullivan comes from the Cleveland Orchestra, where he has been assistant principal trumpet since September 2003. Previous to that appointment, he was associate principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic for 11 seasons.

One of the funny things that happened to him on this tour was in Vienna. He and other brass players walked into a music store, Musikhaus Votruba, and there on a brochure about trumpets was Sullivan's picture. The shop keeper did a double-take. It turns out, Sullivan designed a new B-flat and C trumpet for Yamaha a few years ago -- called the "New York Model." Here's a link to his bio on the Yamaha site.

Sullivan, a native of Boston, will begin Sept. 8, but you'll have a chance to hear him during the May Festival.