Peter Sullivan
Principal Trombone
Tom & Jamee Todd Chair
In the fall of 1999, Peter Sullivan was appointed principal trombone of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra by Mariss Jansons. Canadian-born Sullivan came to Pittsburgh following a long and fruitful tenure as Solo Trombone with the Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit.
Sullivan has performed as a soloist on many occasions with several orchestras including the Pittsburgh Symphony and Montreal Symphony. In 2006, he performed the world premiere performance of Jennifer Higdon's Trombone Concerto with Sir Andrew Davis and the Pittsburgh Symphony.
Apart from his activities in Pittsburgh, Peter Sullivan performs regularly across North America, Europe and Asia as soloist and chamber musician alongside the world's leading brass players. He is a regular visitor to Japan, playing and teaching at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, the Suntory recital hall in Tokyo, the Hamamatsu Summer Academy, as well as performing solo recitals in Osaka. In China, Sullivan is involved with the Canton International Summer Music Academy and performed and gave master classes at the Tian Jin and Beijing Conservatories in April of 2006.
Aside from countless orchestral performances in the great concert halls of Europe, Peter Sullivan has performed at the Ascoli Piceno Brass Festival in Italy, and was featured in Christian Lindberg's Trombone Concerto in Bunol, Spain with the composer on the podium. Sullivan was also the first prize winner in the 1990 Umea International Solo Competition in Sweden.
Here at home, Peter Sullivan has given concerts and clinics from coast to coast, including master classes at the Juilliard and Manhattan schools in New York City, The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the Glenn Gould Academy in Toronto, coaching at the New World Symphony and the Banff School, and tours with the Summit Brass and the Music of the Baroque in Chicago. He has been heard across Canada in recital on CBC radio and on NPR with his colleagues in the Pittsburgh Symphony Brass.
Presently, Peter Sullivan serves on the faculties of Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon universities in Pittsburgh, following 15 years as adjunct professor at McGill University in Montreal. For the past few years, he has been working with the Yamaha Corporation on the development of their new line of orchestral trombones, the prototype of which he plays every week with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
