Trumpeter, Marie Speziale to present masterclass and concert

Submitted by Karen Gustafson
Phone: 474-5004
03/28/05

Guest Lecturer and Musician Marie Speziale will present a masterclass for all brass instrumentalists Friday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the McGown Room in the UAF Department of Music. All university and community members are welcome to attend. The event is free of charge.

Guest Lecturer and Musician Marie Speziale will be performing and conducting in a public concert at Immaculate Conception Church (115 North Cushman Street) on Sunday, April 10 at 4 p.m. This concert will also feature UAF faculty members James Bicigo and Karen Gustafson as well as the UAF Brass Choir and other student groups. All university and community members are welcome to attend. The event is free of charge.

Both events are funded by the Arthur J. Schaible Memorial Cultural Enrichment Fund.

Acknowledged as the first woman trumpeter in a major symphony orchestra, Marie Speziale retired from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in November of 1996 after having served as its Associate Principal Trumpet for thirty-two years (1964-1996). A graduate of the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Speziale studied with Robert Price, Robert Braunagel, Eugene Blee and Arnold Jacobs.

Her tenure with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra included playing Associate Principal Trumpet with the Cincinnati Opera Orchestra, Cincinnati May Festival Orchestra, Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Speziale has performed under the batons of Igor Stravinsky, George Szell, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Eugene Ormandy, Eric Leinsdorf and Max Rudolf. Her very extensive performance experience includes solo appearances with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, with Duke Ellington, with Dave Brubeck on the Johnny Carson NBC Tonight Show, on the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra European tours and at the Interlochen Arts Academy.

Since retiring from the orchestra, she has remained quite active as a performer, teacher and clinician. She has served as visiting Principal, Associate Principal and Second Trumpet of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra - including their European tour, Carnegie Hall concerts and recording of the Beethoven Symphony No. V. She has toured with DIVA (the women’s jazz band) and the Florida Symphony Orchestra. She performs with the Monarch Brass Quintet and Monarch Brass Ensemble, which she also conducted at the 1997 International Women’s Brass Conference. She subs with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and the Houston Symphony Orchestra. Periodically she flies to California to do studio recordings for Star Trek: Voyager, the television series, at Paramount and 20th Century Fox studios.

Speziale has been active as a clinician, a participant in numerous conferences and leader of master classes in Europe, Japan and throughout the United States. She was a featured guest artist at the 1993,1997, 2000 and 2003 International Women’s Brass Conferences and the1998, 1999, 2001 International Trumpet Guild Conferences. She has served as artist faculty at the 1998,1999 and 2000 Summit Brass Mendez Institute, performing with Summit Brass, coaching ensembles, presenting master classes and conducting brass orchestral repertoire reading sessions. In 1999, she was one of six Americans (and the only woman among them) to be invited by the Tokyo International Music Festival to perform in its first Super World Orchestra. Speziale was an adjudicator at the 2001, 2002 and 2003 National Trumpet Competitions held at George Mason University.

Speziale served as adjunct associate professor at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music from 1979 to 2002 and Professor of music at the Indiana University School of Music from 1999-2003. In 2002, Speziale was appointed to the faculty of the Shepherd School of Music where she is chair of the brass department, professor of trumpet and conductor of the Rice Brass Choir. She teaches trumpet performance majors at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, coaches chamber brass ensembles and conducts the brass orchestral repertoire class.

Former President of the International Women’s Brass Conference. Speziale serves on the Board of Directors of the International Women’s Brass Conference and the Northern Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. She is a member of the International Trumpet Guild, Sigma Alpha Iota, Pi Kappa Lambda and Cincinnati MacDowell Society. She is a member of the editorial committee of the American Music Teacher, the official journal of The Music Teachers National Association. She has won many awards and honors, including Leading Women in the Arts Award from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition of Women’s Organizations, the Outstanding Woman of the Year in Music Award from the Tampa Tribune and the Sigma Alpha Iota National Leadership Award.