Joseph Alessi

trombone

Joseph Alessi was appointed principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic by then-Music Director Zubin Mehta in the spring of 1985. He began musical studies in his native California with his father, Joseph Alessi Sr., and continued his musical training at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

 

In April 1990, Alessi made his solo debut with the New York Philharmonic, performing Paul Creston’s Fantasy for Trombone and Orchestra, and in 1992, he premiered Christopher Rouse’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Trombone Concerto with the orchestra. Recent world-premiere performances include William Bolcom’s Trombone Concerto with the Philharmonic in June 2016 and Chick Corea’s Trombone Concerto with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra in Brazil in 2021. In May 2023, he gave the US premiere of Corea’s Trombone Concerto with the Philharmonic. Other solo engagements have included the Nagoya, Hague, Helsinki, and New Japan philharmonic orchestras; Gulbenkian Orchestra; Orchestra del Teatro Massimo Bellini; Mannheim National Theatre Orchestra; and Colorado, Alabama, Santa Barbara, Syracuse, Puerto Rico, and Tokyo Metropolitan symphony orchestras.

In 2002, Joseph Alessi was awarded an International Trombone Association Award for his contributions to the world of trombone music and trombone playing. He’s been a professor of trombone at The Juilliard School since 1990, and he’s a clinician for the Eastman-Shires Instrument Co. Alessi has also recorded extensively for Summit Records and the Naxos label.