Biography

Growing up on a farm outside of Spartanburg, SC, Dr. Phillip Chase Hawkins serves as Principal Trumpet with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra a position he has held since 2013. He also is a member of the cornet section in Fountain City Brass Band, Soprano Eb Cornet in the Lexington Brass Band, Principal Cornet of the Cardinal Brass, and is an active performer on historical instruments as a member of Kentucky Baroque Trumpets and Saxton’s Cornet Band. Hawkins can also be heard as a performing and recording artist for Nashville Music Scoring Studio and Sound Lair Studio. His previously held positions include Visiting Professor of Trumpet at Centre College and Interim Professor of Trumpet at the University of Kentucky, Principal Trumpet of the American Institute of Musical Studies Orchestra in Graz, Austria, Principal Trumpet of the Genesee Valley Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Trumpet of the Greece Symphony Orchestra.

In January, Hawkins released his first debut solo album titled Great Southern Land: Australian Music for Trumpet by Brendan Collins. The album features works for trumpet and piano as well as works involving an additional solo voice. These include works for two trumpets (featuring Andy Lott, Principal Trumpet of Fort Wayne Philharmonic), trumpet and trombone (featuring Tyler Simms (of Flower City Brass), and trumpet and violin (featuring KSO’s former concertmaster, Gabriel Lefkowitz, current concertmaster of Louisville Orchestra). The album was recorded by Joel Crawford Recording and released on the Navona Records label, a PARMA Recordings imprint label. iTunes, Amazon, Naxos Direct, Barnes and Noble, Spotify, Ariama, HBDirect, Arkivmusic, Su-Per D, and Newbury Comics, and other retailers.

Hawkins has appeared as Guest Principal Trumpet with the Louisville Orchestra and has performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Le Château de la Voix Baroque Orchestra, among others. He has appeared as guest soloist with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival and the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra. Hawkins has performed in concert halls and recital venues around the world including:  New York’s Carnegie Hall; Chicago’s Midwest Clinic; Eastman School of Music’s Kodak Hall; multiple International Trumpet Guild Conferences; the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China; the National Conservatory of Music in Lima, Peru; Concert Hall in Tianjin, China; the Kasematten and Stefaniensaal in Graz, Austria; Brucknerhaus in Linz, Austria, among others. He has also had the wonderful privilege of performing under the direction of many of the world’s leading conductors including Kurt Masur, James Levine, Philippe Entremont, Alexander Kalajdžić, Edoardo Müller, and Keith Lockhart.

Receiving several awards and achievements in solo competitions, Hawkins has gained both national and international recognition. Most recently, he participated with the Fountain City Brass Band, taking first prize in the Championship Division at the North American Brass Band Association (NABBA) Competition in 2015, 2016, and 2018; taking second place in 2017. In 2014, Hawkins won first prize in the Grand Valley State University International Solo Trumpet Competition. In 2013, Hawkins took first prize at the NABBA Solo Competition in the high lyric category. In 2012, he was the first-place winner of the National Trumpet Competition in the Graduate division, having taken second place in 2011, as well as winning first place in the National Brass Symposium Solo Competition. And in 2010, Hawkins was chosen as a top 10 finalist in the Prague Spring International Solo Competition in Prague, Czech Republic.

As an active soloist and recitalist, Hawkins take great pleasure in advocating and commissioning new works by contemporary composers. He has most recently been involved in 5 new commissions for trumpet, including commissioning and performing three works by Australian-based composer Brendan Collins, titled Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, Spy vs Spy for Brass Quintet, and Concerto for Soprano Eb Cornet and Brass Band. He also commissioned Mo42 for Trumpet and Electronics by Sam Wells, and was actively involved in a private consortium for a new commission by Anthony Plog titled Concerto No. 3 for Trumpet and Brass Band.

Hawkins holds a Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music (M.M.) degree from the University of Kentucky, as well as both Master of Music (M.M.) and Bachelor of Music (B.M.) degrees from the Eastman School of Music. At Eastman, Hawkins received the distinguished Performer’s Certificate, was the inaugural recipient of the Sidney Mear Trumpet Prize, and a Howard Hanson Scholarship recipient for academic merit.

To contact Chase for outside engagements or for private lessons, you may reach him by email at [email protected]. For more information about Chase, please visit his website at www.trumpetchase.com.

Phillip Chase Hawkins is a Yamaha Performing Artist and Blackbinder Artist