Detroit Symphony Orchestra Player Bios

[Derek Reaban]

William Lucas



A member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra trumpet section since May 1988, William Lucas was born and raised in the Detroit metropolitan area. He attended Plymouth High School and went on to the University of Michigan, where he was enrolled in both the schools of engineering and music. Throughout the years he has performed as a freelance musician in the Detroit/Ann Arbor areas, and he served as Associate Principal Trumpet of the Toledo Symphony prior to his appointment in Detroit.

An active member of the freelance, jazz and chamber music communities in metropolitan Detroit, Bill has appeared as a jazz soloist in many popular jazz clubs and nightspots of Vail, Colorado, as well as the Montreux, Detroit and Montreux, Switzerland Jazz Festivals. A prolific arranger for small ensembles, he is frequently called upon to compose trumpet fanfares for local commemorations. Lucas' arrangements for brass have been performed by the Celli Jam, comprised of members of the DSO cello section.

Lucas has been on the faculties at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University, where he served as the director of the Wayne State University Brass Ensemble.

Player bio taken from the Detroit Symphony web site from 2004
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

[Derek Reaban]

Donald Green



Donald Green is the Principal Trumpet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he has held since 1999. Prior to this he was the Associate Principal with the LA Phil from 1982 to 1999. Before joining the Philharmonic, Green was the Principal Trumpet of the Detroit Symphony from 1975 to 1982. He has also been a member of the Houston, Seattle, and New Jersey Symphony Orchestras. Green is a graduate of the University of Southern California (Bachelor of Arts) and the Juilliard School (Master of Music). In addition to his duties with the Philharmonic, Mr. Green works frequently in recording studios for motion picture and television soundtrack recordings.

Player bio taken from the Los Angeles Philharmonic web site from 2004
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

[Derek Reaban]

Frank Kaderabek



Frank Kaderabek joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as principal trumpet in 1975, a position he held until retiring in 1995. His previous appointments included principal trumpet of the Dallas and Detroit symphonies and assistant principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony. Born in Chicago, he studied there with Edward Masacek and Adolph Herseth, and in New York with Harry Glantz and Nathan Prager. In addition to his solo performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Kaderabek has appeared as a soloist with the Detroit Symphony, Grant Park Symphony, the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Symphonia Orchestra, and at the Bach Festival in Cranbrook. Throughout his career, Mr. Kaderabek has been a tireless proponent of the orchestral musician, serving on numerous committees and negotiating bodies to ensure that the voice of musicians would be heard. He currently serves on the ITG Board of Directors.

In 1982, he was the first American ever invited to judge the International Trumpet Competition in Czechoslovakia, returning again and again. His contributions to performance and teaching were honored in 1991 by the New York Brass Conference. Mr. Kaderabek recorded An American Trumpet in Prague in 1992 and recently recorded Virtuoso, an album of trumpet andcornet solos with the Allentown (PA) Band.

Mr. Kaderabek’s teaching career includes experience at Temple University, the University of Michigan, Oakland University, West Chester University and The Curtis Institute of Music where he has been on the faculty since 1975, a longer tenure than any other Curtis trumpet teacher.


Player bio taken from the ITG 2004 web site
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

[Derek Reaban]

Leonard B. Smith



Smith performed as the principal trumpet player with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and was considered a successor of John Philip Sousa. He conducted the Blossom Festival Concert Band, near Cleveland, from 1972 until 1997. He also briefly played with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Toscanini's NBC Orchestra, and studied with Ernest Williams.

Born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Smith began studying the trumpet at age 8, received a musical scholarship to the New York Military Academy at 14 and joined the Edwin Franko Goldman Band at 19. During his six-year career in New York, he played the familiar trumpet call announcing the popular "Lone Ranger" radio program.

In the 1930s, he served his tenure as principal trumpet of the Detroit Symphony. During World War II, he was principal cornetist and soloist with the U.S. Navy Band.

Smith founded the Detroit Concert Band in 1946, recorded all of John Philip Sousa's marches, made a BBC documentary about Sousa's life and amassed a huge collection of symphonies, operas and ballet music arranged for band. "He was the world's leading authority on Sousa," said his daughter, Sandra Smith Neilson, also of Scottsdale. Although he gave up playing trumpet and cornet when he was 55, Smith conducted the Detroit Concert Band until 1991.

Player bio taken from ITG News web site from 2004
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

[Derek Reaban]

Elden Benge



Elden Benge was only 7 years old when he first fell in love with the trumpet - a love that would turn into a life-long affair for the Winterset, Iowa native. It was also then that he adopted his first hero, the trumpeter of the hometown band. Young Elden persuaded his family to buy a trumpet for him, and he practiced religiously. He began playing professionally when he was 14 and, years later, assumed the role of First Trumpet with major symphony orchestras in Detroit and Chicago.

As a gifted musician, Benge became increasingly dissatisfied with the range of tone available in ordinary mass-produced trumpets. He studied the technical and mechanical aspects of the trumpet in search of ways to improve its playing characteristics. Working with two craftsmen skilled in the construction of the trumpet, Benge began to fashion trumpets in the basement of his home.

Through tireless experimentation, he finally developed his "dream trumpet" . . . an instrument with remarkable clarity, tonal range and easy response. Success was due to a combination of specially designed tapers, extremely precise machining tolerances, and special alloys. But the secret ingredient was meticulous attention to detail.

In 1939 Benge sold his first custom-made trumpet to a fellow trumpeter in the Chicago Symphony. News of the marvelous Benge trumpet spread among professional players and what had begun as an artistic endeavor was soon a thriving business.

Top trumpet players everywhere began to call on Benge to solve their performing problems. By 1952, the demand for the trumpet was so great that Benge retired from active performing so that he could devote all of his energies to his goal of producing the world's finest trumpets.

Benge's instruments defined a new level of performance and quickly became the benchmark by which all others were judged. Designed to satisfy a variety of musical performance styles, Benge trumpets, cornets and trombones continue to meet the ever-changing needs of today's artists.

Such a desirable reputation is possible today through strict adherence to the same attention to detail set forth by Benge in his basement some 60 years ago. Benge upholds this tradition of fine craftsmanship and perfection to create instruments of timeless quality.


Player bio taken from Bengebrass.com web site from 2004
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest