Santa Fe Opera Orchestra Player Bios

[Derek Reaban]

Chandler Goetting



Chandler Goetting was born in Mescalero, New Mexico, of Native American heritage. His natural inclination to and talent for the arts were given strong support in the Amarillo, Texas, school music system, where he graduated from Amarillo High School. The last two high school summers were spent at the Interlochen Music Camp in Michigan where Chandler was honored to be chosen as Concerto Winners Soloist. Engineering studies at Michigan State University and the University of New Mexico were interrupted by a scholarship offer to attend the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
During his two years of study with William Vacchiano, principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic, Chandler immersed himself in the New York musical life. He played frequently with the Metropolitan Opera’s stage trumpet corps and, through the contacts made there, began playing with the American Symphony Orchestra, at that time still under the direction of its founder, Leopold Stokowski. An offshoot of these experiences was the opportunity to be in on the some of the first performances of the New York City Opera’s staging of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

The two years as principal trumpet of the Kansas City Philharmonic and six years with the Saint Louis Symphony in the same position were, along with ten years as principal trumpet of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and a summer with the Casals Festival Orchestra in Puerto Rico, Chandler’s only years in the American symphony orchestra scene. A drive toward broader experiences led him to Munich, Germany, where he became principal trumpet of the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio under its Music Director Rafael Kubelik, who at the time was also Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera.
The succession of Music Directors - Kubelik, Sir Colin Davis and Lorin Maazel were only three of the many eminent conductors with whom Chandler worked during his years in the orchestra. A brief listing would include Sir Georg Solti, Sergiu Celibidache, Riccardo Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Bernard Haitink, Carlo Maria Giulini, Seiji Ozawa, Erich Leinsdorf, Dimitrj Kitajenko and Karl Boehm. The Leonard Bernstein recording sessions of Tristan und Isolde gave him the chance to play the original wooden trumpet designed for the premier performance of the opera at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. This interest in playing original instruments was stimulated by an association of several years duration with Edward H. Tarr’s baroque trumpet ensemble.

The freer work schedule of a European orchestra gave many opportunities for Chandler to perform with such groups as Karl Richter’s Munich Bach Orchestra, with which he made many tours around Europe and South America, playing on one occasion Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg Concerto fourteen times during the course of an eighteen-day tour. There were several appearances with the Musica Rinata München at the Corfu Music Festival, the Lourdes Easter Festival with Kurt Redel and the Pro Musica München as well as many solo engagements with numerous chamber orchestras in Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland, including those with the Münchener Kammerorchester, Festival Tibor Varga and in Zürich with the Zürcher Kammerorchester.

The last years in the orchestra saw Chandler combining his childhood love of horses with the German classical equestrian school - arguably the best in the world. After building a firm basis on which to work with the horses, he, along with his wife Susan, oboist and English hornist with the Munich Philharmonic for many years, and their two German Warmbloods returned to the United States where they are settling into a quiet but active life in rural Wisconsin.

Player Bio taken from the International Music Festivals web site from 2005.
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

[Derek Reaban]

Charley Lea

Charley Lea has been a member of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra since the Summer of 1994 and is the Assistant Principal Trumpet with the Grand Rapids Symphony.
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

[Derek Reaban]

Jeffrey Korak



Jeff Korak has played with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra as Second Trumpet since 1999 and as Third/Utility Trumpet with the Santa Fe Opera since 2000. Mr. Korak has been a member of many orchestras across the United States and Europe, including the St. Louis, New Mexico, La Coruna (Spain) and Stavanger (Norway) Symphony Orchestras. Mr. Korak received his B.M. from the University of North Texas and his M.M. from Northwestern University.
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

[Derek Reaban]

Chris Gekker



Chris Gekker is Associate Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maryland School of Music. He has been featured as soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. After performances of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 2 and the Christmas Oratorio at Carnegie Hall, the New York Times praised his "bright virtuosity" and described his playing as "clear toned and pitch perfect."

Chris appears as soloist on more than twenty recordings and on more than a hundred chamber music, orchestra, and jazz recordings. CD Review called his recording of Copland’s Quiet City "a model of quiet perfection" and in an overview of several solo recordings Gramophone Magazine described his performances as "astonishingly poised." Of his recording of Eric Ewazen’s Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, American Record Guide states "Ewazen writes that he had Gekker’s sound in his mind when he wrote the Sonata, and I can understand why. It is round, soft edged, and gorgeous at soft dynamic levels, and always full and well controlled at fortissimo."

Chris was a member of the American Brass Quintet for eighteen years, and on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and Columbia University. He was principal trumpet with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and frequently performed and recorded as principal with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He has been a guest principal trumpet with the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony and remains in demand with many groups such as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Chris has performed and recorded with many jazz and commercial artists, and often for television and movies.

Many of his former students occupy orchestral positions in major symphonies throughout the world, as well as being prominent in jazz, chamber, and commercial music. His Articulation Studies, 44 Duos, and Endurance Drills are available from Colin Publications and are sold worldwide. Chris was born in Washington D.C., grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Maryland. His teachers include Emerson Head, Sidney Mear, Adel Sanchez, and Gerard Schwarz.

Player bio taken from the University of Maryland School of Music web site from 2005.
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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

[ALLCHOPS]

I grew up with Bill Williams in Johnstown, N.Y. His father was the director of a small Drum Corps named the Mini Cadets and my father was the assistant director.. We marched many a parsade together with thos stupid red hats on... Our families became close obviously and our friendship flourished.. Both he and I are still in contact once in a while as well as our families!!! When I was on the road we would run into each other from time to time and tear up the town if you know what I mean!!!

Here's the best part, Bruce Lee(Northernbrass) was his first trumpet teacher and is partly resposible for putting him on the right track... The other part was his parents of course...

This guy is a hoot!!!

Tony G

[loudog]

I heard Bill Williams playing principal with the San Francisco Symphony (as a sub) back in March, at Carnegie Hall in NYC. They played Mahler 7, and he sounded like a million bucks. I hadn't heard of him before, but man he's a great player.

Louie
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Dr. Louie Eckhardt, trumpeter
http://www.LouieEckhardt.com
Associate Professor of Music
Hastings College