The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s principal trumpet Robert Sullivan has accepted a position as professor of trumpet in the winds and percussion instruments department of the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance beginning in August.
The CSO says that Sullivan will still remain CSO Principal Trumpet through the 2022-23 season and retire from the CSO in May.
It’s a natural choice for Sullivan, who is a graduate of UM. “It is humbling to be chosen to take over the trumpet studio where I began to learn and hone my craft so many years ago with Armando Ghitalla’s tutelage and mentorship,” he said in a statement on the website.
Sullivan has twice served as principal trumpet with the CSO; he joined in 2008, departed to teach, and returned in 2017. He has been featured as soloist five times, including a new work by Peter Boyer with a stirring trumpet solo, “In the Cause of the Free,” which is on the Cincinnati Pops’ “American Originals 1918” album. On most nights, he dazzles in his trumpet solos in the section.
Previously, Sullivan was associate principal trumpet with the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra, and second trumpet with the Charleston Symphony. He has also been a member of the US Air Force Band and a faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Mannes College of Music.
He also served for five years as professor of trumpet at Northwestern University, during which time he was a regular performer with the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago.
The orchestra will begin a search for his successor this season.