Dr. Gary Wurtz

Associate Professor, Trumpet
Director, SFA Jazz Band
Stephen F. Austin State University
Nacogdoches, Texas

D.M.A.,University of North Texas
M.M.Ed., University of North Texas
B.M.Ed., cum laude, West Texas State University

Background

GARY WURTZ has been the trumpet professor at Stephen F. Austin State University since the fall of 1992, and began his duties as Jazz Band director one year later. His other duties at SFA include serving as the Assistant Director of the School of Music and as the Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies, directing the Trumpet Ensemble and performing in the Pineywoods Brass Quintet. Wurtz came to SFA from the Dallas area where he spent several years as a free-lance trumpeter and private instructor in some of the best public schools in the metroplex, including The Colony, Lewisville, and Lake Highlands.

During the years between graduate school and coming to SFA, Wurtz dedicated himself to his playing career. He performed as principal trumpet in the Richardson Symphony Orchestra from 1986 to 2001, taking a year off in 1989-1990 to play co-principal chair in the Orchestra Filarmonica de Universidad Nacional' Autonam de Mexico in Mexico City and as principal trumpet in the Orchestra Nacional' de Republica Dominicana in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. At home in Nacogdoches, he plays principal trumpet in the Orchestra of the Pines, with whom he has been featured on the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 by J.S. Bach (twice), Aaron Copland's Quiet City and the Concerto in Re by Johann Friedrich Fasch. In the 2008-2009 season he will be featured with the orchestra once again on the Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra by Alexander Arutunian.

Wurtz has worked extensively as an orchestral musician, jazz musician, soloist and studio musician. He appears frequently as a soloist and clinician, both in the classical and jazz fields, at colleges, high schools and with professional organizations.

Wurtz holds a Bachelor of Music Education from West Texas A&M University (1985), Master of Music Education from the University of North Texas (1987) and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Trumpet Performance from the University of North Texas (2001). His primary teachers have included Dr. Leonard Candelaria, Bert Truax, David Ritter and Art Holt.

Wurtz married his high school sweetheart, Mindy, in 1987, and they have been together ever since. They have two beautiful children, a son, Gage, and a daughter, Hannah.

Gary Wurtz is available as a clinician, adjudicator and performer, and is an artist clinician for Edwards Trumpets.

Gary Wurtz is or has been affiliated with the International Trumpet Guild, Texas Music Educators Association, Music Teachers National Association, American Federation of Musicians, Pi Kappa Lambda, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

School of Music
Stephen F. Austin State University
Box 13043, SFA Station
Nacogdoches, TX 75962-3043
Phone: 936-468-4602 | Fax: 936-468-5810
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