TBSO PROFILE

Acting Principal Trumpet, TBSO

Born: Winnipeg

Instrument: Trumpet

Age you started to study music: Piano in Grade 3, trumpet in Grade 6

How long have you been with TBSO: This will be his first season

What’s on personal playlist: Matthias Höfs, The Oh Hellos

The upcoming Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra season will be a milestone in the career of Daniel Lehmann.

It will be the first symphony post for Lehmann, who’s from Winnipeg, and he’ll be filling the role of acting principal trumpet with the TBSO. “I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what the job entails,” he says. “I’m sure there’ll be a lot to learn once I get there.”

“It seems like the orchestra is really involved in the community,” Lehmann adds. “That’s great—I’m looking forward to being a part of it.” Lehmann says he initially studied piano at the encouragement of his parents. It wasn’t until a few years later that he picked up his first trumpet. “In Grade 6, we had to choose an instrument for school band class,” he says. “Our music teacher demonstrated all the instruments, and I think I was captivated by the sound of the trumpet.”

“That was the only instrument that I had an interest in playing,” Lehmann continues. “I wasn’t anticipating becoming a musician, really, but my parents thought ‘oh, it’d probably be a good idea to sign Daniel up for trumpet lessons, just to get a start on this thing.’” Lehmann credits his teachers with building his interest in the trumpet, and he went on to study at the University of Manitoba, and then on to Indiana University, where he completed his master’s degree, and is currently finishing his doctorate. “It sounds amazing,” he says of the trumpet. “It’s definitely my favourite-sounding instrument.”

“There’s so many different types of music that it plays, and also just within the orchestra, [trumpet] has so many different roles,” Lehmann says. “I really enjoy the wide variety of music that we get to play.”