Zebediah Upton is an active orchestral musician, chamber musician and trumpet teacher in the Greater Boston area. Originally from Monroe, Connecticut, Zeb is lucky to have a very musical family and began playing the trumpet at the age of eight. He graduated from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music in 2003 with his Bachelor's of Music degree, and received his Masters of Music degree at the same school in 2005. While at Rice, Zeb was twice a finalist in the school's Concerto Competition and was a finalist for the Presser Award.
As an orchestral performer, Zeb has played with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, where he was Principal Trumpet for the 2005-2006 season, the Houston Grand Opera, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the New Bedford Symphony, the Granite State Symphony, the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, and Opera North. As a chamber musician, Zeb has performed with the Hartford Symphony Brass Quintet and Quartet, the Hartford Symphony Jazz Septet, Triton Brass, The Innovata Brass, and the Arch Street Band. In 2007, as a member of Prism Brass, Zeb was a quarter-finalist at The Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
As an educator, Zeb has worked with countless students and ensembles ranging from Texas to China. He has previously held teaching positions at Lee College in Baytown, TX, the Fort Bend Independent School district, and several middle schools in high schools in both Texas and New England. He has coached ensembles and brass sections for the Houston Youth Symphony, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestras. Zeb's students have been accepted into numerous Regional and All-State festivals and gone on to study and pursue music careers.
Zeb's primary teachers include Armando Ghitalla (Boston Symphony Orchestra), Marie Speziale (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra) Jim Wilt (Los Angeles Philharmonic), and Robert Sullivan (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra).