Performances + Events
Faculty Recital: James Markey, Bass Trombone, & Friends
Jordan Hall
The live stream of this event is available to NEC Community members only. To watch the stream, please click the “Streaming Access” button at the top of the page and enter the NEC Community streaming password on the video window labeled “NEC-Produced Stream” when prompted.
Artist(s)
James Markey joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as Bass Trombone in Fall 2012 following a 15-year tenure in the New York Philharmonic as Associate Principal (1997-2007) and Bass Trombone (2007-2012), and a two-year tenure as Principal Trombone of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1995-1997).
A frequent soloist, Markey’s highlighted solo appearances include with the Boston Pops, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, the United States Army Band (“Pershing’s Own”), the Hora Decima Brass Ensemble, the New York Staff Band of the Salvation Army, and the Hanover Wind Symphony. He is also a founding member of the National Brass Ensemble.
A sought-after educator, Mr. Markey has been a featured recitalist and lecturer numerous times at the International Trombone Festival, the American (formerly Eastern) Trombone Workshop, and the music educator conferences in New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts.
Mr. Markey serves on the trombone faculty at New England Conservatory in Boston, MA. In addition to his collegiate teaching, Mr. Markey is at the forefront of the Suzuki Brass movement, and is one of a small handful of certified Suzuki trombone instructors in the world.
A passionate believer in early childhood education in brass playing, he is founder of the Suzuki Brass program at New England Conservatory’s Preparatory Division. He has past served on the faculties of the Juilliard School, Mannes College: the New School for Music, New York University, Purchase College (SUNY), Longy School of Music, Montclair State University, Sarah Lawrence College, and the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division.
Mr. Markey has released five solo recordings: Offroad (tenor trombone, 2003); On Base (bass trombone, 2009); the Bass Trombonist’s Listening Guide, a joint album of orchestral and opera excerpts for bass trombone with Denson Paul Pollard; Psychedelia (bass trombone, 2015), and Extraordinary Foundations (with tubist Mike Roylance, 2023). He is also a featured soloist on A Beautiful Noise, a compilation of solos for tenor and bass trombone produced by the Columbus State University Trombone Choir, on the Hora Decima Brass Ensemble’s recording of Janko Nilović’s Concerto for Two Trombones, and as a member of the National Brass Ensemble’s two recordings, Gabrielia and Deified.
Mr. Markey studied with Joseph Alessi at The Juilliard School, where he received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in 2005 and 2006.
Richard Rivale is a pianist from Anaheim, California and currently active in Boston, Massachusetts. From his interest in all classical genres and ensembles, his performances have extended to the organ, harpsichord, and other orchestral keyboard instruments, which have included playing the organ in Holst's The Planets at Boston's Symphony Hall. Richard also plays the violin and conducts not only new music premieres, but also concerts that included Bach chorales for the Consulate General of Greece. He has played in or for a masterclass or coaching with critically acclaimed artists like Isabel Leonard, John Heiss, and John Harbison and has worked with musicians who are in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and more. His orchestra piano experience has extended to the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra under Benjamin Zander and other orchestras under David Robertson and Leonard Slatkin. Within the last few summers, he was an artist pianist at the Carsten Svanberg Trombone Seminar before being a staff pianist at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and a staff pianist and vocal coach for the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Richard also performs throughout the East Coast, having performed in Carnegie Hall's Zankel and Weill Halls the last three years. He studied with Meng-Chieh Liu and Stephen Drury at New England Conservatory, Jonathan Feldman and Lydia Brown at The Juilliard School, and now with Shiela Kibbe at Boston University, where he is currently in his last semester as a DMA candidate in Collaborative Piano. Currently, he is also a staff pianist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
