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Betsy Bright

Trumpet

Betsy Bright is a trumpet player and composer originally from Columbia, South Carolina. She has been a member of the TSO trumpet section since 2003. She is also a member of Monsoon Brass, Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra (Durango), True Concord Voices & Orchestra, and the TSO Brass Quintet. She has performed as a substitute with orchestras across the United States including the Pittsburgh Symphony, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, The Phoenix Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, Britt Music Festival, and Arizona Opera.

Betsy’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by brass quintets and orchestras around the world, and she is the resident arranger/composer with Tucson Brass Workshop. She has also written many educational children’s musical stories, several of which have been published as books. Betsy is a composition instructor with the TSO’s nationally acclaimed Young Composer Project.

As an educator, Betsy is the founder and artistic director of Tucson Brass Workshop, an nonprofit annual summer chamber music workshop for all ages. She is also a faculty member at the Pacific Music Institute in Honolulu. The students from Betsy’s private trumpet studio have gone on to great success with organizations including the National Youth Orchestra of Carnegie Hall, Interlochen Arts Academy, Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, Brevard, and Eastern Music Festival, and schools including the Curtis Institute, CIM, Yale, USC, UCLA, ASU, and UA. Betsy’s trumpet method book, The Bright Method, has garnered excellent reviews from multiple international publications.

Betsy studied at the Shenandoah Conservatory where she graduated summa cum laude in 2003 with a Bachelor of Music in trumpet performance and a minor in composition. In addition to musical activities, Betsy enjoys doing long-form improv comedy with Tucson Improv Movement. Betsy is married to TSO Principal Tuba, David Morgan, and they have two wonderful sons, Max and Oliver.