He is a trombonist, arranger, composer and teacher born in Sarasota, Florida, who started his life in music when he was twelve years old and started to play his father’s trombone. He attended the Booker High School for Visual and Performing Arts, where he graduated in 1986 and went on to study for his bachelor’s and master’s musical degrees at Boston University and the New England Conservatory of Music respectively.
He was a fellow at Tanglewood and in 1995 he completed his fellowship with the New World Symphony. In 1996 he became a member of the Empire Brass Quintet remaining with them until 2012 performing with them all over the world as well as on TV and radio broadcasts and several of their popular CD recordings.
He has worked with countless American orchestras and ensembles that include the Boston Pops, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Burning River Brass, the Florida Orchestra, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra where he was Principal Trombonist, Isthmus Brass, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra among others.
His work in the recording studio as seen him releasing solo albums since 2002 with these including American Voices Vols 1 and 2, Blues, Ballads and Beyond, Bone Moan, Dynamic Elements, Serious Songs, Sad Faces, Three Views and 20th Century Architects. Other recordings he has appeared on as a performer and/or arranger include Baroque Music for Brass and Organ, Firedance and The Glory of Gabrieli by The Empire Brass, Forbes plays Koetzier by Mike Forbes, Isthmus Brass: Christmas by Isthmus Brass, They Said… by Sinister Resonance!, Reverie by John Stevens, All Directions by Trombone Attraction and Animal Act by Evan Ziporyn.
He can also be heard performing with the experimental rock quartet Sinister Resonance!
In the field of musical education he was on the faculties and in charge of the trombone studios at Florida International University from 2000 to 2004 and Florida’s Lynn University, where he also taught music appreciation. More recently he has been a Professor of Trombone at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Music and performed with their resident ensemble the Wisconsin Brass Quintet. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation awarded him the H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship in 2012.
Sources:
- http://www.markhetzler.com/
- http://www.markhetzler.com/performer/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hetzler
- http://uwmadisonschoolofmusic.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/may-10-at-soundwaves-trombonist-mark-hetzler-brings-the-electric-aesthetic-to-his-music/
- http://www.markhetzler.com/recording-artist/
- http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/artist/Mark+Hetzler/a/albums.htm
- http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mark-hetzler-mn0000098247/credits