Guy Piddington was hired in 2012 by Michael Tilson Thomas to join the San Francisco Symphony as Second Trumpet, occupying the Ann L. & Charles B. Johnson Chair. Thrilled to be a part of this world famous brass section and fantastic orchestra, he has been involved with a wide range of music, recording, tours, staged projects, and chamber music. You can hear him on many albums including recently released recordings with the SF Symphony Michael Tilson Thomas: From the Diary of Anne Frank & Meditations on Rilke, and Copland Symphony No. 3. The brass section was featured this summer for a special home recording project that was broadcast on CNN’s The Fourth in America. Mr. Piddington can also be seen on the newly released PBS documentary American Masters – Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is.

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He has held acting positions with the Metropolitan Opera and the Syracuse Symphony, and has performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and the Mariinsky Orchestra.

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Mr. Piddington is passionate about teaching and leads masterclasses, teaches privately, and is on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a Collegiate Brass Chamber Coach and is an instructor in their Pre-College and Continuing Education division.

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Mr. Piddington is also Second Trumpet with the highly acclaimed summer orchestra, Classical Tahoe, which is comprised of 50 selected musicians from major orchestras all over the world. This incredible and unique group takes place in Incline Village, NV for 3 weeks every summer and was challenged to find a way to continue holding concerts while under strict Covid regulations. In an incredible feat, the orchestra held socially distanced chamber music concerts with only 10 musicians and 25 people in the audience, which was widely spread out outdoors on beautiful lawns with the sun setting over Lake Tahoe. Mr. Piddington is proud to have been a featured soloist, and these concerts were filmed for a special PBS series, Arteffect. It will be released in late 2020 so that it is accessible for everyone to enjoy some new music performed and recorded during the pandemic.

   

Prior to his position in SF, Mr. Piddington was engaged in a very dynamic concert schedule while freelancing in New York City. His performances included appearances with all the major orchestras and the likes of Broadway shows, Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Elton John, Panic at the Disco, and has appeared on Saturday Night Live and The Late Show with David Letterman. Performing as a guest artist around the country brought him to all corners of the world, from Italy to even a historic concert in Pyongyang North Korea while on tour with the New York Philharmonic.

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Mr. Piddington studied with Charles Geyer at the Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University, where he received his bachelor’s degree. He holds a master’s degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Philip Smith, former Principal Trumpet of the New York Philharmonic.