Ian Bousfield

Ian Bousfield was born in York in 1964 and began playing the trombone at the age of seven, his first teacher being his father, a trumpet player. Like so many of England's top brass players, Ian's musical roots are firmly planted in the British brass band scene, having been solo trombone in the National Youth Brass Band at thirteen, and for four years solo trombone with the Yorkshire imperial band, during which time they won the British, National and Yorkshire championships.

In 1979 Ian became the youngest ever winner of the London Symphony Orchestra Music Scholarship and in 1980 he joined the European Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado where he stayed for two years. After only six months of study at the Guildhall School of Music in London he became principal trombone with the Halle Orchestra in Manchester and in 1988 he was appointed principal trombone of the London Symphony Orchestra, only the fourth in the Orchestra's history, a position he held until September 2000 when he joined the Wiener Staatsoper / Vienna Philharmonic. During his time in the LSO Ian played on the sound tracks to "Star Wars", "Braveheart" and "Titanic" as well as many others, film music being very much part of the London orchestral life.

Alongside his Orchestral career Ian has had an extremely busy solo life, appearing as soloist with the world's top brass bands on a regular basis and touring extensively with his wife Alison Procter (piano) playing recitals. Ian has appeared as a soloist on many occasions with the London Symphony Orchestra (most recently to perform the world premiere of Jonathan Dove's trombone concerto "Stargazer" under Michael Tilson Thomas) as well as with the Halle, the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra and I Solisti di Perugia. He has also appeared as a soloist at the International Trombone Festival three times, in 1997, 2002 and 2006. His CDs include recordings with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Black Dyke Brass Band. In September 2008 Ian performed the Nino Rota trombone concerto in Austria, Switzerland and Japan with The Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Riccardo Muti. He has also made two CDs for trombone and piano accompanied by his wife; one for EMI as part of their "Virtuosi" series and the other a collection of French music for Camerata.

Ian was appointed Professor of the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1992, a position he still holds having recently been awarded honorary membership, the highest award available to a professor. He has given recitals, masterclasses and workshops at the Juilliard School and the Universities of Indiana, Illinois, Toronto, Montreal and Southern Texas as well as having coached the British National Youth Orchestra, National Youth Brass Band, the Pacific Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Brass Band of Switzerland and the New World Symphony in Miami. He has also been a guest professor at the Tanglewood festival as a guest of the Empire Brass Quintet. In September 2007 he stood as a member of the jury at the prestigious ARD International Music Competition in Munich.

In December 2003 Ian was accepted into the Verein (club) of the Vienna Philharmonic, the first ever member in the orchestra's history to come from the U.K. The following year he was appointed principal trombone by the Wiener Hofmusikkapelle, reputedly the oldest orchestra in the world at more than 500 years old.

Ian lives in the Vienna woods and loves it, supports Leeds United football Club and his hobbies include French cooking and the wines of Burgundy.