Teaches in Texas

From Austin, Texas

Plays Trombone, Voice, and Songwriting

About

Sumner Erickson is a native of South Austin. Along with his mother Evelyn, and his brothers Roky and Don, he is blessed to hail from creative and musical family. After schooling at Zilker Elementary, Joslin and Porter for middle school years, and finally Austin High graduating in 1980, he enrolled in the prestigious and exclusive Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He entered Curtis in September and the following February auditioned for and won the position of Principal Tubaist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Andre’ Previn. He competed against over 100 tubaists from all over the world. He was still just 18 years old, which made him among the youngest principal musicians in the 180 year history of major US Symphony Orchestras. The next over two decades were full of concert performances in all of the music capitols of the world, and dozens of professional recordings and TV appearances. He toured China, Russia, Poland, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay, Denmark, England, Spain, Puerto Rico, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Belgium, returning many times to these places to perform concerts. He also performed in most all the of major North American cities during this time. Sumner guesses that he has played about 50 concerts in New York's Carnegie Hall and over 10 concerts at the Musikvereinsaal in Vienna, Austria (which Sumner believes is the best concert hall in the world, built in 1870). He has finished his career with the PSO and is now more dedicated than ever to helping spread the message and meaning of music as far and wide as possible. To those ends, he’s currently working towards a new line of brass instrument mouthpieces, which will include for the first time in history his US patented rim modification, while also preparing for release of his first book Actors of Sound, with the foreword written by Dr Tim Lautzenheiser.

Formerly on the Faculties of Temple University, Duquesne University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton, TX

Sumner’s primary teacher on voice was Dr. Robert Page. His primary teachers on the tuba were Rick Colvin (retired) and Steve Bryant (retired) of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Paul Krzywicki (retired) of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Arnold Jacobs (RIP) and Edward Kleinhammer (RIP) of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra