Joseph Damian Foley is a native of Concord, New Hampshire. He attended
Boston University as a Trustee Scholar, where he studied trumpet with
Roger Voisin, Rolf
Smedvig, and Peter Chapman, and composition with Samuel
Headrick. He received both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music
degrees from that institution, and was twice given
the award for "Outstanding Brass Player." He also
studied with Arnold Jacobs, Bob McCoy, and Vince
Penzerella.
A former founding member of the Atlantic Brass Quintet, he has
performed in more than a dozen countries on four continents. He has also
performed and toured with many prestigious ensembles including the
Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops, as well as
the Boston Ballet Orchestra, the Boston Lyric
Opera, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Musica Viva, the
New Hampshire Symphony, Opera Providence, the Springfield Symphony,
and the
All-American College Orchestra at EPCOT Center. Mr. Foley has been
Principal Trumpet of the Rhode Island Philharmonic since 1990. As a
soloist he has performed with many ensembles
including the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, the
Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Ocean State Chamber Orchestra, and
thecontemporary music ensemble ALEA III.
Mr. Foley is also a gifted arranger, with over fifty brass transcriptions to
his credit. Among his highly praised arrangements for brass are
Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" and Gershwin's "An American
in Paris." He has also arranged and composed for
such diverse ensembles as full symphony orchestra
and jazz ensemble.
As an educator, he has taught at many prestigious institutions, including
the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, The Boston Conservatory,
Boston College, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, and Harvard University. He has given
clinics and master classes at music schools around the world,
and currently serves as Assistant Professor at Rhode Island College
and Adjunct Professor of Trumpet at the University
of Massachusetts-Lowell and the Boston University
School for the Arts.
"...Foley, whose work is technically ingenious, musically sophisticated, and
often dazzling." -The Boston Globe, (MA)
"Sterling solo trumpet work..." - Sunday Telegram, (Worcester, MA)
"...the concert gave the Philharmonic a chance to show off some of its
brightest star-players such as Foley, who had no trouble tossing off
the Haydn and giving the finale a sunny spin." -
Providence (RI) Bulletin-Journal
"Trumpeter Joseph Foley’s delicate solo that began the Intermezzo was a
thing to behold..."- Quad City Times, (Iowa)
"...Jan Krzywicki’s Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, which alternated some
tense and stinging bravura writing for the instruments. For Joseph
Foley and David Horne, sizzlers both, this was
virtual child's play." -The Boston Globe
"... it's hard not to make special mention of the technical and
lyrical qualities of Joseph Foley, a
magnificent trumpet player gifted with an elegant
power which confers a very special radiance to the ensemble." -The
Brass Bulletin, (Switzerland) |
