Aubrey Foard – Principal Tuba, Charlotte Symphony

Aubrey Foard holds the Governor James G. Martin Principal Tuba chair with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and is Lecturer of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He also serves as an Artist Faculty of the Brevard Music Center and performs as Principal Tubist with the Santa Barbara Symphony and as Principal Tubist with the Britt Festival Orchestra. He has previously held Principal Tuba positions with the symphony orchestras of Canton, Youngstown, Albany, West Virginia, the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, and the National Repertory Orchestra. Additionally, he has performed in a temporary capacity with many other orchestras, including as a substitute with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with The Cleveland Orchestra on tours of Europe and Carnegie Hall, and as Acting Principal Tubist with the San Diego Symphony during summer seasons.

Mr. Foard debuted as a professional concert artist with the West Virginia Symphony, performing a double feature of John Williams’ “Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra” and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Concerto for Bass Tuba in F Minor.” He has also performed as a soloist on several occasions with the Charlotte Symphony. Other solo performances include orchestras in Chicago, Milwaukee, Charleston, SC, and Santa Barbara. As a soloist, Mr. Foard’s performances have been broadcast throughout the United States on NPR’s “Performance Today,” as well as on WQXR New York and KUHF Houston. Mr. Foard is the only tubist to win the Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition twice, and has won prizes in the Milwaukee Civic Music
Association Harold A. Levin Scholarship Competition, the Entergy Young Texas Artist Competition and the Minnesota Orchestra’s WAMSO Young Artist Competition.

An avid proponent of new music, Mr. Foard has commissioned a concerto by Wisconsin composer Mark Petering. A recording was made with an orchestra consisting of students of The Colburn School and is now available at https://www.aubreyfoard.com/petering-concerto.html.

Mr. Foard was the first tubist to graduate from The Colburn School’s Conservatory of Music, having earned an Artist Diploma. He previously earned a Master of Music degree from Rice University and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. His principal teachers include Alan Baer, Ron Bishop, Dave Kirk, Norm Pearson, Fritz Kaenzig, and Mark Lawrence.