When Tony Prisk, second trumpet with the Philadelphia Orchestra, told me about some of his colleague’s attitude about their day job (in the most recent installment of the Trumpet Dynamics podcast, which you can access here ) I thought he was joking.

How could a person devote their entire life from childhood to excelling at a craft, then winning a job with one of the best ensembles in the world, and still it’s not good enough?

I was honestly floored at Tony’s comments initially. But when I gave it some thought, it made sense. These folks legitimately have the ability to succeed as a soloist traveling the world, playing the great concert halls in front of orchestras. To be in the orchestra, while others get the spotlight playing Rachmaninov concerti, it’s got to be difficult.

While I can’t relate to that moral dilemma, nor will I ever, it made for good radio ;)

Tony and I talked about a lot of things, including the many stops along the way to his dream gig playing in Philly, and why maturity has allowed him to be content with a supporting role in the orchestra (which is a difficult pill for trumpeters to swallow generally speaking).

The episode has been released for about 24 hours now; and you can listen to it at this link or on your favorite podcast player.

The website and design aesthetics have been given a bit of an update too, so check it out if you want.

https://trumpetdynamics.com/tonyprisk

James Newcomb