When he was eight years old, Utah Symphony Principal Trombonist Larry Zalkind jumped at the chance to enter the music program at his local elementary school. Inspired by his favorite group, the Tijuana Brass, he had always wanted to play the trumpet. But there were no trumpets left, and his school music teacher Nora Graham settled the issue by declaring, “You look like a trombone player to me!” His fate sealed, Zalkind carried the enormous trombone case home from school with the help of a fellow third grader. After studying with Harold Diner and Norman Bernstein, Zalkind entered the California Institute of the Arts Youth program in eighth grade, where he coached chamber music with Los Angeles Tubist Tommy Johnson. By the age of 17 Zalkind was a student at USC, where he studied with Robert Marsteller and completed his bachelor’s degree in music education and master’s degrees in music performance. Other highly influential teachers during that time were Ralph Sauer, Byron Peebles, Jimmy Stamp, Tommy Johnson, Arnold Jacobs, Terry Cravens and Dennis Smith. In the fall of 1981, while pursuing his doctorate at the University of Michigan, 25-year-old Zalkind won the audition to become Principal Trombonist for the Utah Symphony, a position he has held ever since.

      Zalkind won the Saunderson Award at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in 1976. He has toured, recorded and performed extensively as a member of the Summit Brass on Trombone and Euphonium since 1990. In addition, he has performed with Chamber Music Northwest in Portland Oregon, Music of the Baroque in Chicago, the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Wyoming, the Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington D.C., and with the Elkhorn Music Festival in Sun Valley, Idaho. He has performed and recorded with the Chicago, Atlanta, and St. Louis Symphonies, and performed as a member of the Long Beach Symphony before moving to Utah. He has been featured as soloist with the Fairbanks Symphony, the Southwest Symphony, the West Los Angeles Symphony, the Billings Symphony, the Twin Falls Symphony, the Macon Symphony, the Central Oregon Symphony, the New Sousa Band, the Ringgold Band, the Burbank (California) Chamber Orchestra, the Pierce Symphonic Winds, the U.S. Army Orchestra, and the Denver Municipal Band. On the Euphonium, he was the Solo Euphonium with the Long Beach Municipal Band from 1977-1980, and has been a member of the Tubadors tuba quartet since 1978.

      This coming season, Zalkind will again be performing at the Grand Teton Music Festival for his twenty-fifth season, and will participate as a member of the Summit Brass in the Rafael Mendez/Summit Brass Institute in Denver Colorado. He will participate in other recitals and master classes around the country, including Northwestern University, Cincinnati Conservatory, California State University Fullerton, University of Michigan, and at Indiana University. He will be the soloist in the Christopher Rouse Concerto with the Utah Symphony in May of 2008, in conjunction with the International Trombone Festival. For next season, Zalkind will be premiering the Barry Kopetz Trombone Concerto in Columbus Ohio, and also premiering a new solo with band by Bill Reichenbach in Riverside California, along with performing at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

      Mr. Zalkind has released two solo CD’s on the Summit Records label with a third on the way this coming fall. His first CD, Larry Zalkind Plays Baroque Music on the Trombone, features Baroque music on the trombone in different settings, and his second CD, Encore!, features different types of encores performed with trombone and piano.

      Mr. Zalkind has been a faculty member at the University of Utah for 26 years, currently holding the position of Adjunct Professor. He has served as clinician in many music festivals in the US, including the International Trombone Association Trombone Festival, the 76+4 Trombone Workshop at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the International Tuba-Euphonium Conference in both Chicago and Minnesota. He has served on the faculty of the Hartwick Summer Music Festival in New York, the Marrowstone Music Festival in Port Townsend, Washington, the Batiquitos Festival of the Arts in San Diego, and the Grand Teton Orchestral Seminar in Wyoming. He has held faculty positions at Cerritos College in California, Albion College in Michigan, Westminster College in Salt Lake City, and Weber State College in Ogden, Utah.

      Zalkind began dating his wife, Associate Principal Violist Roberta Zalkind, while both were students at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. They have three children, Ben, Matt, and Aaron. Zalkind is a Yamaha Artist, and performs on a new Yamaha prototype large bore trombone.