Chris Gekker is Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maryland School of Music. He has appeared as soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe, and can be heard as soloist on more than thirty recordings, and on more than one hundred chamber music, orchestral, jazz, and commercial recordings, as well as numerous movie and television soundtracks. Deutsche Grammophon selected him to be included on their 2005 CD compilation “Masters of the Trumpet.”

He moved to Maryland in 1998, from New York City, where he was a member of the American Brass Quintet for eighteen years, principal trumpet of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and Columbia University. He also frequently performed and recorded as principal of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and as a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

He has been a guest principal trumpet with the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, and the Santa Fe Opera. Frequently invited to perform and record with contemporary popular artists, he is featured on Sting’s 2009 DVD A Winter’s Night filmed live in Durham Cathedral, England. Recent solo recordings include Larry Bell’s Unchanging Love (Fanfare Magazine: “Chris Gekker has made himself known over the years as a superb trumpeter who is able to produce meltingly flute-like tones at one extreme, and to bring down the house at the other.”) and Corollary III by Brian Fennelly, for trumpet and piano, of which American Record Guide writes “It is always a pleasure to hear Chris Gekker’s round, warm tone quality, virtuoso skills, and always thoughtful way of playing.” His most recent solo CDs Ghost Dialogues and Moon Marked were awarded second place in the Solo Artist Category by The American Prize.