Sean Alexander is a professional trumpet player attending The Colburn School in Los Angeles where he is studying under James Wilt of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the Professional Studies Degree program. Sean has performed with prestigious groups such as the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, American Ballet Theater Orchestra, West Point Military Band, and as a member of the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra. Recently he was a soloist at Carnegie Hall as a Young Armenian Artists Scholarship Recipient. As a fellow at Festival Napa Valley, Sean performed in concert with Grammy Award winner pop artist SEAL.

National Public Radio station (KCLU-FM) interviewed Sean about his “Motivation for a New Musical Work,” based on the music from film composer Joe Hisaishi’s score, “Merry-Go-Round of Life,” which Sean re-arranged and recorded as six trumpets during the Covid lockdown. During the past summer he was invited to sound the famous bugle call, “Taps,” at the National WWI Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In his undergraduate years, Sean studied at the Aspen Music Festival where he also was selected to teach private trumpet lessons to elementary and middle school students in the Roaring Fork Public School District, Colorado. He received a fellowship to the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where he played the role of principal trumpet. While in college, he served as principal trumpet of the Grammy Award-winning New York Youth Symphony performing in Carnegie Hall on multiple occasions.

In 2022, he graduated from Manhattan School of Music with a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Performance under the tutelage of Ethan Bensdorf and Thomas Smith of the New York Philharmonic. Receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in music from the Manhattan School of Music in Classical Trumpet in 2020, he is a four-year recipient of the President’s Award Scholarship and the winner of the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music competition. During school, as part of a community outreach program, Sean taught master classes in trumpet to middle schoolers in New York City public and private schools.

A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy high school in Michigan in 2016, Sean was a finalist in the Interlochen Concerto Competition and played principal trumpet with the Interlochen Orchestra at Geffen Hall in the New York Philharmonic Biennial Celebration.

During his career, Sean has played in several private settings honoring United States Senators, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Alec Baldwin, Architect Frank Gehry, Conductor Essa Pekka Salonen and former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

His past teachers include James Wilt, Thomas Smith, Ethan Bensdorf, John Sheppard, Raymond Mase, William Gerlach, and Ken Larson.

Sean was born and raised in Thousand Oaks, California, attending Thousand Oaks High School for freshman and sophomore years before transferring to Interlochen. He is an Eagle Scout, and in his free time enjoys scuba diving and hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains and throughout California. Fun Fact: Sean can be seen representing The Colburn School on their own line of bottled water!