International honour for John Wallace

Congratulations to Prof John Wallace CBE, patron of the Scottish Brass Band Association, on receiving an honorary award from the International Trumpet Guild for his work within the global trumpet community.

This prestigious award is the guild’s highest honour which recognises John’s outstanding contributions in trumpet performance, literature, teaching and culture.

An internationally renowned Scottish trumpet soloist, composer and educator, John started playing the trumpet when he was seven years old, and at 16, toured Europe with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. His professional career spans over five decades, playing with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Through this latest well deserved recognition he joins such past recipients as Louis Armstrong, Maurice André, Edward Tarr, Miles Davis, Maurice Murphy and many others.

John commented modestly: “It’s been a rare privilege to work and play with so many brilliant people during the course of what has been a musically replete life.”

He has dedicated much of his career to the promotion of arts education, serving as Head of the Brass Faculty at the Royal Academy of Music in London, before becoming Principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama).

As well as his career as soloist, John is the founder of the Wallace Collection, a brass ensemble currently based in St Andrews. The Wallace Collection has toured all over the world and is now based in Scotland as a partner of the St Andrews Music Participation (StAMP) Project, which has given more than 150 youngsters across Fife the opportunity to start learning a brass instrument since the start of the pandemic.