Douglas Yeo

Born in Monterey, California in 1955, Yeo first learned to play the trombone as a child living in Valley Stream, New York and continued while living in the Oak Ridge section of Jefferson Township, New Jersey, graduating in 1973 from Jefferson Township High School.^[1] Yeo holds a bachelor of music degree with honors from Wheaton College in Illinois and a Master of Arts degree from New York University. His principal teachers were Edward Kleinhammer and Keith Brown.

Before joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra/Boston Pops Orchestra in May 1985, Yeo was a member of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, (1981–1985), and was on the faculties of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, in Baltimore, and The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.. His background has included a four-year tenure with the Goldman Band, and performances with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Gerry Mulligan Big Band, and orchestras for numerous Broadway shows.

From 1998 to 2008, he was music director of the New England Brass Band,^[2] which released five compact disc recordings under his direction. In 2006, the New England Brass Band, under Mr. Yeo's direction, won first place in the Honors Section at the North American Brass Band Association^[3] National Championship, held in Louisville, Kentucky.

He announced his retirement from the BSO, effective on August 27, 2012, at the conclusion of the Tanglewood 75th anniversary season. He moved to Arizona, where he was appointed Professor of Trombone at Arizona State University (Tempe).^[4]

In 2014, he was the recipient of the International Trombone Association's highest honor, the ITA Award, presented to him "in recognition of his distinguished career and in acknowledgement of his impact on the world of trombone performance."^[5] He was given the International Trombone Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024, "in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the trombone and a career that has reflected a commitment to excellence and achievement.^[6]

• He has been a soloist with the Boston and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras; on both occasions becoming the first bass trombonist to perform as soloist with either orchestra.
• In 1991, he gave the premiere of Vaclav Nelhybel's Concerto for Bass Trombone with the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble.^[7]
• He performed John Williams' Tuba Concerto with the Boston Pops Orchestra under Mr. Williams, becoming the first bass trombonist to perform the piece.
• He gave the first performance of Lawrence Wolfe's^[8] Wildfire with the University of Washington Wind Ensemble in 1995.
• He has premiered numerous compositions by Norman Bolter^[9] including Temptation for serpent and string quartet, Ancestors for digeridoo, shofar and serpent, and La Grotte Cosquer for tenor and bass trombones.
• His first solo recording, Proclamation, with The Black Dyke Mills Band, featured premieres of four newly commissioned works: Proclamation by Gordon Langford, Rainy Day in Rio by Goff Richards, Triptych by Lawrence Wolfe, and Tribute to George Roberts, arranged by Bill Geldard.
• His second solo recording, Take 1, featured live solo performances given in concert from 1975 to 1997 including Alan Hovhannes' Symphony Number 34, Opus 310 for Bass Trombone and Strings.
• His solo recording, Cornerstone, of arrangements of hymns and gospel songs for bass trombone and piano, was released in 2000.
• In March 2002, he recorded Two of a Mind, an album of solos and duets with British tenor trombonist Nick Hudson, accompanied by the Williams Fairey Band and pianist David Chapman.
• In May 1997, he performed Simon Proctor's Concerto for Serpent and Orchestra with the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of John Williams.
• An album released in 2003, Le Monde du Serpent, features his playing serpent in repertoire spanning over three centuries.
• In 1982, 1999, 2004, 2014, 2017, and 2018 he was a featured guest artist and clinician at the International Trombone Festival.^[10]
• In 1999 he also performed the Christopher Brubeck^[11] Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra with the Boston Pops Orchestra.
• In 2000, his performance of the finale of the Brubeck Concerto, "James Brown in the Twilight Zone", was broadcast on television as part of the "Evening at Pops" series on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

In addition to playing the bass trombone, Yeo plays bass trumpet, contrabass trombone, and has become a leading exponent of historical brasses such as the buccin, serpent, ophicleide and bass sackbut.

• In 2001 he joined the orchestra of Boston Baroque^[12] for performances of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (on bass sackbut) and Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks (on serpent), the latter of which released in 2003 on the Telarc label. He joined Boston's Handel and Haydn Society for performances of Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique (playing ophicleide) in 2002 and in the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 (playing bass sackbut) in 2003.

• In 2005 he played serpent with wind players from the Handel & Haydn Orchestra on the Divertimento in B flat [St. Antoni Chorale] attributed to Haydn and in Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Also in 2005 he played ophicleide in the first North American performance on original instruments of Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet with Chorus pro Musica^[13] in Boston.

• In June 2005 he presented a paper on serpent and ophicleide players in brass bands at the Great American Brass Band Festival's^[14] History Conference (Danville, Kentucky) and also performed a solo on ophicleide accompanied by the Athena Brass Band.^[15]

• He presented a recital of music for serpent at the 2000 Historic Brass Festival at the University of Connecticut (Storrs, Connecticut), has lectured on the serpent at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,^[16] the National Music Museum^[17] in Vermillion, South Dakota and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and is named in the New Grove II Dictionary of Music's^[18] article on the serpent.