Graham Ashton is Professor of trumpet, and chair of brass at Purchase University of New York. As a soloist he has appeared with numerous orchestras throughout the world, including the BBC Symphony, London Philharmonic, and English Chamber Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra and New York Virtuosi. He has made six acclaimed solo recordings for EMI Virgin Classics, Nimbus, Koch and Claves with the English Chamber Orchestra, English Symphony and Irish Chamber Orchestras and was a member of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble from 1981-84 with whom he made five recordings for Decca, and toured throughout Europe.
Mr. Ashton has recorded the music for numerous TV programs, jingles and movie scores including "James Bond" - 'Never Say Never Again' and Octopussy, 'Yentl', Dangerous Liaisons’, ‘Memphis Belle’, 'Cry Freedom', ‘We’re No Angels’, Batman’ and 'Casanova'. He has also recorded with Paul McCartney and ‘Wings’, Phil Collins, Elvis Costello and Barbra Streisand and appeared on camera with Sean Connery in ‘The Russia House'.Now residing in New York, Graham Ashton divides his time between Chairing the Brass department at Purchase College, performing as a soloist, and performing, recording, arranging and composing for his group, the Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble. GABE has given performances at Rockefeller University, Miller Theatre, Columbia University, Lyric Chamber Music Society, St. Bart’s on 5th Avenue, St. Mary-the-Virgin, Century Club, John Jay College, Guggenheim Museum and Met Museum. The ensemble has also performed at the National Cathedral, Washington DC, and in Colorado and Wyoming. Recent international performances include concerts at the Epsival Festival in France, and a tour of Ireland for Music Network. GABE has recorded two albums: ‘The Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble Plays the Music of James Pugh and Daniel Schnyder’ for Signum Records, and ‘Music for Organ, Brass and Timpani’ for SONY, which was nominated in the final five in the 2005 Grammy Awards. The Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble's latest CD for Signum Records, ‘Scenes of Spirits’ (music from Japan, India, Ireland, Argentina and Australia), was released in spring 2007.
