Skip to Main content

Dr. John Irish

Professor Music

Experience

Dr. John Irish is Professor of Music at Angelo State University, San Angelo, Texas. In addition to his duties with the high brass studio, he directs ASU brass ensembles. Prior to this position, he taught at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio and at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas.

His career includes performances with the Southwest German Radio Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic, the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, many chamber orchestras, brass quintets, and a wide variety of dance bands and commercial projects. He currently holds the position of principal trumpet of the San Angelo Symphony Orchestra and is active in the musical life of the area as well as a founder of Jazz Concho, a jazz sextet made up of local professionals.

This university position follows a distinguished career in the Air Force Band system in which he performed in all fifty states, Canada, Mexico, and Western Europe. He has recorded often, premiered new works for winds, and soloed with bands and orchestras. Dr. Irish was featured in 2005 as a guest artist in a series of master classes and as a soloist with an orchestra in Chihuahua, Mexico as well as performing a solo recital in Taipei, Taiwan in 2010. In May 2011, he gave the world premiere of a new work for trumpet by Australian composer, Brendan Collins at the 36th Annual Conference of the International Trumpet Guild in Minneapolis. In the summer of 2012, he performed as Principal Trumpet in the orchestra of Opera Maya, touring with that group throughout the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Additionally, he held the position of Co-Principal Trumpet of an International Music Festival located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. 

As a contributor of a series of articles in the Journal of the International Trumpet Guild (ITG), he has illuminated world-renowned trumpet players who have made a significant impact on the trumpet. In addition to his other frequent contributions to the ITG Journal, his writing has been featured in the Bandmasters Review (an educational publication of the Texas Bandmasters Association), the Newsletter of the International Women’s Brass Conference, the popular British periodical, The Brass Herald, along with a variety of publications and web resources in the music industry. Irish completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music; he earned the MM and BM degrees from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Prominent teachers include Bert Truax, Alan Siebert, John Carroll, Vince DiMartino, and Dale Marrs. Dr. Irish is a clinician/artist for the Conn-Selmer Company.