Stanley Curtis has developed a multi-faceted career as a modern and historic trumpeter, composer, arranger, and educator. After studying at the University of Alabama, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and in the Netherlands on a Fulbright Scholarship, he earned his Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University in 2005. Early in his career, he served as Historic Trumpet Division Chair of the National Trumpet Competition and won Third Prize at the Altenburg Baroque Trumpet Competition in Germany.
Curtis served for two decades in the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C., performing at national and international events and leading the Navy Band Brass Quartet. Following his retirement from military service, he joined the faculty of Colorado State University in 2018, where he now serves as Associate Professor of Trumpet. For four years, he was principal trumpet of the Fort Collins Symphony and has appeared regularly with the Colorado Symphony, Colorado Brass, and numerous early-music ensembles.
An active performer and clinician, Curtis has presented masterclasses and concerts across the United States, as well as in Spain, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Colombia. He has released two solo albums—Refracted Light(Art Laureate, 2019), featuring his own compositions, and Orbits of Infinity (Tōnsehen, 2022), highlighting commissioned works by his close associates. Orbits earned Second Place in the Brass Professional Division of The American Prize(2023). His writing has appeared in the International Trumpet Guild Journal and the Historic Brass Society Newsletter, and he maintains the educational website trumpetjourney.com, which features more than 400 articles and has reached over half a million readers worldwide.
From 2022 to 2023, Curtis served as President of the Historic Brass Society and currently chairs the International Trumpet Guild Grant Committee. He hosted the 2024 North American Baroque Trumpet Competition and Conference at Colorado State University and has been named to the judging panel for the Third International Altenburg Baroque Trumpet Competition, to be held in Bad Säckingen, Germany, in 2026. His compositions are published by Balquhidder Music (Carl Fischer affiliate), and he plans to self-publish additional works through his website.
Critics have praised Stanley across the country:
Joan Reinthaler wrote in the Washington Post, “Equally astonishing was the performance of Stanley Curtis, who performed miracles on his valveless Baroque trumpet, rolling out long high trills, wide octave leaps and the sort of chromatic lines that shouldn’t be possible on that instrument. With its almost human sound the product of its small bore, his trumpet is an ideal vocal partner and, together, Curtis and Richardson gave terrific readings of Handel’s “Let the Bright Seraphim” and Bach’s cantata “Jauchzet Gott.” [December 16, 2013]
Here’s a video of a rehearsal for that performance with the Bach Sinfonia. Nola Richardson is the soprano.
Elaine Schmidt wrote in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “ [In Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2], the soloists and orchestra created moments of energetic music, full of expressive momentum. Many of those moments came from Curtis’ attention to long phrases. He gave clear direction to every note, from soaring solo lines to small ideas he connected into long, arched phrases. . . . Curtis was also heard in Bach’s ‘Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen,’ with soprano Jennifer Gettel. Curtis and Gettel deftly traded phrases, matching interpretive details and dynamics nicely. Here, too, Curtis’ articulate phrasing was outstanding.” [October 22, 2001]
Cecilia Porter wrote in the Washington Post, “Stanley Curtis played a mean “Bach” trumpet Saturday, with even the fastest slew of notes obtained solely by resorting to lungs, chest muscles, lips and tongue. He was among the crackerjack soloists of the Bach Sinfonia. . . .” [November 22, 2004]
Joan Reinthaler also wrote in the Washington Post about a cooperative concert between the Countertop Ensemble and the WCSE: “The “cornett” in the instrumental ensemble bears almost no relation to the modern cornet. Dating from the 15th century, it is slightly bent, usually made of wood with finger holes like a recorder’s and a mouthpiece a little like a trumpet’s. Played well (as it was, here, by Stanley Curtis) it sounds like an exceptionally clear human voice.” [October 6, 2008]
Away from the stage, Curtis enjoys composing, studying languages, cooking, traveling with his wife Melissa, walking their dogs, and unwinding with a good book or film.