Rex Martin

Rex Martin, professor of music at Northwestern University, has been playing tuba since the age of nine. He received performance degrees from Illinois State University from Illinois State University and Northwestern University, where he studied with Edward Livingston and Arnold Jacobs. His playing can be heard on more than 100 recordings of various ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Pro Musica, Tower Brass, Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Mannheim Steamroller and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He has performed on more than 3000 television and radio commercials and has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra (Oskaa), Lucerne Festival Orchestra, New YOrk Philharmonic and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra.

His students occupy positions in orchestras and universities throughout the world, and he was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumni Award by Illinois State University. He previously held professorships at DePaul University, University of Illinois at Chicago, The University of Notre Dame and The Oberlin Conservatory. As a soloist and clinician, he has performed and taught throughout North America, the Far East and Europe. A Swiss citizen, he also teaches at Ticino Musica in Lugano, Switzerland, and has traveled to Europe 110 times to give recitals and classes. His solo CD “Rex Martin Live in Japan” is available on the WAKO label.

“It would be impossible for me to imagine a better school for the goals i had in 1978 than Illinois State University. The combination of faculty, fellow students, location, and atmosphere was just what I needed. Among the excellent faculty, I must mention Jim Boitos and Arthur Corra as enormous influences that were “instrumental” in my education. However, the single most important professor, was my mentor Edward Livingston. He was the PERFECT fit for me and he continues to inspire and influence me and my students. I try to live by this quote from Ed:

The harder you work, the luckier you get.”