James Wilt joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in March 2003 as associate principal trumpet. Prior to this, he spent 14 years as the associate principal trumpet of the Houston Symphony. He has also held positions with New York Philharmonic, the Denver Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the Dayton Philharmonic. He has recorded with all of these orchestras and with the Cincinnati Symphony, Eastman Philharmonia and Eastman Wind Ensemble.
Although primarily an orchestral musician, Mr. Wilt has performed a wide range of solo and chamber music, including three solo appearances with the Houston Symphony and appearances on the New York Philharmonic's chamber music series. Since joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he has performed regularly as part of the Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series. He was featured with the Philharmonic playing the solo trumpet part of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in June of 2004 and again when the Philharmonic took the piece to New York in June of 2005. He has also performed with Da Camera and the Greenbriar Consortium and has participated in the Grand Teton and Colorado music festivals. In 1999 and 2002, Mr. Wilt traveled to Japan to perform as principal trumpet of the Super World Orchestra at the Tokyo Music Festival as part of an orchestra of musicians selected from around the world. In January of 2007, he performed as principal trumpet of the Symphonica Toscanini during a United States tour under the direction of Lorin Maazel.
Mr. Wilt graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Eugene Blee. His graduate work was done at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Charles Geyer. Other teachers have included Edward Treutel, Gordon Smith and John Chipurn.
Mr. Wilt currently teaches at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, and has taught at California State University at Long Beach, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and the University of Northern Colorado.