The trumpeter Craig Morris is best known for holding principal trumpet slots with a variety of top American ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed chamber music and concertos, and is a noted educator. Morris was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1968. His father played the tuba and directed a band. Morris attended the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in music. He went on to the San Francisco Conservatory, studying with Glenn Fischthal and receiving a master's degree in 1991. For three years, Morris performed with the Pinnacle Brass Quintet and with Dallas Brass. Then he held principal or major trumpet seats with various orchestras, beginning with the Sacramento Symphony (principal trumpet, 1994-1996), the San Francisco Symphony (associate principal trumpet, 1999-2001), and the Chicago Symphony (principal trumpet, 2001-2003, after holding a fourth/utility trumpet chair in 1998 and 1999). Morris moved on to guest principal trumpet slots with the St. Louis Symphony, the Swedish Radio Orchestra, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the San Diego Symphony, making international appearances including one at the Beijing Modern Music Festival. He also appeared in the summers at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and in 2007 he was appointed the festival's principal trumpeter by music director Marin Alsop. He has continued to perform there in the summers while settling in Miami, teaching trumpet at the University of Miami, and continuing to concertize. He performed Jolivet's Trumpet Concerto No. 2 at Carnegie Hall with the Miami University Wind Ensemble. Thom Sleeper's Concerto for Trumpet was written for Morris, who premiered the work and has continued to perform it. He has also premiered works by Michael Daugherty and Joel Puckett. Morris released an album of trumpet transcriptions on the Naxos label in 2011, and in 2018 his performance of music by Philip Glass on the album Three Pieces in the Shape of a Square, on the Bridge label, received a Grammy award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. ~ James Manheim