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Biography
Denson Paul Pollard is professor of music in trombone at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Pollard began as bass/tenor trombonist/bass trumpet player with the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in September 2007. He was bass trombonist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 2014 to 2015 and the Hong Kong Philharmonic from 2001 to 2007. He has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His teachers have included Jim Roberts, David Gier, George Krem, Charles Vernon, and Joseph Alessi.
Pollard earned a Master of Musical Arts degree and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in performance and pedagogy from the University of Iowa, where he served as a teaching assistant in musicology, jazz, and applied trombone. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in music education from Jacksonville State University, Alabama. He has been a member of the faculty at Mannes School of Music, Bard College, The Juilliard School, and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.
A passionate champion of the bass trombone as a solo instrument, Pollard has performed concertos and played solo recitals throughout the world. He has recorded three solo CDs: Up From Below, Point in Time, and Listening. He can also be heard on three MET Opera Brass recordings and a recent CD with James Markey, bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Bass Trombonist’s Guide to Orchestral Excerpts.
Pollard’s recordings are available at Hickey’s Music Center. He is a Buffet Group artist, performing exclusively on Courtois trombones.