trombone
Luis F. Fred was appointed Assistant the Professor of Trombone at the University of Central Florida fall 2017. Previous to his appointment at UCF, he was on sabbatical leave pursuing doctoral studies at Northwestern. Mr. Fred was principal trombone of the Puerto Rico Symphony (1998-2017) and professor of trombone at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music (2001-2017). He has extensive symphonic experience having played with major organizations such as the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony and Houston Symphony orchestras. He was co-principal trombone of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid (Madrid Opera) and Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla in Spain. He has worked with conductors such as: Bernard Haitink, Jaap van Zweden, Esa Pekka-Salonen, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Tilson Thomas, Robert Spano, Jane Glover, Nicolas Kraemer and Maximiano Valdés.
Mr. Fred is a member of Trombones de Costa Rica (TCR), a quartet that specializes in bringing Latin American music to international audiences. He has toured with TCR having travelled Argentina and the United States. Other chamber music credits include performances with the Chicago Music of the Baroque, the Casals Festival chamber players, a residency in the United Kingdom with the Harlaxton Chamber Music Festival, and recording in Caribe Clarinete with Puerto Rico Symphony principal clarinetist Katherine Jones.
As a soloist, he has performed with ensembles such as the Puerto Rico Symphony, US Army Orchestra (American Trombone Workshop), Banda Sinfónica de Santa Fe (Argentina), and multiple university ensembles in the United States and Latin America. He is a sought after clinician having done seminars in the United Kingdom, United States, Argentina, Costa Rica, Peru, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and his native country, Puerto Rico.
Mr. Fred holds degrees from Indiana University, Manhattan School of Music and is completing a DMA from Northwestern University. His former teachers include: Michael Mulcahy, Timothy Higgins, Doug Wright, Randy Hawes, Chris Davis, Steve Norrell, David Finlayson, Joseph Alessi, Keith Brown, Edwin Anderson and Antonio Salcedo.
Luis F. Fred is a graduate of the Free School of Music in San Juan where he studied with Antonio Salcedo. He studied his Bachelor of Music at Indiana University under the tutelage of Keith Brown and Edwin Anderson. He is a Performer's Certificate recipient from Indiana. His graduate work was done at Manhattan School of Music in the Orchestral Performance Program, where he studied with David Finlayson (New York Philharmonic). He is a recipient of the John C. Clark award as outstanding brass student at MSM. Having completed his graduate work, Mr. Fred did extensive additional work with Steve Norrell, (MET Opera), Joseph Alessi (New York Philharmonic), Manny Laureano (Minnesota Orchestra), and Michael Mulcahy (Chicago Symphony Orchestra). Mr. Fred is currently on sabbatical leave from both the Puerto Rico Symphony and Conservatory to pursue doctoral work at Northwestern University.