NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Dr. Oscar Diaz, Jr. was appointed Assistant Professor of Trombone at Texas A&M University-Kingsville in 2007. He holds dual Bachelor Degrees in Trombone Performance and Music Education from Texas A&M University at Kingsville, a Master Degree in Trombone Performance from The University of Northern Colorado and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Trombone Performance at the University of Texas at Austin. His principal teachers include Dr. Nathaniel Brickens, Dr. Nathaniel Wickham, Dr. Paul Hageman, Ed Avila, Wanda Avila, Ron Welborn, and Paul Larson

Dr. Diaz has been a teaching assistant at The University of Northern Colorado and The University of Texas at Austin. He has taught public school in Laredo, TX and taught privately in the Westlake and Lake Travis School Districts in Austin, TX.

Dr. Diaz has performed with the Fort Collins, Longmont, and Cheyenne Symphonies of Colorado, and Wyoming.  He was a freelance trombonist in the northern Colorado area performing with numerous jazz bands and brass quintets.  He has recorded with The Dave Camwell Group, the University of Northern Colorado Lab Band I, JazzBonez and The University of Texas Trombone Choir (winners of the Emory Remington Competition in 2007). He has performed at the Eastern Trombone Workshop, the International Trombone Festival, the Texas Music Educators Association Conference and also performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. He has been a featured soloist with the Laredo Wind Ensemble, Texas A&M International University Symphonic Band, the University of Northern Colorado Trombone Choir, the University of Texas Trombone Choir and the Texas A&M University Kingsville Wind Symphony.

Dr. Diaz has shared the stage with trombone greats such as Bill Reichenbach, Conrad Herwig, Slide Hampton, and The Trombones de Costa Rica to name a few. He has performed in numerous master classes with artists such as Henry Charles Smith, Ralph Sauer, the Canadian Brass, and The Trombones de Costa Rica.

Dr. Diaz is currently Principal Trombonist in the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra, Second Trombonist in the Victoria Symphony, Bass Trombonist in the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra and freelances in the South Texas area. He is a member of the Jazz Trombone Ensemble Jazzbonez, winners of the 2007 Kai Winding Jazz Trombone Competition and the 2007 National Jazz Trombone Ensemble/Capitol Bones Competition. Also as a founding member of the Minor Fourth Trombone Quartet, he tours every year around the state and nation. This past year the M4TQ performed with the United States’s Pershing’s Own Army band at the American Trombone Festival later this year in Washington D.C.. The Texas A&M University-Kingsville Trombone Choir under Dr. Diaz’s baton has been awarded an honorable mention award from the International Trombone Festival’s Emory Remington Trombone Choir competition. Due to the continued excellence of the studio, the choir was invited to perform at the International Trombone Festival in Valencia, Spain in 2015. Over the years, the studio has performed at the Eastern Trombone Workshop now American Trombone Workshop in 2010 and in 2014, the Texas State Symposium in 2013, various high schools, and numerous high profile university functions personally invited by the president of our university. Over the years, members of the TAMUK Trombone studio have been placed in national and international solo competitions as well as being accepted to many outstanding institutions throughout the nation post-graduation. Dr.Diaz is an artist/clinician for Michael Rath Instruments.