Scott Hartman
Principal Bass Trombone
Orlando, Florida native Scott Hartman joined the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra as Principal Bass Trombone in September 2014. In demand throughout the country, Hartman has performed in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Grant Park Music Festival Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Arizona MusicFest Orchestra, Charleston Symphony, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Richmond Symphony, as well as contemporary music group Ensemble Dal Niente. He is the bass trombone faculty at Brevard Music Center and the low brass instructor at Davidson College.
Prior to joining the CSO, Hartman was the Bass Trombonist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He studied with Charles Vernon and Mark Fisher at DePaul University, and he is an alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, National Repertory Orchestra, Brevard Music Center, and Bar Harbor Brass. Hartman won both International Trombone Association Bass Trombone Competitions: the Edward Kleinhammer Orchestral Bass Trombone Competition and the Donald Yaxley Solo Bass Trombone Competition. He is also a medal winner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition as a member of the brass quintet Lincoln Chamber Brass. Hartman was guest faculty at the Eastern Music Festival and has presented recitals and masterclasses throughout the country.
What piece made you fall in love with music?
Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss. I had a CD of the Chicago Symphony performing it when I was a young trombone player, and I was enamored by the big trombone moments and the huge variety of music throughout the whole piece as well. My appreciation for the music of Richard Strauss continues to this day. Strauss's tone poems and operas cover about as wide a spectrum of emotions, colors, anger, beauty, and triumph as you can find in orchestral music.
What do you hope audiences feel during a performance?
Goosebumps, excitement, and hopefully a tangible positive feeling. There are moments in music, such as the 18th Variation of Variations on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninoff or the “Nimrod” movement from Elgar's Enigma Variations that give you goosebumps from the sonic beauty you're enveloped in when you hear it live. Other moments, such as Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, may leave you feeling a sense of peace, and many pieces that elicit joy or triumph. Live music can make you feel something profoundly human.
