Experience the Music:
Christopher Sala plays Arthur Honegger Intrada, click here.
Christopher Sala plays Henri Senée, Concertino: 2nd Movement, “Romance”, click here.
Before he ever played for a symphony, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra (ASO) Principal Trumpet Christopher Sala was a kid with a cornet and a like-minded best friend, together discovering that brass instruments could make music magical. In 10th grade, he switched from the cornet to the trumpet, growing his passion for music with every beat of Hooked on Classics, a pop disco album produced in the 1980s by the UK’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. While Hooked on Classics made its way to the top of Billboard charts around the world, it exposed classical music to Christopher and an entire new generation of young musicians like him. “I loved it! I was just starting to play the trumpet at the time and I got to know all the major themes of the symphony orchestra from Hooked on Classics,” Christopher chuckled when we interviewed him in October, 2025.
In high school. Christopher earned a coveted position in the Albany, New York Empire State Youth Orchestra. Then his family moved to Massachusetts. While disappointing, his foray into a serious exploration of orchestra music marked the beginning of Christopher’s trajectory as a performing artist, and was the first of many moves, each one a step forward in his decades-long career.
In Boston, Christopher’s love for the trumpet only grew. He played in the Springfield Youth Symphony and the Greater Boston Youth Symphony. He discovered another musical passion in the Springfield library, which homed an extensive collection of records and hard copies of sheet music. “I was fascinated with music manuscripts. I would check out scores…and get a recording of it… It was kind of my way of just closing out the rest of the word… I would just sit in the corner with scores and classical music blasting on my parents stereo.”
After graduating from the Eastman School of Music with a Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance and Music Education, Christopher went on to receive his Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from Florida State University. He then moved back to Boston when he won a position with Epic Brass, a Boston-based quintet. He also played with Atlantic Brass, performing in recitals and as featured guest artist with symphony orchestras across the country.
Following his education, he was invited to perform in a variety of competitions, where he proved to be highly successful. He was the first place winner of the International Trumpet Guild (ITG) Solo Competition, the ITG Mock Orchestra Competition, and the second place winner of the National Trumpet Competition. Joyce Davis, Professor Emeritus of Trumpet at Florida State University, invited Christopher to attend the Vassily Brandt Competition in Saratov, Russia as the sole American player, where he placed as a semi-finalist. “As the only American, I was very aware that I stood out in many ways. The Europeans, especially the Russians played with a very fiery style that was extremely vibrato-forward. My playing was more subtle and clear-toned…I definitely borrowed a bit of their musical style when I returned to the US.”
In 2001, Christopher auditioned successfully for the United States Navy Band, where he is Concert Band Unit Leader and Principal Trumpet of the Concert Band. In September 2025, he was promoted to Master Chief Musician, the highest rank of enlisted musicians in the Navy Band. In his Navy Band career, Christopher has performed for Presidents Obama, Biden, and Trump, and has often played for foreign dignitaries and government officials. Christopher says he is honored to serve his country as a musician and to play for veterans and active duty troops.
In 2002, Christopher auditioned for the ASO and was awarded the role of third chair in the trumpet section. Since then, he’s worked his way up to Principal Trumpet. It is his willingness to learn and grow, to absorb and appreciate the music, that has made Christopher so successful on stage with the ASO. Principal Trombone David Perkel said, “I have been fortunate to call Chris a friend and colleague for over twenty years. He is not only an incredible musician and trumpet player, but also one of the most genuine and kind people you will ever meet.”
Darkness to Light – Christopher’s role as Principal Trumpet
Members of the audience at the ASO’s second Signature Series concert of the 2025–26 season, Darkness to Light will have the unique opportunity to experience Christopher’s talent, craft, and passion firsthand in what will be a monumental moment for any trumpet player: Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. It will be the first time that Christopher performs the iconic piece on stage. The audience will be taken on a transformative journey, with Christopher leading the brass section through five movements, using the trumpet to mark harrowing, then triumphant moments throughout. “I feel truly honored that, in Mahler’s Fifth Symphony—with one of the most iconic openings in the entire symphonic repertoire—Christopher will quite literally set the tone, with confidence and determination, for a mesmerizing musical journey of monumental proportions,” said Novo.
The opening solo is a solemn, military-style Trauermarsch (funeral march) that establishes the symphony’s themes of death and struggle and recurs throughout the work. The opening trumpet solo acts as a solemn, recurring call to which the orchestra responds. John Magnum, writing for the Los Angeles Philharmonic said, “The work opens with a funeral march that starts with a trumpet fanfare whose rhythm dominates the movement. The march contrasts with two trio sections: the first bursting out of near silence like some sort of terrifying, demonic carnival music; and the second a more somber, restrained passage for the strings. The second movement builds on the demonic first trio material. This is intense, raw music, with Mahler whipping up a frenzy.”
As the second movement begins, the trumpet’s violent fanfare shatters any sense of hope. Brief, lyrical moments rise, only to be interrupted again, until a fleeting D major climax offers a glimpse of light. The stormy opening returns, punctuated by a harsh tam-tam, and the trumpet’s fanfare sounds one final time—near, distant, and fading into a flute. The movement closes in exhausted desolation, with the trumpet’s thematic thread linking the first two movements and driving Mahler’s tragic vision.
The third movement is a massive Scherzo that serves as the symphony’s central pivot point, moving the work from the darkness of the opening two movements toward the optimism of the finale. While the Scherzo is dominated by the lyrical solos of the horn and the lively folk-dance character of the orchestra, the trumpet acts as a force of thematic disruption. The trumpet’s fanfare later becomes a brilliant, triumphant proclamation by the brass in the joyful Rondo-Finale.
The trumpet is completely silent during the fourth movement, titled Adagietto, a love letter to Mahler’s wife Alma. This absence is instrumental to the movement’s serene and intimate mood, which stands in stark contrast to the dramatic and brass-heavy preceding movements.
In the fifth movement, entitled Rondo-Finale, the trumpet returns, referencing melodic material from previous movements presented in a new, optimistic and joyous light. The trumpet’s function in the finale is to help lead the powerful brass chorale that celebrates overcoming darkness and transforming into light.
The entire audience will be focused on and ultimately thrilled by Christopher’s role in bringing Mahler’s composition to life. “Mahler’s Fifth is very powerful to me. Sorrow, and grief, and desperation—you can draw on those things. That’s where I’m going to be. That’s where I’m coming from,” Christopher said. “Listening to Mahler’s Fifth is one thing. But performing it is a different thing. You have to be the one who shows that emotion.”
The Philip Richebourg Chair
Christopher is honored to hold The Philip Richebourg Chair, an endowment established by Elizabeth Richebourg Rea, whose father Philip co-founded the ASO Association, the foundations of the ASO as you experience it today, in 1967.
Like Christopher, Mr. Richebourg began playing trumpet in his high school orchestra. He continued to play in college and the US Navy. He was instrumental in bringing Leon Fleisher to the ASO, thereby growing the organization into the successful performing arts nonprofit that it is today. Mr. Richebourg and his wife Bernice never missed an ASO performance until their passing, twelve days apart, in 2011.
Endowing a principal chair is crucial to a symphony because it creates a permanent source of funding to attract and retain top-tier musicians. It strengthens the orchestra’s artistic quality, provides long-term financial stability, and offers donors a meaningful way to connect with the organization.
“My father, Philip Richebourg conducted his own orchestra every day of his life with consistency and order. The sound of the trumpet has been associated with light and festivity; it empowers the ability to revive or represent closure, it is a medium portraying clarity, precision and purity. These characteristics are emblematic of everything my father endeavored to achieve. Listening to the trumpet represents for me a conduit to my father,” said Elizabeth Richebourg Rea.
“When someone endows a chair, they make a lasting investment in the heart of our orchestra. It’s more than a gift—it’s a commitment to artistic excellence and to the musicians who bring our music to life. An endowed chair connects a patron’s generosity with a musician’s talent in a way that sustains both. It ensures that the artistry we cherish today will continue to inspire audiences for generations to come,” said Erica Bondarev Rapach, Executive Director of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra.
What began as a childhood passion with his best friend, playing the trumpet, has become a long and successful career for Christopher. Beyond music, Christopher enjoys time with his wife and family and is an avid cook. We can only hope his kitchen soundtrack is Hooked on Classics, and imagine that Christopher still grooves to the music, as joyfully inspired as he was all those years ago.