Peter Franks

Peter Franks studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he was taught by Bernard Brown and Raymond Simmons. He was a national finalist and London area winner in the 1979 Shell-LSO Scholarship Competition, and later that year was awarded a bursary to join the National Centre for Orchestral Studies.

At the age of 22, Peter was appointed to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and was made Principal Trumpet three years later, in 1984. Peter has had the honour to perform and record with many distinguished conductors, both with the SCO and as guest principal with many other orchestras. As a soloist he has performed the Hummel concerto under the direction of Jukka-Pekka Saraste, the Haydn with Carl Davis, an Edinburgh Festival performance of the Vivaldi double concerto, and in 1990-91 he gave the UK and USA premieres of Strathclyde Concerto No. 3 for Trumpet & Horn by Peter Maxwell-Davies, together with a subsequent recording. Recent recordings of Handel arias with both Bryn Terfel and Emma Bell have received critical acclaim.

Peter is also a founder member of SCO Brass, with commissions of James MacMillan’s ‘Adam’s Rib’ and ‘They saw the stone had been rolled away’ which have been recorded and released on the BIS label.

Peter holds a trumpet lecturer position at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, since 1989, a trumpet teacher position at St Mary’s Music School, in Edinburgh, and has a keen interest in arranging for brass and for woodwind ensembles, resulting in several publications.