Justin Benavidez

Hailed by Fanfare Magazine as “a true virtuoso of his instrument,” Justin Benavidez is the Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the Eastman School of Music and Principal Tuba of the Syracuse Orchestra. In the summer, he teaches and performs at the Round Top Summer Music Festival in Round Top, Texas and at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California.

Benavidez has performed across North America, Europe, and Japan. His debut solo album Emblems won Silver Medals in the Classical Album and Solo Instrumentalist categories of the 2018 Global Music Awards. The International Tuba Euphonium Association Journal described it as “an impressive and highly entertaining record” on which Benavidez “shreds with enthusiasm, exuberance, and precision.” His second album Storyteller won Silver Medals in the Classical Album and Solo Instrumentalist categories of the 2022 Global Music Awards and was named a finalist for the ITEA Roger Bobo Award for Excellence in Recording. Fanfare Magazine described the album as “splendidly eloquent… a masterclass in expressiveness” with a sound that is “gloriously warm and comforting.”

Benavidez has performed across North America, Europe, and Japan. His debut solo album Emblems won Silver Medals in the Classical Album and Solo Instrumentalist categories of the 2018 Global Music Awards. The International Tuba Euphonium Association Journal described it as “an impressive and highly entertaining record” on which Benavidez “shreds with enthusiasm, exuberance, and precision.” His second album Storyteller won Silver Medals in the Classical Album and Solo Instrumentalist categories of the 2022 Global Music Awards and was named a finalist for the ITEA Roger Bobo Award for Excellence in Recording. Fanfare Magazine described the album as “splendidly eloquent… a masterclass in expressiveness” with a sound that is “gloriously warm and comforting.”