Jarrett McCourt - Golden Hour (2022) Hi-Res

Named one of Canada’s “hottest 30 classical musicians under 30”, Jarrett McCourt currently performs with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and is on faculty at the University of Memphis. Prior to this, Jarrett was the Principal Tubist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Tuba Fellow with the New World Symphony. Jarrett’s playing has been called “magnificent” by the Palm Beach Daily News and “warm, romantic and seamless” by the South Florida Classical Review. Jarrett has performed with a number of different high-level ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Canadian Brass. Additionally, Jarrett has performed under classical conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev, Simon Rattle, Fabio Luisi, and Yannick Nezet-Seguin, as well as alongside jazz heavyweights Esperanza Spalding and Wayne Bergeron.

Jarrett has won several international competitions, including the New World Symphony Concerto Competition, the Marta Hidy Competition for Brass in Toronto, and concerto competitions across Canada and the U.S. Most notably, he won the top prize in the brass category of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal’s Standard Life Competition in 2014, becoming the first tubist to do so in the competition’s 75-year history. Additionally, Jarrett was a finalist in the XVI Tchaikovsky Competition (the inaugural year for brass participants) in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the only North American tubist to participate in the live rounds. Jarrett has performed as a soloist with the New World Symphony, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Toronto, the University of Western Ontario Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble, and the London Concert Band. During the summers, Jarrett has performed with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, the Spoleto USA Festival Orchestra, the Aspen Festival Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific. Jarrett has been a guest on popular music-themed podcasts including The Brass Junkies and That’s Not Spit It’s Condensation, speaking largely about ways to improve one’s mental health as a musician in the 21st century. In his spare time, Jarrett volunteers with the Crisis Text Line, a global not-for-profit organization providing free crisis intervention and suicide prevention via SMS message. Jarrett has also visited several colleges, universities and summer festivals to speak about mental health and suicide prevention, including the University of Akron, the University of Kentucky, Northwestern University, the University of Manitoba, the University of Windsor, the New World Symphony, and the Pokorny Low Brass Seminar. Jarrett is also a certified yoga instructor, and firmly believes in the positive effect of mindfulness on one’s life.

As an educator, Jarrett is currently on faculty at the University of Manitoba was formerly on faculty at New World School of the Arts at Miami Dade College, the National Youth Orchestra of the United States and at Expressions Music Academy in Troy, Michigan. Jarrett’s students have successfully auditioned for All-State ensembles in Michigan and Florida, summer programs including the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and Interlochen Arts Camp, and several undergraduate music programs across the United States and Canada including Yale University, Northwestern University and Boston University. Jarrett has presented masterclasses at several schools including the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Florida State University, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Calgary, Mount Royal University, the University of Windsor, Universidad EAFIT and the Universidad de Antioquia in Colombia.

He earned a Bachelor of Music (Tuba Performance) and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario in 2013 and two Masters degrees (one in Tuba Performance and the other in Chamber Music) at the University of Michigan in 2015. His principal teachers have been Brent Adams, Fritz Kaenzig, Craig Knox, Warren Deck and Gene Pokorny. Jarrett is a Miraphone and Warbuton Artist.