Join us in honoring Principal Trumpet Philip Smith, who is leaving after 36 years in the Orchestra. Enjoy some videos and photos, and don't miss our celebratory concert this Saturday, July 5, at 2:00 p.m. (Student Rush available.) Be prepared for some surprises.
For more archival photos and history, check out the exhibit on Phil Smith in the Bruno Walter Gallery on Avery Fisher Hall's Grand Promenade.
Following the first of two of the Orchestra's concerts at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, on February 13, 2012, the New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet favors the audience with an extra encore: Lew Pollack's "That's a Plenty."
New York Philharmonic Principal Trumpet Philip Smith takes a moment before the October 26 concert in Ljubljana, Slovenia, to reveal his pre-concert ritual.
On the Orchestra's day off in Berlin, May 20, 2011, Philharmonic Principal trumpet Philip Smith and Principal Trombone Joseph Alessi finally find an unusual place to practice, and end up in a friendly competition.
On February 5, 2012, when the EUROPE / WINTER 2012 tour brings them to Luxembourg, New York Philharmonic Principal Trumpet Philip Smith and Principal Trombone Joseph Alessi stay in adjoining rooms, with musical consequences.
In Vienna, Austria, during the New York Philharmonic's EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour, Principal Trumpet Philip Smith offers his beleaguered colleague, Principal Trombone Joseph Alessi, a solution to the never-ending question of where and how brass players can practice on the road. Hint: it involves pillows. Lots of pillows.

October 8, 2009, 8:40PM: Alan Gilbert conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, as seen from the brass section of the Orchestra. Of his performance of the work in New York last spring, The New York Times wrote: “It was a thrill to hear the work performed with such precision and daring by the Philharmonic under Mr. Gilbert. The tremendous ovation bodes well for his coming tenure as the orchestra’s music director.”
Photo Credit: Chris Lee
The New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Ensemble
Photo Credit: Chris Lee
Phil Smith performs the haunting trumpet solo in Charles Ives’s The Unanswered Question as part of the New York Philharmonic’s Phil 360 at Park Avenue Armory in 2012.
Photo Credit: Chris Lee
Phil Smith and Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow are pictured here with former Music Director Zubin Mehta, from January 1990
Photo Credit: The New York Philharmonic Archives
Glenn Dicterow, violin; Stanley Drucker, clarinet; Philip Smith, trumpet; Music Director Zubin Mehta; and Lorne Munroe, cello
Photo Credit: The New York Philharmonic Archives
Phil warms up while on tour in the 1980s.
Photo Credit: The New York Philharmonic Archives
Phil Smith gives a master class in Denver on a 1979 U.S. Tour.
Photo Credit: The New York Philharmonic Archives
Thursday, January 21, 2010, 9:25AM: There’s music in the air as members of the trumpet section warm up before the first rehearsal at Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana. From left are Principal Trumpet Philip Smith and trumpeters Ethan Bensdorf and Thomas V. Smith.
Photo Credit: Chris Lee