East Studio Building, JS432
Education
- M.M., Master of Music, Northwestern University, 1985
- B.A., Bachelor of Arts, Linfield College, 1984
Biography
Peter Ellefson is professor of music in trombone at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. The 2026-27 academic year marks his twenty-fifth year on the Jacobs faculty.
His former students have earned positions in such ensembles as the Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Houston, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and San Diego symphonies as well as the Vienna Philharmonic and San Francisco Opera, to name a few. He has also placed students in premiere military bands, including “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, U.S. Army Field Band, U.S. Navy Band, U.S. Naval Academy Band, and the West Point Band. His former students hold faculty positions at many colleges and universities across the country.
Ellefson’s experience as a performer includes dozens of performances, international touring and recordings with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. Additionally, he has performed with the Boston, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, National, Oregon, and Saint Louis symphony orchestras as well as the Cleveland Orchestra and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque.
A former member of the Seattle Symphony, performing on trombone, tenor tuba, and bass trumpet, he also served as principal trombone for numerous cycles of Seattle Opera productions of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. Ellefson is a frequent recitalist, soloist, and clinician in the U.S. and abroad. Composers Anthony Barfield, James Stephenson, Peter Strohm, and Kevin Walczyk have written works for him. His chamber music credits include the Canadian Brass, Chicago Chamber Musicians, CSO Brass, Chicago Trombone Consort, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, New York Philharmonic Brass Quintet, Proteus 7, Washington Symphonic Brass, and the Trombones de Costa Rica.
In a career spanning five decades, Ellefson has performed under such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Gustavo Dudamel, Alan Gilbert, Bernard Haitink, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Vasily Petrenko, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gerard Schwarz, Michael Tilson Thomas, Franz Welser-Möst, John Williams and many others.
He has held faculty positions at Northwestern University, Roosevelt University, University of Costa Rica, and The Music Academy of the West. He has also been a faculty member of the Alessi Seminar and the Cleveland Trombone Seminar. A select list of master classes includes The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, Peabody Institute of Music, and Miami’s New World Symphony.
Along with performing on over 150 orchestral, chamber, and soundtrack recordings, Ellefson’s solo CD releases are Pura Vida (2010), À la manière de Defaye (2017), and 3 (2019). He is currently engaged in recording a new release, 4. He was involved in the design process of the Getzen 4047-DS tenor trombone and performs on the Getzen 4047-ET.