A Shires Trumpet Artist, Dr. Ross Ahlhorn currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Central Arkansas and Second Trumpet with the Arkansas Symphony. A recent first prize winner in the Golden Classical International Music Competition and the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Competition, Dr. Ahlhorn was invited to perform solo at the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall and the Wiener Saal at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Dr. Ahlhorn’s commitment to new music for the trumpet has led him to be a part of commissions of new trumpet music from composers such as James M. David and Tony Plog. In February 2020, Dr. Ahlhorn will premiere Tony Plog’s Double Concerto for Trumpet and Trombone with a new accompaniment for Wind Ensemble with Dr. Justin Cook, trombone and the University of Central Arkansas Wind Ensemble at the CBDNA Southwest Division Conference in Norman, Oklahoma.

Prior to his appointment at UCA, Dr. Ahlhorn was on faculty at James Madison University, Washington and Lee University, and Southern Virginia University, where he taught applied trumpet, applied horn, and Brass Techniques courses for Music Education majors. Dr. Ahlhorn was also Principal Trumpet with the Waynesboro Symphony. In addition to his performing and teaching duties, Dr. Ahlhorn maintained an active freelance presence in the Shenandoah Valley and Central Virginia region with recent performances with the acclaimed Staunton Music Festival Orchestra in Staunton, Virginia, the Madison Brass, the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra, the Massanutten Brass Band, and the Shenandoah-University Symphony Orchestra in Lexington, Virginia.

Dr. Ahlhorn has performed as assistant solo cornetist in the Salt River Brass, both principal and second trumpet in the Musica Nova Orchestra of Scottsdale, Arizona. Other important performances include soloist and principal orchestral roles at the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany, 2nd trumpet with Orchestra Next, the orchestra in residence with the Eugene Ballet (Oregon), and the 2013 and 2017 International Trumpet Guild Annual Conferences.

Dr. Ahlhorn completed his Doctor of Musical Arts in Trumpet Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature at James Madison University, in Harrisonburg, Virginia where he served as graduate assistant for Dr. Chris Carrillo. He received a Masters of Music from Arizona State University with Prof. David Hickman and a Bachelors of Music from Baylor University as a student of Wiff Rudd.