Douglas Yeo (* 1955 in Monterey, California) is bass trombonist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he holds the John Moors Cabot Bass Trombone Chair. He is also on the faculty of the New England Conservatory.
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Born in Monterey, California in 1955, Yeo holds a bachelor of music degree with honors from Wheaton College in Illinois and a master of arts degree from New York University. His principal teachers were Edward Kleinhammer and Keith Brown.
Before joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra/Boston Pops Orchestra in May 1985, Yeo was a member of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, (1981–1985), and was on the faculties of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, in Baltimore, and The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.. His background has included a four-year tenure with the Goldman Band, and performances with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Gerry Mulligan Big Band, and orchestras for numerous Broadway shows.
In 1998, he was named Music Director of the New England Brass Band,[1] which has released four compact disc recordings under his direction. In 2006, the New England Brass Band, under Mr. Yeo's direction, won first place in the Honors Section at the North American Brass Band Association [2] National Championship, held in Louisville, Kentucky.
He has announced his upcoming retirement from the BSO, effective "on August 27, 2012, at the conclusion of the Tanglewood 75th anniversary season." He plans to move to Arizona, where he has been appointed Professor of Trombone at Arizona State University (Tempe).[3]
In addition to playing the bass trombone, Yeo plays bass trumpet, contrabass trombone, and has become a leading exponent of historical brasses such as the buccin, serpent, ophicleide and bass sackbut.
Since coming to Boston, Yeo has been extensively involved in teaching. In addition to his position at the New England Conservatory, he has four times been on the faculty of the annual Hamamatsu (Japan) International Wind Academy and Seminar. Other residencies have included his participation in the 2003 University of Dayton (Ohio) Carillon Brass Festival and as the first "Visiting Artist" in residence at Lexington (Massachusetts) Christian Academy (2003).
A prolific writer, Mr. Yeo has written more than thirty articles on the trombone and orchestral playing for various publications, including International Musician,[16] The Instrumentalist,[17] The Brass Herald,[18] Christianity Today, the Historic Brass Society Journal,[19] the International Trombone Association Journal,[20] and the T.U.B.A. Journal.[21]
He has done extensive research in the Boston Symphony archives, resulting in the publication of four photo/historical articles on BSO brass players from 1881 to the present; he mounted an exhibit at Symphony Hall on the history and hobbies of members of the Boston Symphony from 1881 to the present during the 1993-94 season. In 2000, he wrote a trombone teaching curriculum for the University of Reading's (United Kingdom) Music Teaching in Private Practice Initiative of their Department of Arts and Humanities in Education.
He is the co-author, along with Edward Kleinhammer, of Mastering the Trombone. He is also actively involved in the work of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Youth Activities office.
Yeo was the plaintiff in a 1994 court case, Yeo vs. Lexington, that tested important issues in scholastic media law. In 1997 Yeo lost on appeal [22] and carried the case to the US Supreme court which declined to hear it.[23]