Philadelphia Orchestra names Esteban Batallán its new principal trumpeter

This season the Philadelphia Orchestra will have a new principal trumpeter for the first time in nearly three decades, and he is something of a star.

After a long search, Esteban Batallán, principal trumpeter of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, has won the Philadelphia audition. He takes up his new post next month, the Philadelphia Orchestra announced Monday.

With its mighty brass section, the Chicago Symphony is considered by some to be the apex of the brass world, with its principal trumpeter position a career-defining destination job. Batallán, 40, a native of Galicia, Spain, grew up idolizing the group, and called it a dream come true after he won the coveted post in 2019. So why is he giving it up?

Is he giving it up, though? The trumpeter said that he is taking a leave-of-absence from the Chicago Symphony while he plays in Philadelphia, and, after a year, he’ll make a decision about whether to stay.

“I don’t have a final decision about what I am am going to do with my future, but I was really inspired by the week I was in Philadelphia,” said Batallán, referring to his April audition and his performances as a guest with the orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 7. “Things done in a certain way, slowly, are better. Even if I like Philadelphia better than the Chicago Symphony, making a decision like this takes time.”

Batallán’s first concert with the Philadelphians with his new title is at the Mann Center next month in a program of Debussy’s La Mer and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 led by music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The conductor, in a statement, called the choice of Batallán a “historic appointment that will have a generational impact on the sound of the orchestra.”

The trumpeter follows David Bilger, who left the orchestra at the end of the 2021-22 season after 27 years.

Like principal oboist and concertmaster, an orchestra’s principal trumpeter is often in the spotlight, either in solos or leading the section. The instrument is the vehicle for the famously bluesy soliloquy in Gershwin’s An American in Paris, and the surprise gilt-edged source of joy in Mozart’s orchestration of Handel’s “Hallelujah! Chorus.”

It is actually its own small family of instruments — trumpets in different keys, covering various ranges and colors. Bilger was not only highly virtuosic, but also possessed a tone that matched the Philadelphia Orchestra’s famously velvety (but large) blended sound.

Born in the small town of Barro, Batallán began studying music at age 7, and continued his training at the Conservatory of Music in Pontevedra, Superior Conservatory of Music of Vigo, and at the Galicia School of Musical Studies.

He has served as principal trumpeter of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and City of Granada Orchestra, and was guest principal with the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, and Filarmonica della Scala.

He made a strong impression on some in his five seasons in Chicago.

“Batallán’s solos were feats of endless breath and breadth, of gleaming brilliance and superhuman power,” wrote a Chicago Tribune critic of his performance in Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 with the Chicago Symphony last year.

The Philadelphia Orchestra also recently announced four other new members: assistant principal bassist Tobias Vigneau and violinists John Bian, Eliot Heaton, and MuChen Hsieh.

This coming season, Batallán will play for Chicago Symphony music director emeritus for life Riccardo Muti once again, but this time it will be in Philadelphia. The conductor has rarely returned since stepping down as the Philadelphia Orchestra music director in 1992, but is slated to lead the ensemble this October in the Verdi Requiem.

“He’s going to be definitely surprised to see me there,” said Batallán.

The trumpeter said he would be returning to Chicago during the coming season to continue teaching at DePaul University’s school of music, but would also be playing a regular concert schedule with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He said that before playing with the orchestra in April, he had never heard the group perform live.

“I hope it’s going to be a great experience and I hope the members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and everybody involved is as excited as I am,” he said. “Let’s see what the future brings to us. Maybe we create a beautiful partnership and I stay for decades — who knows?”