Mark Whitfield

Bio

Trombonist J. Mark Whitfield is an active performer, educator, and clinician based in eastern North Carolina. In addition to his appointment at NC State, he is the Teaching Instructor of Trombone and Euphonium at the East Carolina University School of Music. Prior to his appointments at NC State and ECU, Whitfield held teaching positions at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, and spent time teaching public school in North Carolina.

As a performer, Whitfield currently holds the position of principal trombonist of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with a variety of ensembles throughout the country and around the world, including symphony orchestras in the Carolinas and in Mississippi, the Andrew Thielen Big Band, the North Carolina Brass Band, the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus Band, the Midtown Men, Los Adolescentes, and the Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses. Whitfield was an original cast member of the Mason Entertainment Group production Blast! The Music of Disney, serving as Music Manager and performing on trombone and euphonium to sold-out crowds in Tokyo, Osaka, Shiga, and Nagoya in 2016. He was also a member of the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps from 2005-2009, serving as drum major from 2007-2009.

Dr. Whitfield is a proud alumnus (2006-2008) of the NC State University marching band, the Power Sound of the South™, and was a drum major during the 2008 season.

An avid Parrothead, Whitfield has been listening to Jimmy Buffett since he was four years old. Between 2015 and 2018, he was able to perform and record with 10-time CMA Musician of the Year Mac McAnally and the Coral Reefer Band, and can be heard with several of the Coral Reefers on McAnally’s 2017 album Southbound.

Whitfield currently lives in New Bern and when he’s not playing music he enjoys cycling, the Eastern NC craft beer scene, the occasional video game, and spending time with his family. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Trombone Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Southern Mississippi, Master of Music in Trombone Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He is proud to perform on Yamaha instruments and Greg Black mouthpieces.