John Wallace

John Williamson Wallace is a Scottish trumpeter born in Methihill, in Fife, on 14 April 1949. He is distinguished both in the orchestral field and in the premiere of contemporary works.

He studied at King's College, Cambridge (1967–1970), and furthered his training with Alan Bush at the Royal Academy of Music and with David Blake at the University of York (1972–1974). He made his debut in 1965, in Estoril, performing Haydn's Trumpet Concerto. He was principal trumpet of the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1976 to 1995 and joined the London Sinfonietta in 1988. He heads the brass department at the Royal Academy of Music.

In 1986 he founded the Wallace Collection, a brass ensemble with a flexible instrumentation, with which he has made numerous recordings and tours. As a soloist, he premiered concertos by Tim Souster and Peter Maxwell Davies in 1988, both dedicated to him, and took part in premieres of works by Malcolm Arnold, Dominic Muldowney, Robert Saxton, James Macmillan and Mark-Anthony Turnage.

With Trevor Herbert he edited the Companion to Brass Instruments (Cambridge, 1997), and he coordinates educational collections of music for brass. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1995.