Donald C. Little, Principal Tuba and Cimbasso of the Dallas Opera Orchestra, performs frequently in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with many orchestras and ensembles including the Sundance Brass, Texas Winds Brass Quintet, UNT Faculty Brass, and Metropolitan Classical Ballet Orchestra. During summers he performs with the Summit Concert Band and Blue River Brass of Summit County, Colorado. Little has performed and recorded with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Dallas Symphony and the German Radio-Symphony Orchestra of Berlin. He is a former member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Colorado Festival Orchestra and York (PA) Symphony. He has also performed with the Chicago, St. Louis, San Antonio, Baltimore, and Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestras as well as the Dallas Wind Symphony. He retired from the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in 2001 after serving as Principal Tuba there for since 1980.

Now in his thirty-seventh year of full-time university teaching, Little is Regents Professor of Tuba at the University of North Texas College of Music and was previously a faculty member at the University of Northern Iowa. Former students hold teaching and performance positions throughout the world, such as in the Hague Orchestra of Holland, the Orquesta del Principado de Asturias of Spain, the Mississippi Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Memphis Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Breckenridge Festival Orchestra, Disneyworld, the US Coast Guard Academy Band, the US Navy Band of Washington, DC, and numerous universities and colleges.

Donald Little has been active in the International Tuba Euphonium Association (formerly called TUBA) throughout his career and has served the association in many capacities since 1975 including the offices of President, Past-President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer, Conference Coordinator and Chairman of the Board of Directors. He presently serves the association as a member of the Honorary Advisory Board.

Mr. Little has transcribed, arranged, edited and/or composed numerous published works for the tuba, euphonium and brass ensembles with Belwin Mills, Southern Music Company, Kagarice Brass Editions and other publishers. His solo and chamber music publications continue to receive thousands of performances annually at professional, faculty and student recitals, contests, competition and other venues throughout the US and the world. A respected pedagogue and low brass specialist, he contributed instructional materials and solo editions for the tuba and euphonium to Belwin Mills' Medalist Band Course and Contemporary Band Course, which includes his text for high school and college tubists “Practical Hints on Playing the Tuba.”

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Donald grew up on the southern New Jersey seashore in Wildwood Crest where his first tuba teacher was Bernard V. Switzer, Jr., who was also his band director at Wildwood High School. He received his B.M.E. at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with John Melick, and M.M. at Northwestern University where he was a student of Arnold Jacobs. He has also completed further graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music as a student of Cherry Beauregard. Don is married to Laura Bruton, principal violist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. They reside with their family in Argyle, Texas.

 

Publications and Discography

Donald C. Little, Professor of Music
I have transcribed, arranged, edited and/or composed more than fifty internationally performed and published solo or chamber music works for the tuba, euphonium and brass ensembles.

Tuba Text:
Practical Hints on Playing the Tuba, by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY 1984
(manual for public school and university tuba players published as part of the Belwin Mills Contemporary Band Course.

Solo Edition Publications:
Four Serious Songs, Op. 121 (Vier ernste Gesänge), Johannes Brahms (1833-1896) edited for tuba and piano by Donald C. Little, Kagarice Brass Editions, Denton, TX 2005

Four Serious Songs, Op. 121 (Vier ernste Gesänge), Johannes Brahms (1833-1896) edited for trombone and piano by Donald C. Little, Kagarice Brass Editions, Denton, TX 2005

Four Serious Songs, Op. 121 (Vier ernste Gesänge), Johannes Brahms (1833-1896) edited for ephonium and piano by Donald C. Little, Kagarice Brass Editions, Denton, TX 2005

Solo-Pak for Tuba Part Three, three solos for tuba and piano arranged and/or edited by Donald C. Little, Medalist Band Course, CCP Belwin, Inc., Miami, Fl, 1992

Solo-Pak for Tuba Part Two, three solos for tuba and piano arranged and/or edited by Donald C. Little, Medalist Band Course, CCP Belwin, Inc., Miami, Fl, 1991

Solo-Pak for Tuba Part One, three solos for tuba and piano arranged and/or edited by Donald C. Little, Medalist Band Course, CCP Belwin, Inc., Miami, Fl, 1989

Five Songs, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) transcribed for tuba or bass trombone and piano by Donald C. Little, Southern Music Company, San Antonio, TX, 1986

Sonata No. 1 in F Major, Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) transcribed for tuba and keyboard by Donald C. Little and Richard B. Nelson, Southern Music Company, San Antonio, TX, 1984

Sonata No. 5 in C Major, Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) transcribed for tuba and keyboard by Donald C. Little and Richard B. Nelson, Southern Music Company, San Antonio, TX, 1983

Largo and Presto, Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739), arranged for tuba and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Larghetto and Allegro, G. F. Handel, arranged for tuba and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Neutron Stars, George R. Belden, edited for tuba and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Divertimento, F. J. Haydn, arranged for baritone and piano by Donald C. Little and George R. Belden, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Suite in A-flat, G. F. Handel, arranged for baritone and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Daystar, George R. Belden, edited for baritone and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Sailor's Song, Robert Schumann, arranged for tuba and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Air from “Comus”, Thomas A. Arne, arranged for tuba and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Black Holes in Space, George R. Belden, edited for tuba and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Dove Sei from “Rodelinda”, G. F. Handel, arranged for baritone and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Air from “Comus”, Thomas A. Arne, arranged for baritone and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Quarks and Quasars, George R. Belden, edited for tuba and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1978

Bicycle Built for Two, H. Dacre, arranged for tuba and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1977

Lazy Lullaby, for tuba and piano, by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1977

Military March, traditional, arranged for tuba and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1977

Aura Lee, traditional, arranged for baritone and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1977

Lazy Lullaby, for baritone and piano, by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1977

Military March, arranged for baritone and piano by Donald C. Little, Belwin Mills Publishing Corporation, Melville, NY, 1977

Discography:
I have performed on tuba on the following CD or DVD musical recordings with the Berlin Radio Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Dallas Opera Orchestra and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra:

Tobias Picker, Theresa Raquin, Dallas Opera Orchestra; Graeme Jenkins, CD, 2002

The Cliburn, Playing on the Edge, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; James Conlon, conductor, Van Cliburn Foundation DVD, 2001

A Prairie Portrait, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra/Don Edwards/Waddie Mitchell; John Giordano, conductor; Resmiranda Records RES 8042 CD, 2000

The Majesty of Christmas, Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra/Southwestern Seminary Oratorio Chorus; C. David Keith, conductor; Resmiranda Records RES 8041 CD, 2000

Orff, Carmina Burana, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; John Giordano, conductor, Resmiranda Records RES 8040 CD, 2000

Mahler, Das klagende Lied; Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly, conductor; London CD 425 719-2, 1990

Franck, Sinfonie d-moll, Psyché, Les Djinns, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra; Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor and piano soloist; London CD 425 432-2, 1990

Prokofiev, Scythian Suite, Op. 20, Stravinsky, Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring), Dallas Symphony Orchestra; Eduardo Mata, conductor; Dorian CD DOR-90156

Peter Nero/Fort Worth Symphony Pops, Peter Nero, soloist and conductor; John Giordano, conductor; Realistic CD 51-4160

The Times of Day, Turtle Creek Chorale with the Fort Worth chamber Orchestra, Timothy Seelig, conductor, Reference Recordings RR-67 CD