Dr. Justin Benavidez is the professor of tuba and euphonium at the Florida State University College of Music and is the principal tubist of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. In the summer, he is on faculty at the Round Top Music Festival in Texas.
Benavidez has collaborated as guest/substitute tubist with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and he was previously the principal tubist of the Syracuse Symphoria Orchestra and the Syracuse Opera.
With his solo playing noted for its "tremendous virtuosity and stylistic versatility", Benavidez has performed in venues throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. His debut solo album, EMBLEMS, won silver medals in the Classical Album and Instrumental Solo Album categories of the Global Music Awards. The International Tuba and Euphonium Association Journal described it as "an impressive and highly entertaining record.”
Benavidez has been a finalist and prizewinner at multiple international solo competitions. He is the only tubist to have been awarded both the New Horizons Fellowship and the Orchestral Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival, where he held the principal tuba chair in the festival orchestra and was the winner of the prestigious Aspen Music Festival concerto competition. He was the distinguished recipient of the Horace H. Rackham Merit Fellowship for doctoral studies at the University of Michigan and was presented with the University of Michigan Paul Boylan Alumni Award for outstanding accomplishments and significant contributions in the field of music.
Benavidez is one of today's leading educators, frequently presenting master classes and performing as a guest recitalist at preeminent schools of music, workshops, and conferences. Notable invitations have included the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, the University of Michigan, the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, the Bern University of the Arts, the Lyon Conservatory of Music, the Paris Conservatory of Music, the United States Army Band Tuba Euphonium Workshop, the International Euphonium and Tuba Festival, and multiple International Tuba-Euphonium Conferences. Benavidez's students have distinguished themselves through numerous accomplishments and awards, including prizes at international solo competitions, fellowships to summer music festivals, assistantships for graduate study, performances with professional ensembles, and teaching positions at secondary and collegiate institutions.
Justin Benavidez is part of the Denis Wick Artist Group, an a Melton Meinl Weston Performing Artist.