Mark Gould is the co-principal trumpet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He is in international demand as a soloist and a teacher, and is a member of the faculty of The Juilliard School.  He is also the director of the New York Trumpet Ensemble and the Main Street Band.

Gould was comfortable in his role as lecturer and storyteller, creating a light, comfortable atmosphere.  He began with a story from his first week with the Metropolitan Opera about falling off of a horse drawn wagon before playing a fanfare.  He moved on to other stories and kept the audience laughing about the lighter side of performing in a major opera orchestra.

He moved on to discuss the variety of musical experiences in the life of the musician, mentioning his students at Juilliard and his personal project of a theatrical presentation of the history of the trumpet.  He reminds his students of the need to think for themselves musically and to remember their responsibility to learn about the music and musical styles that they are performing.

He briefly discussed opera orchestra auditions, mentioning that the repertoire for those auditions is much different from the usual symphonic requirements to the point that the orchestra includes the actual music when sending out audition packets.  He mentioned the difficult operas of Strauss and Wagner as well as various Italian operas as possible audition repertoire.

Gould discussed the playing demands of the opera orchestra, mentioning that the key to recovering from a "hard blow" was to remain relaxed and to play gently and carefully, with much rest and patience.