Last year (2003), Geoff Payne completed 25 years’ service as Associate Principal, then Principal Trumpet, with Australia’s Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO).

He started playing, aged seven and a half, in a local brass band and moved later to the Willoughby Band, on Sydney's North Shore. Scholarships to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the ABC National Training Orchestra helped him gain the skills to win the third trumpet position in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra aged nineteen. Two years later, he won the Associate Principal Trumpet position in the MSO.

In 1982, he won the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition (now known as Young Performer of the Year) and in 1984 was first prize winner in the 22nd International Trumpet Competition in Budapest. Six months as guest Principal Trumpet with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra was followed by an invitation to play at the International Trumpet Guild's 1987 conference in Michigan.

Geoff has toured for Musica Viva, with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and has featured many times as soloist with all the Australian symphony orchestras, both in Australia and overseas. He is a regular soloist with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan including three separate occasions during 2003.

His third CD with the MSO, a recording of music of the legendary Mexican trumpeter, Rafael Méndez, is due for release in 2004. Keeping music in the family, Geoff's wife Julie is second trumpet in the MSO and his sister and brother-in-law teach music on the British Channel Island of Guernsey.

Website:
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
MSO Brass Section