Ellis Wean, originally from
Boston, started playing the
tuba professionally at the age
of 18 when, following a
summer at Tanglewood, he
played with the Boston
Symphony Orchestra in
Stravinsky's "The Rite of
Spring". He continued as
Boston's major freelancer
while a scholarship student at
The New England Conservatory
of Music. Ellis joined the
Vancouver Symphony in 1989
and has also held positions
with the Buffalo Philharmonic
from 1970-73 and the Montréal
Symphony (l'Orchestre
Symphonique de Montréal, if
you wish) from 1973-89.
Ellis won first prize in the Wind
category of the 1979 CBC
Radio National Competition and
the first International Tuba
Solo Competition in
Markneukirchen, [East]
Germany in 1980. In Montréal
he was a frequent recitalist and
completed three brass quintet
recording projects for McGill
Records. He is currently a
member of the Vancouver
Symphony Brass Quintet.
Ellis' professional
preoccupation has always been
how to perform accurately,
confidently and musically in
performance. To this end, he
holds a patent on a line of
transparent mouthpieces – for
all brass instruments – which
allow the player/ teacher to
watch the lips, without
distortion, while playing. He's
also produced a teaching text
and video. The video shows
different players, highly
magnified, with the transparent
mouthpieces. Adding a strobe
light gives a slow-motion
image.