Massimo La Rosa

Massimo La Rosa was born in Palermo and raised in Belmonte Mezzagno. He began studying the trombone with Maestro Filippo Bonanno at the Vincenzo Bellini (now Alessandro Scarlatti) Conservatory of Music in Palermo.

In his long artistic career, he has held the position of principal trombone with prestigious international orchestras. At age nineteen, he became principal trombone of the Orchestra of the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice. While with La Fenice, he performed the Italian premiere of Launy Grondahl’s Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra with Karl Martin conducting. After twelve seasons in Venice, La Rosa became principal trombone of the Cleveland Orchestra, a position he also held for twelve seasons. La Rosa was a featured soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra on several occasions including Nino Rota’s Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra with Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda and in Ferdinand David’s Concertino for Trombone and Orchestra with music director Franz Welser-Möst. While with the Cleveland Orchestra, La Rosa performed on many international tours in all the major concert halls of the world and can be heard on numerous audio and video recordings conducted by Welser-Möst, Pierre Boulez and others.

Massimo La Rosa has been guest principal trombone of the Saito Kinen Orchestra since 2012, with whom he performed on the Grammy award winning recording of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortiléges, conducted by Seiji Ozawa.

In addition to his positions in Venice and Cleveland, Massimo La Rosa has also recently won positions with the Teatro Massimo Orchestra and the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra, both in Palermo in 2021. In January 2022, La Rosa was the winner of the permanent position of principal trombone in the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, conducted by Maestro Zubin Mehta.

La Rosa has also performed as principal trombone with the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Teatro Regio in Turin, Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Massimo La Rosa was a professor of trombone at the Cleveland Institute of Music for ten years and has held masterclasses in many renown music schools, including the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Copenhagen Conservatory, Tokyo Conservatory, Tokyo University, Roosevelt University in Chicago, and others. La Rosa has taught masterclasses and performed as a soloist in recital or with orchestra throughout Italy and in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Korea, Spain and Taiwan.

His two solo albums, Cantando (2010) and Sempre Espressivo (2013) have sold more than six thousand copies worldwide.

La Rosa likes to perform for humanitarian causes, helping to raise funds for various organizations including the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, the ANFE “Luce della Vita” Foundation and UNICEF. With the generosity of his audience, he has raised over €25.000 over the years for these charitable causes.

Massimo La Rosa is currently principal trombone with the Sicilian Symphonic Orchestra of Palermo