Centre trumpet master receives Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement

RELEASED: Sept. 11, 2008

DANVILLE, KY—Centre's W. George Matton Professor of Music and co-founder of the Great American Brass Band Festival, Vince DiMartino, will receive the Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement at this year's Governor's Awards in the Arts ceremony. The public celebration will take place Oct. 1 at 10 a.m. in the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort.

"Performing is something that's with me all the time; it's who I am and what I do," DiMartino says. "But the most important thing I do isn't performance, it's teaching. Performing is something that happens when you're alive, but teaching lives through the ages, through the people who learn from you."

DiMartino, who has been the lead and solo trumpet in the bands of Lionel Hampton, Chuck Mangione and Clark Terry, as well as a soloist with major national symphony orchestras, joined the College in 1993 as Centre's first distinguished artist-in-residence before he was named to the Matton professorship in 1998. He is widely acknowledged as one of the world's best trumpet players.

"It just points out that the state government and more specifically the people on the selection committee know the value of what we do as educators," DiMartino says of the honor. "And that makes this award for all teachers."

DiMartino performs with his jazz ensemble, DOJO, in Lexington at Off Broadway Comedy

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges, and Forbes magazine ranks Centre No. 13 in the nation among all colleges and universities. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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