Richard Hillson is Principal cornet with Wilmington Virtuosi Brass in North Carolina; plays with the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra and Wilmington Symphonic Winds; and is the Chair of the NYBBGB Alumni & Associates Committee.
Richard grew up with brass banding, sitting in on recordings with his dad, Brian from a young age. He was on the solo cornet bench of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain in the late 90s and played with various contesting bands around the Nottingham area while studying law at the University of Nottingham, including Nottingham City Transport Band and Ransome, working with Brian Grant. After law school, life got in the way and Richard took an unintentional 17-year hiatus from playing, only coming back to playing during Covid.
Since then, he has thrown himself into cornet and trumpet playing with renewed purpose. He has played with Imperial Brass and Gramercy Brass Orchestra in NY and NJ and recently led Triangle Brass Band as Principal Cornet for the North American Brass Band Association (NABBA) national contest 2023. Richard has performed as a guest soloist in North America and has given numerous masterclasses on vibrato and British sound. Last year he performed a solo at Carnegie Hall as winner of an international competition. Richard has collaborated with Stephen Bulla with Stephen writing a number of solos for Richard, some of which will debut on a charity solo album in 2024.
After moving to Wilmington in late 2021, Richard has played with various ensembles and was very impressed with the standard of brass musicianship. He founded Wilmington Virtuosi Brass in mid-2023 and is focusing his time on working with excellent orchestral musicians in achieving a British brass band sound. WVB are aiming to compete at NABBA in 2025 and are trialling Denis Wick mouthpieces to aid trumpet players in their conversion to cornet.
