Background
Years of Service: 1988-2017
Rex Martin ’83 MMus, professor emeritus of tuba and euphonium, received his Master of Music degree from Northwestern in 1983 and began teaching at the School of Music in 1988. He has given master classes throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East. As a studio musician, he has performed for 3,000 television and radio commercials and has also played on more than 70 recordings with the Chicago and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras. In 2008, he released a solo CD, Rex Martin Live in Japan. He has performed with several prestigious orchestras and ensembles and with artists such as Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé, Sarah Vaughan, and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Martin has also taught at DePaul University, Illinois State University, the University of Illinois, the University of Notre Dame, and the Oberlin Conservatory. His former teacher, Arnold Jacobs, taught at Northwestern from 1956 until his death in 1998. Between the two of them, Martin and Jacobs taught at Northwestern for a more than 60-year span.
“My greatest honor at Northwestern was the opportunity to work with some of the most extraordinary people I have ever known—my students,” Martin said. “I will miss the stimulating conversations, the breathtaking performances and the exceptional humor of these gifted young musicians.”