Hailed by Fanfare Magazine as “a true virtuoso of his instrument”, Justin Benavidez is the newly appointed Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the Eastman School of Music. He previously held a similar faculty position at Florida State University. In the summer, he teaches and performs at the Round Top Summer Music Festival in Round Top, Texas.

Benavidez has performed across North America, Europe, and Japan. He has been featured numerous times on APM’s Performance Today radio program. His debut solo album, Emblems, won Silver Medals in the Classical Album and Solo Instrumentalist categories of the Global Music Awards. The International Tuba Euphonium Association Journal described it as “an impressive and highly entertaining record” on which Benavidez “shreds with enthusiasm, exuberance, and precision”. His second album, Storyteller, also won Silver Medals in the Classical Album and Solo Instrumentalist categories of the Global Music Awards. Fanfare Magazine described it as “splendidly eloquent […] a masterclass in expressiveness” with a sound that is “gloriously warm and comforting”.

As an orchestral musician, Benavidez has performed as tubist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, and Utah Symphony. He was previously the principal tuba of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra.

Benavidez is a Melton Meinl Weston and Denis Wick performing artist.