Benjamin Vasko

Dr. Benjamin Vasko is Brass Coach at Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Dr. Vasko resides in Boston, where he is the Adjunct Instructor of Tuba/Euphonium at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, having recently finished a one-year appointment at Valdosta State University as Lecturer of Tuba and Euphonium and principal tubist of the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra in Valdosta, GA. During the summer, Dr. Vasko is a brass instructor with the 20-time DCI World Champion Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps. He is also on the faculty of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, where he gives lessons, coaches chamber music, and teaches orchestral/band repertoire classes.

Dr. Vasko holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas and a Master of Music degree from the University of Georgia, both in Tuba Performance. His primary teachers have been Sam Pilafian, Charles Villarrubia, and David Zerkel. He recently completed his doctorate at Boston University under BSO tubist Mike Roylance. Dr. Vasko’s dissertation is an exploration of the benefits that collaborative learning have on student wellbeing and musicianship in collegiate tuba/euphonium ensemble.

Fluent in many styles of music, Dr. Vasko has performed with groups such as the Hot Tamale Brass Band, Urban Achievers Brass Band, South Coast Brass Band, 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra, and FunkCake, and for events hosted by companies like Dell, Captain Morgan, and The Chive. His playing and arranging can be heard in commercials for companies like Ford and State Farm.

Dr. Vasko has performed with groups throughout the US and Mexico, including a Spring 2022 tour to New York City to perform in Carnegie Hall with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Other recent engagements include the Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular with the Boston Pops and the recording of “Lord of Cries,” a new opera by John Corigliano, with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. He has also performed with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony Orchestra (GA), Orquesta Sinfonico de la UACJ, Symphony Augusta, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Philharmonic, and the Boston Festival Orchestra.

Benjamin Vasko is an Eastman Performing Artist.