Biography

Aaron Azunda Akugbo served up a flute of sparkling champagne, the effervescent brilliance of his playing radiating through the outer movements, with stylish ornamentation’

Bachtrack, BBC Proms 2023

Born in Edinburgh, Nigerian–Scottish trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo is developing a following as a leading exponent of his instrument. He brings a musical breadth to his artistry and while classically trained in both trumpet and singing, cites Louis Armstrong as his biggest musical inspiration. He is a charismatic performer with an abundance of natural humour, which translates into an effortless engagement with colleagues and audiences. This is reflected in his selection as one of the six 27-28 ECHO Rising Stars, nominated by the Palau de la Musica Catalana.

Akugbo made his London concerto debut at the Royal Festival Hall in 2020 and his BBC Proms concerto debut in 2023, performing the Haydn Trumpet Concerto both times with Chineke!, Europe’s first black and minority ethnic orchestra. His concerto performances often feature standard works alongside lesser-known pieces, for example, by Eric Ewazen and Florence Price, and he has performed with Lucerne Festival Strings, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Swan and Brighton Philharmonic.

In 2025, Akugbo performed Bernstein’s West Side Story with Manchester Camerata, in its first ever arrangement for solo trumpet, at Classical Pride, a festival celebrating LGBTQ+ voices in classical music. Recent highlights also include his debut with BBC Singers at Barbican Centre, curating a programme based on his own musical influences. He also performed Wynton Marsalis’ Trumpet Concerto, conducted by Joanna Macgregor, with the Fantasia Orchestra, and collaborated with Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Steven Osborne in Shostakovich’s Concerto no.1 for Piano and Trumpet. Recital appearances included recitals at St George’s, Bristol, and Royal Conservatoire, Glasgow, as well as visits to Bath International, Lichfield, Petworth, Ryedale, St Magnus and Lammermuir Festivals, Frankfurt Alte Oper Festival, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. His appearance at the 2025 Dublin International Chamber Music Festival resulted in an immediate invitation in 2026.

His 26-27 season sees Akugbo perform in the 300th anniversary concert of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, as well as perform as soloist and ensemble player as part of the Barbican Centre’s Always Already There Festival, curated by Elaine Mitchener, to include works by Ayanna Witter-Johnson and Regina Harris Baiocchi.

He has performed at Lucerne Festival three times, including giving the world premiere of Joy Guidry’s They know what they’ve done to us for trumpet and electronics in 2022, commissioned for him by the I&I Foundation.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and ex-principal of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Akugbo is Principal Trumpet of the Aurora Orchestra. He has received lessons and masterclass tuition from many leading trumpet players, including Urban Agnas, Reinhold Friedrich, Jeroen Berwaerts, Gabor Tarkovi, Guillaume Jehl and Eric Aubier.

He is a founding member of Connaught Brass, inaugural winners of the Philip Jones International Brass Ensemble Competition in 2019, Britten Pears Arts chamber music residency artists in 2022, and supported by The Tillett Trust, City Music Foundation and Kirckman Concert Society.

He plays a combination of Vincent Bach Stradivarius and Scherzer instruments.