Austin Sposato enjoys a multi-faceted career as a performer, educator, arts administrator, and curator. He a founding member of Anima Brass, 2nd horn of the Westmoreland Symphony, Artistic Programming Coordinator for the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, General Manager of Jackson Hole Chamber Music, and Jazz Curator for the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland.
As a recording artist, he can be heard with Anima Brass on Kali Malone’s 2024 album “All Life Long,” which has received universal acclaim. Upon its release, All Life Long was named Pitchfork’s “Best New Album”, The Guardian’s “Album of the Week”, and rose to the #4 spot on Billboard’s Classical Crossover chart. Critics have called Anima’s contributions “enthralling” and said that All Life Long will “pull on the listener’s heartstrings” and leave them in “a state of transcendental bliss.” Anima Brass is dedicated to performing, recording, and promoting new works of brass chamber music. They have held residencies at institutions such as St. John’s College, Frostburg State University, and Towson University.
Austin is an ardent advocate for the transformative power of contemporary instrumental music and works to connect with audiences in the concert hall as well as non-traditional and DIY spaces. He is a regular freelancer performing with groups such as the Alexandria Symphony, South Florida Symphony, The Brass Roots, Resonance Works Pittsburgh, Nassau Pops Orchestra, Three Village Chamber Ensemble, and others. Outside the concert hall, he has produced concerts in untraditional spaces, seeking new ways to expose non-classical audiences to the affective power of instrumental music. Recent performances include “Magnificent Soul,” a collaborative warehouse concert featuring brass quintet, improvised cello, and electronics which reframed the brass quintet repertoire through live electronic and acoustic responses and a Valentine’s Day solo performance at the Three Pigs Vintage DIY space in Pittsburgh, integrating solo horn with theatrical readings, recorded nature sounds, and the music of Townes Van Zandt.
Austin’s festival appearances include full tuition fellowships at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival (NOI+F), the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival in NYC. At NOI+F, he recorded an album of American Music for the NAXOS label and can be heard as principal horn on Copland’s “Outdoor Overture” under Maestro James Judd.
He pursued Doctoral Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park and holds a MM and BA from Stony Brook University where he graduated summa cum laude and received the Edith Salvo Prize for the most meritorious student in music. In 2018 he completed the Advanced Musical Studies Certificate at Carnegie Mellon University with a focus in music entrepreneurship. His primary teachers include Gregory Miller, William Caballero and Mark Houghton of the Pittsburgh Symphony, David Jolley, Eric Reed, David Wakefield, and Jeffrey Forden.