Dr. Justin Benavidez is the professor of tuba and euphonium at the Florida State University - College of Music and is the principal tubist of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. In the summers, he is on faculty at the Round Top Music Festival in Texas. 

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Benavidez has collaborated as guest tubist with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He previously held the principal tuba chair in the Aspen Festival Orchestra as an orchestral fellow and was the acting principal tuba of the Syracuse Symphoria Orchestra and the Syracuse Opera.

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With his playing noted for its "tremendous virtuosity and stylistic versatility", Benavidez has performed in venues throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. His debut solo album, EMBLEMS, features tuba concerti by three leading contemporary American composers: Michael Daugherty, Bruce Broughton, and Donald Grantham. It won Silver Medals in the Classical Album and Instrumental Solo Album categories of the 2018 Global Music Awards, and the ITEA Journal named it "an impressive and highly entertaining record." 

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Benavidez has been a finalist and prizewinner at multiple international solo competitions (ITEC, Falcone Festival, IWBC, William C. Byrd YAC, Young Texas Artist) and is a past winner of the prestigious Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition where he was the first tubist to receive both the New Horizons Fellowship and the Orchestral Fellowship. He was the distinguished recipient of the Horace H. Rackham Merit Fellowship for doctoral studies at the University of Michigan and was presented with the 2019 UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance Paul Boylan Alumni Award for outstanding accomplishments and significant contributions in the field of music.

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Benavidez is one of today's leading educators, frequently presenting master classes and performing as a guest recitalist at preeminent schools of music, workshops, and conferences. Notable invitations have included the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, the University of Michigan, the University of North Texas, the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, the Paris Conservatory of Music, the Lyon Conservatory of Music, the Bern University of the Arts, the United States Army Band Tuba Euphonium Workshop, the International Euphonium and Tuba Festival, and multiple International Tuba Euphonium Conferences. Benavidez's students have distinguished themselves through numerous accomplishments and awards, including prizes at the Leonard Falcone Festival, fellowships to summer music festivals, assistantships for graduate study, performances with professional orchestras, and teaching positions at secondary schools and universities.

 

Benavidez is a Melton Meinl Weston performing artist. He proudly performs on his MW 2182W F tuba and Nirschl York CC tuba.