Paul Merkelo is a JUNO-nominated recording artist with six solo albums, including releases on the SONY and NAXOS labels. He is also featured in a visionary project entitled Gershwin’s World on MediciTV, which combines groundbreaking jazz and classical arrangements.

He has been the solo trumpeter with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) since 1995 and was the first soloist chosen to record a feature album with the orchestra. Merkelo has also served as guest principal trumpeter with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He was appointed Canadian Musical Ambassador to China for the inauguration of Montreal Park in Shanghai and performed as a soloist with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in a nationally televised broadcast.

Merkelo made his New York debut at Lincoln Center with the New World Symphony Orchestra and Michael Tilson Thomas in 1998. He has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Charles Dutoit, Lorin Maazel, Sir Georg Solti, Zubin Mehta, and Valery Gergiev.

His first solo recording, A Simple Song, was ranked #1 on Quebec’s classical recording chart in 2000. In 2004, he released a highly praised second CD entitled Baroque Transcriptions, which was nominated by ADISQ for Best Classical Album. His album French Trumpet Concertos with the OSM and Kent Nagano was nominated for a JUNO Award for Best Classical Album – Soloist with Large Ensemble in 2016.

Merkelo gave the Canadian premieres of works by two Grammy-winning artists: Wynton Marsalis’s Trumpet Concerto and Gabriela Ortiz’s Altar de Bronce for trumpet and orchestra. He also premiered Emmy Award-winning composer Jeff Beal’s Concerto for Two Trumpets with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

He has taught at McGill University, the Université de Montréal, the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, and the Music Academy of the West in California. He serves on the board of directors for the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (Canada) and is the founder of the Paul Merkelo Scholarship, which supports young, gifted brass players with financial aid and career guidance.

Paul Merkelo is a Yamaha Artist.