Unexpected Trumpet Playing Professor At North Campus
North Campus music professor Claudio Osorio may look like your average professor who lectures, assigns homework, and gives three tests per semester, but he isn’t your ordinary music professor; Osorio is in fact extremely well-known in the music world.
He has a tremendous catalog of artists whom he has worked with over the years of being a trumpet player including classical tenor Andrea Bocelli and legendary artist Celia Cruz.
Osorio‘s musical journey began in the 7th grade when he realized that he wanted to learn how to play an instrument; so, he decided that he wanted to learn how to play the guitar as a hobby.
Osorio joined his middle school band, and his teacher at the time told him he needed to play either a woodwind or a percussion instrument. Osorio went to the closet where they kept all of the instruments, and couldn’t find the saxophone that he wanted to play.
Eventually, his teacher offered him a trumpet, “and literally the second that I was practicing with it, I realized that I wanted to do that for the rest of my life.”
At first Osorio was a bit hesitant with his trumpet, but he had some encouragement from his Jazz peers who said to him, “The trumpet can be heard throughout the orchestra, whereas other instruments don’t have that commanding power.”
Those words stuck in Osorio’s head, which gave him the motivation to continue to achieve greatness with the rest of his career.
Osorio got his bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami, and his master’s degree in music performance from the Manhattan School of Music.
“I enslaved myself to the craft, and practiced every single day consistently,” Osorio said.
Throughout that time Osorio was playing trumpet alongside various artists like Donny Osmond and Juan-Gabriel.
Osorio admits that after touring for so long he got tired.
“Financially it wasn’t that desirable because of the stability factor, but nevertheless it was a lot of fun playing in different cities, meeting new people that adore the artist and the band, of course,” Osorio said.
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After touring for a while, Osorio decided to stay local and continued to perform for almost every major musical organization in Florida from the Florida Grand Opera to the Symphony of the Americas. Osorio played for the Boca Raton Symphonic Orchestra, until it ended due to financial and management issues.
When Osorio searched for more stability in his life, Miami-Dade College offered him a full-time professorship, at North Campus. At first he was hesitant, just like when he got his first trumpet in middle school, until he he signed on for a year of teaching.
“I kind of fell in love with it, and realized I could do this for the rest of my life,” said Osorio.
Courtney Normandin, a former student of Osorio, gushed over how Osorio was such a fantastic and encouraging professor.
“He would always encourage you and he would give you multiple opportunities as a student to have performances, like outside of school as well as inside school,” Normandin said.
Osorio feels that being a professor at MDC offers great opportunities to connect with young aspiring musicians.
“It gave me a chance to give back to the community by sharing the knowledge that I have learned over the years of touring and practicing my instrument,” Osorio said.
