Trombonist and music educator Benjamin Yates teaches low brass at Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival and is Associate Professor of Trombone and Low Brass at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. At UL Lafayette, Dr. Yates holds the Heymann/BORSF Professorship in the School of Music, teaches lessons; coaches brass chamber music; conducts trombone chamber ensembles; and performs with the Louisiana Brass Quintet.

As a trombone clinician, Yates presents master classes throughout the U.S., Austria, Brazil, Japan, Dominican Republic, and the United Arab Emirates. Students of Benjamin Yates become successful professional musicians and music educators throughout the United States and the world. He is a founding member of the Service Organization of Music Professors, which raises funds and collects donated instruments, music, and music equipment for music programs in disadvantaged communities.

Yates performs regularly with Louisiana symphonies, bands, and chamber ensembles including the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, Acadian Wind Symphony, and Chorale Acadienne. He has performed with the Grammy Award winning Lost Bayou Ramblers and the Grammy nominated Bonsoir, Catin. As an active soloist, Yates performs and presents master classes and recitals at high schools, colleges, and universities around the United States.

Yates’ teachers include David Gier, Jonathan Allen, Elliot Chasanov, Michael Smith, Bard Mackey, and Roger Rocco.

Dr. Yates is a M&W Custom Trombones artist and a MADPipe trombone mouthpiece and lead pipe system artist.