Spotlight | Bass Trombone

Joe Maiocco

Born and raised in Prospect, Kentucky, bass trombonist Joe Maiocco was originally on track to be an airline pilot. Music slowly started taking over Joe’s life when he began playing the cello in middle school, and his musical development progressed rapidly.

Within his first year of studying cello, Joe earned recognition as one of the top pre-collegiate players in the district, often described as a “prodigy” by those around him. As his performance opportunities grew, so did his musical interests. He explored a wide range of instruments before ultimately turning his focus to the trombone, soon committing to bass trombone and started private study with Brett Shuster of the University of Louisville in 2019.

Similarly to the cello, Joe’s career on bass trombone gained momentum quickly. He got invited to play with multiple prestigious summer orchestras including the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America under Marin Alsop, performing at Carnegie Hall and a tour of South America. Around the same time, Joe won multiple national solo and concerto competitions, resulting in his solo debut with the Louisville Orchestra in March 2024.

Joe also began study with Charles Vernon of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Mark Fisher of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, both of which had a profound impact on his development. That same March under their guidance, he earned a prestigious position with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

Joe began his undergraduate studies the following fall at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where he studied with Michael Mulcahy, Randall Hawes, Douglas Wright, and Reed Capshaw while playing in the Civic Orchestra. During his first year, he made appearances as a guest musician with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and was soon after appointed to the Kansas City Symphony.

Maiocco is a performing artist with the S.E. Shires Company, and was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in the summer of 2025 before officially joining the Kansas City Symphony in the fall. Outside of music, Joe spends lots of his free time golfing, and will occasionally tap into his roots by building and flying model planes.