Dr. Skip Gray joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky School of Music in the fall of 1980, attaining the rank of Professor of Music at the age of 35. Over his career, he has appeared as a tuba soloist and clinician throughout the U.S., Europe, Japan and Australia. He also has served as Principal Tuba with the Lexington Philharmonic beginning in 1980. Gray earned a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Music from Baldwin Wallace University in his hometown of Berea, OH.
Gray served as President of the International Tuba Euphonium Association (ITEA) from 2001-2003. He served the organization as Corresponding Secretary from 1982-1987 and became its first Executive Secretary, serving two terms in that office from 1987-1991. He hosted the 1992 International Tuba Euphonium Conference held in Lexington at the University of Kentucky. Gray served on the ITEA Board of Directors from 1996-1998 and continues to serve on the Honorary Board of Advisors. He became a Life Member of ITEA in 1989.
At the University of Kentucky (UK), Gray taught both tuba and euphonium and conducted the highly regarded UK Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble and the UK Brass Choir. Under his direction, both groups performed throughout the Commonwealth and across the country at numerous conferences and workshops. He served as Interim Director of the School of Music from 2012-2014, Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts from 1993-1998 and Associate Director of the School of Music from 1984-1987.
One of Gray’s special interests is introducing new works for solo tuba. His commissions and premiere performances include "Fantasia for Solo Tuba, Brass and Percussion" by Allen Vizzutti, "Variations on an Aboriginal Melody” by Jim Curnow and "Sonata for Tuba and Piano" by Kent Holliday. Gray has performed with many orchestras within the United States and Europe, including the Cincinnati Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Budapest Symphony, and Cleveland Ballet. During the 1988-89 season and in the spring of 1990, Gray served as Principal Tuba in the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI in Turin, Italy, and in 1982, was presented at Carnegie Hall by Twentieth Century Innovations in a program of five new works for tuba and woodwind quintet.
Gray has conducted throughout the U.S., Europe and Australia. He was co-founder and co-music director of The Lexington Brass Band. Under his direction, they performed at the Midwest Clinic, International Trumpet Guild Conference, International Tuba Euphonium Conference and Great American Brass Band Festival. The group also hosted and performed at the North American Brass Band Association Competition. In 1996, The Lexington Brass Band released a CD entitled Pastime with Good Company, featuring highlights of the band's live performances from 1993-1996. Gray was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Solitaire Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble, a professional group based in Melbourne, Australia, where he presented concerts for the Australia Broadcasting Corporation.
As a noted and prolific arranger and composer for all types of brass music, including solo tuba, tuba-euphonium ensemble, brass quintet, tuba quartet, brass band and brass choir, Gray has been an active pedagogue with articles published in several music journals and magazines. He was also an original editor for The Tuba Source Book (1996), contributing extensive chapters on tuba with band, tuba with orchestra and tuba with mixed ensemble.
Gray's solo CD entitled Tuba Europa: A musical journey through the continent was released in 2005 and was a finalists for the 2006 ITEA Roger Bobo Award for Excellence in Recording. In 2010, he was honored as the first recipient of the ITEA Clifford Bevan Award for Excellence in Research.
