Bill Damron is the Principal Trombonist with the Tulsa Symphony and Tulsa Opera Orchestras, Second Trombonist with LOOK (Light Opera Oklahoma) and Trombonist with Bravo Brass Quintet and Tulsa Symphony Brass Quintet. He recently was appointed Principal Trombonist with SoNA (Symphony of Northwest Arkansas) in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Previously he served as Principal Trombone for the 2001-2002 season and Second Trombone for the 1998-1999 season with the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra. Prior to coming to Tulsa, he lived in Dallas, TX where he was very active as a freelance musician. He held the position of Principal Trombone with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra for twelve seasons from 1983-1995 and appeared numerous times as featured soloist with the orchestra. During that time, he held the position of Adjunct Professor of Trombone with the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. He has performed with the Phoenix Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Dallas Opera Orchestra and Dallas Wind Symphony, and the Arkansas Symphony in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was also a member of the Phoenix Brass Quintet, Hong Kong Philharmonic Brass Quintet, Hong Kong Philharmonic Trombone Quartet and Slidehandlers – Bill’s Dallas-based trombone quartet.The other passion in Mr. Damron’s life is his love of minerals and gemstones. Bill began collecting minerals when he was thirteen years of age. This was spurred on by an extra-credit project – a mineral collection – for his 7th-grade Earth Science class. He was assisted by his Father, who had a large collection of self-collected minerals himself.His Father would not let him merely collect minerals. He insisted that Bill read Frederick Pough’s “A Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals” to gain further knowledge on the subject. As it happened, Bill’s Father had a copy of the book. Upon reading further books on minerals and mineralogy, Bill discovered that gems come from minerals and became fascinated with them.His various collections of gems and opals include around 250 – 300 opals from the Welo Region in Ethiopia in both rough and cut form – faceted and en cabochon – and, a smaller collection of Australian Opals as well, faceted gemstones from all over the world ranging from Aquamarine to Zircon, a variety of Rough and Cut Sets, and gem crystals and gem rough.Bill is a native of Arizona and attended Arizona State University.