Bill Bing

Bill Bing joined the Caltech band programme in 1970 and led its concert band until his retirement in 2016; the students gave him their ASCIT teaching award and the alumni association made him an honorary member. He taught trumpet at California State University, Northridge. The playing ran alongside the teaching — a decade in the orchestra of the Los Angeles Opera, five years with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. On 3 July 1996 he played in a Bach concert at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena. The ensembles he directed reached Carnegie Hall and Tsinghua University, and as a trumpeter he worked with Olivier Messiaen, John Adams, Henry Mancini and John Williams. The Pasadena Youth Music Council also recognised his teaching, and in 2016 Caltech honoured him together with his wife, the cellist Delores Bing. He also wrote two trumpet method books.