René Voisin

Who was René Voisin?

René Louis Gabriel Voisin was a French trumpeter.

Born in Angers, France, Voisin was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra trumpet section for 24 years, between 1928 and his death in 1952; he was also father and teacher to Roger Voisin, the trumpet player and pedagogue who would later become principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony.

Voisin was a student of Pierre Vignal at the Paris Conservatory. Whilst in Paris, Voisin worked as a freelance musician, and played in the first performance of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring; here he also became friends with conductor Sergei Koussévitzky and played with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire between 1920 and 1928. Koussévitzky later succeeded Pierre Monteux as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and brought Voisin to the Boston Symphony as fourth trumpet in 1928.