Ryan Anthony started his accomplished career in trumpet at the tender age of 8, abandoning the violin to play like his grandfather, a trumpet player. By the age of 16, Ryan had won the highly publicized Seventeen Magazine/General Motors Concerto Competition and was one of the only two contestants ever to win the Grand Prize.
After graduating with a Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Ryan began his professional career as Second Trumpet in the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Over the course of his career, he also appeared as guest principal trumpet in many orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as well as in the sections of the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic. But Ryan is best known in the orchestral world as Principal Trumpet of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra from 2006 until his death in 2020, serving under the baton of legendary maestro Jaap van Zweden. Ryan was named Principal Trumpet Emeritus of the Dallas Symphony in 2019.
However, it was in November 2012 when Dallas Symphony Orchestra principal trumpet Ryan Anthony completed a guest appearance with Canadian Brass and felt unwell. After the concert, Ryan stated he felt like his entire body was “jangling” as he ran off-stage, discordant in his own body. The following week, Ryan was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a terminal cancer of the bone marrow-specifically, a cancer of plasma cells.
During his treatments, Ryan was overwhelmed with calls from trumpet players all over the world. Each one asked what they could do to help, and Ryan jokingly started saying “we’ll all play a concert when I am healthy again and we’ll call it cancer blows.” As the weeks went by, the joke solidified into a real event with an impressive guest list. Soon Ryan and Niki, Ryan’s partner, realized it could be more than just something for fun but could be used to raise awareness and money to further the research that helped give their family a future.
Ryan’s hope was to survive long enough to see his children graduate from high school. Unfortunately, Ryan was not able to make that goal, passing away in June of 2020, just three days before their oldest child graduated. But his tenacity created The Ryan Anthony Foundation, and his spirit lives on within it.
Featuring the talents of world-renowned brass musicians, this year’s CancerBlows, benefiting UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, will include 10-time Grammy Award-winning musician Arturo Sandoval, world-renowned brass quintet Canadian Brass, jazz trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, Hollywood movie trumpeter Wayne Bergeron (West Side Story, The Incredibles, La La Land), former Canadian Brass member Jens Lindemann, founding member of Canadian Brass Ronald Romm, Boston Brass trumpeter José Sibaja, jazz saxophonist Adrian Cunningham and more. The first half of the CancerBlows concert will be performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, with the second half performed with the University of North Texas’ One O’Clock Lab Band.
“We are so excited to bring CancerBlows back to Dallas, where the event first began in 2015. Initially planned as a one-time event, CancerBlows concerts have since been held in San Antonio, Cleveland and Memphis, but it is very special to be home for our 2023 concert,” remarked Niki Anthony, president and executive director, The Ryan Anthony Foundation. “We are so grateful to these musical legends for coming together once again to help us raise funds for cancer research in memory of CancerBlows founder and Dallas Symphony Orchestra principal trumpet Ryan Anthony, who lost his battle with multiple myeloma in 2020. Please join us for what promises to be an incredible evening.”
In addition to the concert, a limited number of tickets will be available for the After Party Jam, which includes more music from the legends, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the Meyerson Symphony Center lobby. Featured artists will mix and mingle, and will then join their friends on stage for a relaxing and fun jam session.
CancerBlows 2023 will be held on Thursday, March 9 at 7:00 p.m. at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Sponsorships range from $2,500 – $100,000; concert tickets are $50 – $250 per ticket; VIP Fan packages range from $350- $600; and After-Party Jam ticketsare $200 per person. For sponsorships and tickets, visit cancerblows.com.
Diane and Hal Brierley, Nancy Nasher, and David Haemisegger will serve as honorary chairs of the event, with a community advisory committee that includes Nick Adamson, Kimberly Alexander, Larry Anderson, Michael Considine, Kim Noltemy, Cyndi Phelps, Kara and Todd Ranta, Courtney Rottman, Arthur Selander, D’Andra Simmons and Jeremy Lock, Barbara Sypult, and Cece Smith and Ford Lacy.