Composer, trumpet soloist, playwright, and poet. Born in Portland, Oregon, this American studied composition and arranging at Portland State University and then continued his education under the tutelage of such masters as H. Mancini and Don Costa (arranger for F. Sinatra, S. Vaughn, T. Bennett, and P. Anka). He has performed in dozens of renowned big bands under conductors such as S. Kenton, L. Bellson, The Dorsey Brothers, C. Terry, and Doc Severinson. He has performed with, among others, with artists such as: the Bee Gees, T. Jones, P. Anka, D. Warwick, A. Franklin, J. Mathis, E. Humperdink, J. Jones, P. Williams, L. Rawls, C. Stevens, S. Mendez, B. Bacharach, T. Bennett, R. Whittaker, M. Legrand, A. Murray, N. Sedaka and M. Bublé. He has performed as a trumpeter soloist with over 300 orchestras, including: Austin (Texas) Symphony, Portland (Maine) Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Oregon (Portland) Symphony, Toronto Symphony, National Arts Center (Ottawa) Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic and with the New York Pops orchestra at Carnegie Hall. After settling in Poland, he released an album of his original jazz compositions, Solar Eclipse (2011), and the swinging Woman in Black (2016), for which he wrote the music and lyrics (both albums were released by the Polish Radio Music Agency). He also composed music that pays tribute to the work of poet M. Białoszewski, released on the album Self-Portraits (Soliton) in 2019. One of his projects was the musical Letter from Warsaw, for which he composed both the music and lyrics (he wrote the libretto with playwright D. Nowakowski). The premiere took place at the Warsaw Chamber Opera in November 2019. The musical ran successfully for five seasons, and a double album in English and Polish (translated by Nowakowski) was released in 2020 (Soliton). The artist’s compositions include, among others: such works as: Suite for harp and orchestra The Master and Margarita from 2007 (CD released by DUX in 2008), Concerto Romantico for harp and orchestra (2018), and Concerto for trumpet and orchestra (2020). An album with both concertos was recorded by the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of M.J. Błaszczyk in 2023 (DUX), with the soloists being M. Zalewska on harp and the composer himself on trumpet. The album was nominated for the Fryderyk Award in 2024. In the fall of 2021, the premiere of the chamber suite The Traveler to the composer’s 1992 cycle of poems took place (the album recording was released in 2023 by Orphée Classics). In April 2022, the world premiere of the Concerto for Flute and Symphony Orchestra took place, performed by Ł. Długosz and the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra. In 2023, two world premieres took place: Gary Guthman’s four-movement Łódź Fantasy for symphony orchestra and choir, commissioned by the A. Rubinstein Philharmonic for the 600th anniversary of Łódź’s city charter, and the overture Qui ingreditur sine macula, commissioned by the A. Malawski Subcarpathian Philharmonic for the beatification of the Ulma Family. In 2024, the world premiere of Five Elements for tenor saxophone and chamber orchestra, composed for P. Baron and the Elbląg Chamber Orchestra, took place. In September 2023, Gary Guthman’s memoirs were published on the Polish market under the title Playing on Your Own Note by Znak publishing house.