Paul Welcomer was born in 1962 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1993 and currently holds the second Trombone position.

Mr. Welcomer studied Trombone and received his Bachelor of Music at the Eastman School of Music under John Marcellus. Subsequently, he attained his Master of Music degree at the New England Conservatory of Music studying with John Swallow. He considers Louden Hugely, Principal Trombone of the Preston Colliery Band, U.K. one of his mentors. Before joining the Orchestra, Mr. Welcomer served as Principal Trombone with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra for fours years. He has also played with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and the National Symphony.

In addition to his performing obligations, Mr. Welcomer teaches the Trombone both privately and at the San Francisco Conservatory. He is also a founding member of the Bay Brass and is a partner with fellow Orchestra member, Mark Lawrence (Principal Trombone), in the company MarcoPaulo Publishing, which sells trombone music in stores as well as on-line. Paul Welcomer and his wife, Katherine, are the proud parents of three children, Jessie, Jacob and Nathaniel. He currently resides in Lafayette with his family.

On the Bay Brass: "Playing in the Bay Brass is like nothing else I do. The musical opportunities are much different and in some ways better than playing in an orchestra. I get to play the melody occasionally, and not just when it's loud! I also get to be involved in direct collaborative music making, which is very satisfying. And I even get to conduct once in a while, which is fun (shaping a performance), scary (knowing that they're actually following, so if something bad happens it's my fault) and exhilarating (you stand in front of those folks when we're cranking and it is unbelievable)."

In his spare time, Mr. Welcomer enjoys researching his family history, transcribing music, traveling and spending time with his family.