A celebrated German trumpeter, Willy Brandt emigrated to Russia and so impressed the conductor at the Bolshoi Theater that he was assigned to first chair as soon as the theater found an excuse to fire his predecessor. Brandt's playing soon garnered him enough accolades that he was offered a professorship at Moscow Conservatory; some years later, he moved quarters to the new Saratov Conservatory and led the student orchestra there. His etudes for trumpet are still popular with teachers, as is a piece of advice he offered to his students: "You must always carry three objects with you: a pencil, an eraser, and a corkscrew."
