Gary Wurtz has been the trumpet professor at SFA since the fall of 1992, and began his duties as Jazz Band director one year later. His other duties at SFA include directing the Trumpet Ensemble and performing in the Pineywoods Brass Quintet. Wurtz came to SFA from the Dallas area where he spent several years as a free-lance trumpeter and private instructor in some of the best public schools in the metroplex, including The Colony, Lewisville, and Lake Highlands.

During the years between graduate school and coming to SFA, Wurtz dedicated himself to his playing career. He performed as principal trumpet in the Richardson Symphony Orchestra from 1986 to 2001, taking a year off in 1989-1990 to play co-principal chair in the Orchesta Filarmonica de Universidad Nacional Autonam de Mexico in Mexico City and as principal trumpet in the Orchesta Nacional' de Republica Dominicana in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. At home in Nacogdoches, he plays principal trumpet in the Orchestra of the Pines, with whom he has been featured on the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 by J.S. Bach and Aaron Copland's Quiet City.

Wurtz has been a member of, or performed with, many musical organizations in the DFW metropolitan area. He currently performs with the Ft. Worth based Bluebonnet Brass, which plays concerts around the U.S. He appears on their most recent CD, entitled Jazz 'n Brass, as the jazz trumpet soloist. Other Dallas area groups with whom he has performed include Reunion Brass, the Dallas Opera, Ballet Dallas, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Brass, the Dallas Wind Symphony, the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, the Plano Chamber Orchestra, the Lewisville Lake Symphony, and many more.

He has also worked in the recording studio, appearing on recordings with Darrell Holt, Richard Giangiulio and the Dallas Symphony Trumpets and on a CD of Christmas Music with the Richardson Symphony Orchestra. He continues to work frequently in the DFW area as well as in the East Texas and Shreveport regions, and maintains a very active performing schedule as a soloist, chamber musician, jazz musician, and orchestral musician. His recent guest appearances have included solo performances with the Lewisville Lake Symphony, The Woodlands HS Band, Grapevine HS Band, South Garland HS Band, and the SFA Wind Ensemble, to name a few.

Gary is or has been affiliated with the International Trumpet Guild, Texas Music Educator's Association, Music Teacher's National Association, American Federation of Musicians, Pi Kappa Lambda, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Phi Mu Alpha.

Gary and his wife, Melinda, have one son, Gage. They enjoy spending their free time together doing various things from camping to defeating the latest Nintendo foe. On a rare occasion Wurtz finds time for a round of golf or a little racquetball.