He once demoted a principal trombonist to second chair, saying, "We need a man for the job."

The bridegroom, 32, is a principal trombonist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York.

"Rudolf Josel has been principal trombonist since 1964," said Mr. Pisarkiewicz.

Buchman played as principal trombonist in the San Diego Symphony from 1988 to 1996.

Now, at age 27, he is associate principal trombonist with the New York Philharmonic.

In October 2002 he was appointed principal trombonist of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra.

After 26 years as principal trombonist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, he left that post in 1994 to devote himself to conducting.

Obviously, the work is a novelty, written in 1953 at the request of the principal trombonist of the Warsaw Philharmonic.

Jay Friedman (born 1939) is the principal trombonist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

But there was a serious side to the attention-getting gesture as well, said Richard Myers, the orchestra's principal trombonist and a spokesman for the union.