UNI Trombone Studio-News

UNI Bachelor of Music Education graduate James Miller presented a recital, two masterclasses and taught the trombone studio on September 20-21, 2012. He is Associate Principal Trombonist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Mr. Miller's recital included works by himself, J.S. Bach, Mitchell Peters, Stjepan Sulek, Karlheinz Essl, Arthur Frackenpohl, and Richard Peaslee. Sean Botkin, Bob Washut, Chris Merz, Chris Buckholz, Nolan Schroeder and Madeline Young all assisted.

JAMES MILLER is the Associate Principal Trombonist with the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, a position he has held since 1999. His duties
include performing on alto, tenor, and bass trombone, tenor tuba, and
bass trumpet. His previous orchestral experience includes the North
Carolina Symphony, the Long Island Philharmonic, and the New York
Philharmonic. Miller earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree
from the University of Northern Iowa and his Master of Music degree
from the Juilliard School.

His playing experience includes performances with the Silk Road
Ensemble, the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, Ensemble ST-X, the Michael
Bublé Big Band, and a variety of jazz, rock, ska, and latin ensembles.
He has been a participant in the Mainly Mozart Festival, the Aspen
Music Festival, and the Ojai Music Festival as well as being featured
on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series. In 2006 Mr.
Miller performed as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on the
Berlioz composition Funerale Triumphale before an audience that
numbered 10,000.

As a composer, he has had world premieres in New York’s Lincoln Center
and continues to perform his own works in solo performances throughout
the country. He serves on the faculty of the California Institute of
the Arts and the University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Miller has
been featured on numerous recordings including the solo CDs entitled
From Coast to Coast, Delays, delays and Neutronbome Music on All
Barks Dog records and available online.

Jacques Mauger, solo trombonist of the Paris Opera Orchestra, presented a recital and masterclass at UNI on Friday, April 15, 2011 from 1:00-3:00 PM. Mr. Mauger's visit was sponsored by Antoine Courtois/Buffet Crampon U.S.A.

Mr. Mauger performed Choral, Cadence et Fugato by Dutilleux, Elegie by Faure, the Tomasi Concerto and the Handel Op. 2 #8 Sonata, arranged for two trombones. Eglantina Grapshi was the pianist and Dr. Buckholz played the second trombone part on the Handel.

Jacques Mauger was born in Normandy, France and studied the trombone at the Regional Conservatoire in Rouen, and subsequently at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. A prize winner at international competitions at Markneukirchen in Germany, and at Toulon, he started his professional career as first trombone with the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra, and then became trombone soloist with the Paris Opera Orchestra.

Since 1990, he has concentrated on working as a concert artist, and has often appeared as a soloist in France and abroad with ensembles varying from string and symphony orchestras to brass and concert bands. He has also made television appearances on ZDF in Germany, GLOBO in Brazil, RAI in Italy and MUZZIK in France, and has broadcast on RFI, France Inter, France Musique, France Info and the BBC, thus making himself known to a wide audience. Many international composers have composed original works or made special arrangements for him.

Jacques Mauger has been active as a teacher at the Conservatoire Supérieur in Paris / CNR where he was appointed in 1994, and also at the Academia Santa Cecilia di Roma, Italy. In June 2004 he was appointed professor of trombone at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Neuchatel in Switzerland and also professor at the Folkwang Musikhochschule in Essen, Germany. He is a guest professor at the Senzoku Gaquen University of Tokyo, Japan.

In addition to his teaching, Jacques remains busy as a soloist and conducting master classes in numerous countries including France, the U.K, Japan, Korea, China, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, the United States, and South America.

Mark Fisher was in residence at UNI on March 10-11, 2010 to perform a recital and present a masterclass. Both events were free and open to the public.

He is acting principal trombonist of the Chicago Lyric Opera and principal with the Sante Fe Opera, a member of the Asbury Brass Quintet, and substitutes with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Also a brilliant euphonium player, he has won the Senior Division Solo competition of the International TUBA Conference and performed as euphonium soloist with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Pinchas Zukerman. Mr. Fisher's principal teachers have been Fritz Kaenzig and John Swallow.

Mike Conrad, a rising senior music education major, won the UNI Spotlight Series Competition on March 30, 2009. This event is open to UNI music majors who are either rising seniors or continuing seniors. First prize was a $4800 scholarship--congrats, Mike!

On September 22, 2007, the University of Northern Iowa hosted Christopher Dudley for a series of master classes and a performance with Dr. Buckholz. Mr. Dudley is the principal trombonist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and brought with him a wealth of knowledge to share about trombone performance and musicianship.

During the evening performance, Mr. Dudley performed spectacularly on the Tomasi Concerto for Trombone and Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer on the euphonium. It was our honor to host a supremely talented and generous performer.