Biography

Neil Mueller enjoys a varied career as a musician, teaching and performing.  He is currently Associate Professor of Trumpet at Central Michigan University and a member of the trumpet section in  the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra.  He has performed concerti with the Boston Pops, Berkshire Bach Ensemble and the Boston University Symphony Orchestra as well as the Eastern Connecticut Symphony, the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, two ensembles in which he held positions as principal trumpet.  Mueller served as interim associate principal trumpet of the GRSO and is also principal trumpet of Cleveland's BlueWater Chamber Orchestra.  Of a recent performance of Haydn's Concerto for Trumpet with BlueWater, The Plain Dealer noted the he "struck a fine balance, displaying virtuoso flair and expressive sensitivity in equal degree. A compelling, confident figure in the outer movements, Mueller also applied sweetness to the Andante." (April 2012)

 

Mueller has been active as a soloist and recently released a disc of works for trumpet and piano and two trumpets with pianist Zhihua Tang and trumpeter Allan Dean entitled Call and Response, available from White Pine Music through iTunes or CDBaby.  As first trumpet with the Brass Ring quintet, he concertized extensively in the United States, toured Italy and appeared in recital at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  With Brass Ring, he also recorded New American Classics (Crystal).  Both of these projects featured world premiere recordings of works by composers including David Del Tredici, Jacob Druckman, Ned Rorem, David Dzubay, Charles Reskin and Benny Golson.  

 

As a free-lance performer, Mueller has appeared with ensembles such as the Canton Symphony, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Burning River Brass, the Bronx Arts Ensemble and the Hot Jazz Seven at a wide array of venues: from New York’s Carnegie Hall to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; from Cleveland’s Severance Hall to the Barking Spider Tavern.  From 1999 through 2008, Mueller taught trumpet at North Dakota State University.  He  has also taught students at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, University of New Hampshire and Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute. 

 

Mueller’s degrees are from Concordia College - Moorhead, MN (B.M.), Yale School of Music (M.M.) and Boston University (D.M.A.).  His trumpet teachers include Ronald Scheusner,  J. Robert Hanson, Manny Laureano, William Vacchiano, Allan Dean and Roger Voisin.  In addition to his work as a player and teacher of the trumpet, Mueller has three collections of duets published by Balquhidder Music and distributed internationally by Carl Fisher, with a fourth volume to be published in 2018.  He also has considerable experience as a conductor, having conducted wind ensembles and orchestras at NDSU and serves assistant conductor of the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra.