NEWS

W. Frederick Mills

Albert Christ-Janer Award 2005

W. Frederick Mills is an internationally acclaimed trumpet player, arranger and conductor. A member of the Canadian Brass for 24 years, he performed as a soloist in 16 countries on five continents. He also played solo, first-chair trumpet with the American Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, the New York City Opera Orchestra, the National Arts Center Orchestra of Canada, the Casals Festival Orchestra inPuerto Rico and many others.

Professor Mills’ arrangements and scoring for brass ensembles have changed the standard repertoire for brass chamber music. He introduced an “international, clearer transparent sound,” said his nominating committee. That sound has clearly defined musical notes and audible influences from many different countries, which makes it resonate with cultures the world over. Since 1996, Professor Mills has released six compact-disc recordings, all reflecting “a diversity of style and repertoire,” said Dr. Donald Lowe, Director of the UGA School of Music.

Before joining UGA’s music faculty, Professor Mills had already made more than 65 CDs, DVDs and videos and given more than 5,000 live performances of concerts, operas, ballets and show productions in most of the world’s great concert halls.

Founder of UGA’s Bulldog Brass Society, Professor Mills coaches the nationally recognized graduate chamber group. The Society is also the prime member of Georgia Brass, the newest large ensemble at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music.

Extensive experience as a performer, arranger and conductor has helped Professor Mills attract many talented musicians to UGA. He is “thought of as a great international ambassador for brass music and all that it includes wherever he goes,” said Roy Poper, Professor of Trumpet at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.

Professor Mills, who continues to perform and conduct nationally and internationally, recently appeared with the Athens National Philharmonic in Athens, Greece, the Basel Symphonic Brass in Switzerland, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory’s Moscow Brass in Russia and at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Denver, Colo. Next year he will return to Moscow to direct concerts with the Bolshoi Theater Brass. He also has received honorary doctorates from Hartwick College, N.Y., and the New England Conservatory, Boston.