JOHN MILLERFULL BIOGRAPHY

John Miller began his musical life playing cornet with a local brass band in Fife, Scotland. At age 16 he joined the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, where highlights were playing the Hummel Concerto with conductor Rudolf Schwarz and The Rite of Spring with Pierre Boulez.

John spent his preparatory year at Glasgow University before studying at King’s College, Cambridge from 1970-74, alongside his life-long friend and playing colleague John Wallace. During his time at Kings College he was granted leave to work regularly with the London Symphony Orchestra, with Berio, Maxwell-Davies and Stockhausen and the recently founded London Sinfonietta.

John’s playing career then led him to join the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble in 1972. Then, following his postgraduate studies, John took up a position at the Philharmonia Orchestra in London in 1977 as sub-principal trumpet, and subsequently co-principal trumpet, under musical direction of Riccardo Muti and Giuseppi Sinopoli, an association he maintained with the orchestra for the next 17 years.

John was a prolific member of Equale Brass and a founder member of The Wallace Collection brass ensemble which was formed in 1986 by John Wallace. His extraordinary playing career with some of the finest orchestras and ensembles in the world has resulted in his contribution to over 75 audio recordings to date, with many new projects in the pipeline since the recent reforming of The Wallace Collection.

In 1979 John took up the position of Tutor of Trumpet at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and maintained this working link for the next 20 years. During this period, John also became widely published with an essay series on performance technique and practice, a variety of popular educational brass compositions and compilations which have continued to be extremely popular choices for the developing player ever since. John’s writing talent has also extended to the publishing of a variety of compositions and transcriptions for brass ensembles.

1991 saw John being appointed as Trumpet Professor for The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, a position he continues to hold, involving him in the organisation’s three annual

courses. He is also an active member of the tutor faculty for the European Union Youth Orchestra.

In 1995 the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester welcomed John as a Consultant in trumpet, later inviting him to join the faculty as Tutor of Trumpet and then, in 1999, as Director of Brass Studies. In 2007 John became Assistant Head, School of Wind, Brass and Percussion at the Royal Northern College of Music, and is now currently Head of the same school.

In addition to his on-going educational, composing and performance roles, John has also served as an external examiner for many of the leading music colleges and conservatoires, a judge for the Eurovision Competition for Young Musicians in Lisbon, and as a Jury member of Alencon International Trumpet Competition in France.

In 2008, John co-founded the Tero Trumpet Festival with Chano Gill, professor of trumpet Las Palmas Conservatoire and Pierre Dutot, former trumpet professor and head of brass at Lyon National Conservatoire, France, and Bordeaux Conservatoire. This festival attracted students from UK, France, Spain, Portugal and Puerto Rica, and is ongoing.

In 2009, John participated in the Vocklabruck Trumpet Days, in association with the Bruckner University, Linz, involving master classes and concerts, in conjunction with trumpet teachers from Austria and Italy. John continues to be highly active with public masterclasses, workshops and outreach work and this passion to share knowledge has led him on performance and teaching tours to Bangladesh, Paris, Kasakstahn, Moscow, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ghana, Australia, USA and across Europe.

In addition to his performing career, his educational work with young musicians has been internationally acclaimed - in 1993 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Guildhall School, in 2006 a Fellowship of the RNCM, and in 2010 Professorship (personal chair) of RNCM.

Please contact our Publicist, Clair Tomalin, if you require any further information or additional photographs: clair.tomalin@thewallacecollection.world

October 2015 – 001-001