THE History of the ORCHESTRAL F TRUMPET OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Author’s Biography

Dr. Richard Birkemeier

            Dr. Richard Birkemeier is an Emeritus Professor of Music at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) where he taught for 35 years.  He earned his BM Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MM in trumpet performance from the University of Memphis, and a DM in Trumpet performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University.  Richard’s teaching specialties included applied trumpet, courses in music history, and brass chamber music. In addition, Richard served as associate dean of the CSULB College of the Arts and founded the California Institute for the Preservation of Jazz, serving as its director for ten years.  While nineteenth century trumpets and cornets have been the focus of his research and have resulted in articles published in the ITG Journal and Brass Bulletin, Dr. Birkemeier has also co-authored articles on brass instrument acoustics with Dr. Dean Ayres of the CSULB Department of Physics.

Dr. Birkemeier has also been an active member of the International Trumpet Guild. Richard served as the review editor for the ITG Journal, performed and presented at several ITG conferences over the years, co-hosted Brass Fest II at CSULB with David Hickman and Summit Brass, and chaired the Conference Artist Committee for the 2016 ITG Conference that was held in Southern California.

            Outside of school, Richard was an active freelance professional conductor and trumpeter in Southern California. He has performed with, among others, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Musica Angelica Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival.  He also served as musical director of the Americus Brass Band, one of Southern California’s most active, professional brass bands during the 1980s through the early 2010s.  Under Dr. Birkemeier’s baton, the ABB made several national concert tours, performed at the Hollywood Bowl, recorded four critically-acclaimed CDs of brass band music from the 19th and early 20th centuries on original instruments (all are currently available on Summit Records - https://summitrecords.com/artist/americus-brass-band/), and recorded for and/or appeared in over a dozen TV shows and movies including Glory, Gettysburg, Geronimo: an American Legend, and Hidalgo.  Richard’s most recent work with ABB involved producing and directing a new recording of the music of legendary African American band leader, composer, and jazz pioneer, James Reese Europe. This recording honors the 100th anniversary of the famous Pathé recordings that Europe’s "Harlem Hell Fighter’s" Band made in 1919. Jazz historian Gunther Schuler wrote that he considered these to be the first Big Band recording ever made.

Richard retired in 2019 and he and his wife Laurie now live in northern Illinois where he continues to do research on the history of wind bands (see ABB website “Reading Room” https://americusbrassband.org/reading-room/) and performs as a member of the Rockford Concert Band and Wind Ensemble and the Rockford Temple Salvation Army brass band.