Bassoon

John Miller, Jr.

principal bassoon
Norman B. Mears Chair

John Miller, Jr., assumed his present position as principal bassoon of the Minnesota Orchestra in 1971, when he also joined the music faculty of the University of Minnesota. Since then, he has continued his solo career, performing numerous times with the Minnesota Orchestra, most recently playing Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto in May 2009, as well as with many other orchestras.

Miller received his early musical training at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the New England Conservatory in Boston. He also holds a bachelor of science degree in humanities and engineering from MIT and was awarded a Fulbright grant for music study in Amsterdam. While in Boston, he founded the Bubonic Bassoon Quartet and made the premiere recording of the Hummel Bassoon Concerto, released along with the Weber Concerto on Cambridge Records.

For more than 20 years, Miller was a member of the American Reed Trio. Among his solo recordings are four concertos by Vivaldi and the Mozart and Vanhal Bassoon Concertos, all conducted by Sir Neville Marriner on two Pro Arte discs. His teachers have included Louis Skinner, Arthur Weisberg, Stanley Petrulis, Sherman Walt, Stephen Maxym and Thom de Klerk. One of Miller’s educational activities, the Nordic Bassoon Symposium, begun in 1984 as the John Miller Bassoon Symposium, has attracted an international mix of hundreds of professional, student, and amateur bassoonists. Miller has also presented master classes and recitals at major conservatories and music schools on five continents.