Welcoming the Minnesota Orchestra Fellows

Cellist Miles Goosby and horn player Douglas Nunes have won positions as the next Minnesota Orchestra Fellows and will begin two-year appointments with the Orchestra in September at the start of the new season. 

Designed to create pathways for emerging orchestral musicians who have been underrepresented in the field, the Minnesota Orchestra Fellowship offers opportunities to perform with the Minnesota Orchestra and represent it in education activities. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Miles Goosby and Douglas Nunes as the Minnesota Orchestra’s newest Fellows,” said Vice President of Orchestra and Production Justin Brown. “The level of competition in the auditions was high, and both of these players demonstrated very compelling musicianship and a real dedication to serving young musicians. I know they’ll contribute a great deal to the Minnesota Orchestra, and we hope to provide a meaningful launch pad for their own career aspirations.”  

The Minnesota Orchestra Fellowship offers dual opportunities for emerging orchestral musicians to receive performance experience and mentorship alongside Minnesota Orchestra players—and to provide inspiration and support to local student musicians. Fellows will rehearse and perform with the Orchestra at various concerts throughout the season and participate in mock auditions and lessons with Minnesota Orchestra mentors, as well as work with Minnesota students, families and community partners on a variety of initiatives through the organization’s Education and Community Engagement department. 

“Becoming a Minnesota Orchestra Fellow is truly a dream come true,” said Douglas Nunes, who is a graduate of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. “I am looking forward to working with the Twin Cities community to reach and inspire young students to engage and explore music in their own way.”

Launched in 2017, the two-year fellowship experience is intended to support musicians seeking to build a career in the orchestral field. Applicants were required to demonstrate a high-level of performance skill and evidence of one of the following: being a first-generation college or conservatory graduate, overcoming economic adversity, or a commitment to educational or community service in underserved areas.

Said Miles Goosby, who is an alum of the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School: “The Minnesota Orchestra is forward-thinking and innovative in how they engage with the community and the music world as a whole. I am looking forward to making new friends, learning from my colleagues and performing great repertoire.” 

More about Miles Goosby

Cellist Miles Goosby enjoys a varied career as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician and is a passionate and dedicated teacher. He is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music (BM '23) and the Juilliard School (MM '25), where he was a founding member of the BECA Quartet and studied with Julia Lichten and Natasha Brofsky.

Goosby’s recent concert highlights include performing as a semi-finalist in the 29th annual Sphinx Competition; at Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night with Yuja Wang and the NYO All-Star Orchestra; and as a soloist for Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major with the Westside Chamber Players. As a chamber musician, Goosby has collaborated and studied with artists including Itzhak Perlman, Laurie Smukler, Areta Zhulla, Don Weilerstein, Sam Rhodes, and the Takács, Juilliard and Brentano Quartets; he was a featured recording artist on Damien Sneed’s 2025 album Our Song, Our Story. He also has given chamber recitals with the Iris Collective in Memphis and Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, where he collaborated with his brother violinist Randall Goosby and pianist Zhu Wang.

His passion for community outreach and education has led him to educational residencies with the Iris Collective and serving on the faculty of Third Street School of Music. Goosby has appeared as a guest teaching artist at educational programs for schools in New York City, in addition to maintaining a private studio.

More about Douglas Nunes

Douglas Nunes currently serves as the third horn in the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. Born in Guanhães, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Nunes moved to the United States in 2005, where he started studying music at age 10. He attended Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music —studying horn with Dale Clevenger, Denise Tryon, and natural horn with Richard Seraphinoff—and received his bachelor’s degree in 2020 and his master’s degree in 2023. Nunes was a winner of the Jacobs School of Music Brass Concerto Competition in 2022 and performed Othmar Schoeck’s Concerto for Horn and String Orchestra with the Jacobs Symphony Orchestra. 

As a member of The Orchestra Now at Bard College, Nunes performed at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center and The Metropolitan Museum. He has also performed with the Syracuse Orchestra, Symphony New Hampshire, Fenimore Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra San Antonio. 

An avid chamber musician, Nunes has performed with numerous chamber ensembles, ranging from brass trios to wind octets and beyond. His horn quartet at Indiana premiered Randall Faust’s Music for the Horns of the Emerald City in 2022, and he most recently performed with the Illinois Symphony Brass Ensemble in April 2026. Nunes also has experience in the recording studio, recording two albums with The Orchestra Now, and he has collaborated with classic rock group Oldjoy to release various singles on a number of streaming platforms.

The Minnesota Orchestra Fellowship program is supported by generous gifts from Rosemary and David* Good, and Margee and Will Bracken. 

*in memoriam