Brass and Ivory Trio Make Concert Debut

Photos by University Relations

The Brass and Ivory Trio: Richard Rulli, Cory Mixdorf, Miroslava Panayotova

The newly formed Brass & Ivory Trio make their concert debut at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 15, in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall. Department of Music faculty Richard Rulli (trumpet), Cory Mixdorf (trombone), and Miroslava Panayotova (piano) will perform chamber works written by Jean-Michel Damase, Boris Blacher and Jacques Casterede.

The blend of trumpet, trombone, and piano is a robust and unique form of chamber music not often heard, despite a rich available repertory. The trio plans future performances in the coming years to further explore the repertory written specifically for this chamber setting. The concert is free and open to the public.

About the Artists

Richard J. Rulli, trumpet, holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (DMA), Ithaca College, New York (MM), and the University of Northern Colorado (BM/BME). At the University of Arkansas, he teaches trumpet, brass chamber music, conducts the trumpet ensemble and performs as a founding member of the Boston Mountain Brassworks, the UA faculty brass quintet in residence. In addition, he serves as Principal Trumpet of the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, formerly the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Rulli is a 2009 University of Arkansas Faculty Gold Medal recipient for his support of students as a faculty mentor in performance and advising.

Rulli has been a featured performer and clinician internationally at conventions of the International Trumpet Guild (ITG) and International Brass Festival, and nationally at the College Band Directors National Association Southern Division Convention, as well as the state conventions of the Georgia and Wisconsin Music Educators Association. At the 2006 ITG Conference, he performed as trumpet soloist in the world premiers of two works for trumpet and choir, where the concert reviewer described his playing as "masterful, lyric, sensitive and imaginative."

For the 2008 ITG Conference, he was on the conference leadership team where he was charged with selection and coordination of the Trumpet Prelude performances. For the 2006 ITG Conference, he was the chair of the annual composition competition, coordinating the judging of 23 international applicants.

Rulli's students are regular participants and have won or placed in competitions of the International Trumpet Guild and the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist competitions, as well as many summer festivals and local competitions. In addition, many students have gone on to graduate and doctoral programs at prestigious universities including Yale University, The University of North Texas, Arizona State University, and the University of Illinois to name a few. The University of Arkansas Trumpet Ensemble most recently performed at the 2006 ITG Conference in Banff, Canada.

Rulli has performed as a member of the Arkansas Symphony, Fort Smith Symphony, Columbus Brass, Wisconsin Brass Quintet, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Madison Symphony Orchestra, and Madison Opera. He has held teaching positions at Columbus State University, Georgia, and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and was the Trumpet Graduate Teaching Assistant at Ithaca College, New York.

Formerly, Rulli was the Principal Trumpet and Trumpet Soloist of the Air Force Band of the Golden West and First Trumpet of Five Star Brass. During his Air Force tenure, he performed for numerous U.S. and foreign heads of state and was a regularly featured performer at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs. Among those performances were the library's internationally televised grand opening ceremony and the presentations of the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award to Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. He has performed with Arturo Sandoval, Bob Hope, Jimmy Stewart, Rosemary Clooney, Barbara Eden, Charlton Heston and many other entertainment personalities. Several Air Force recordings to his credit include Center Stage with guest artist Arturo Sandoval and We Are America, a patriotic recording with the Native American operatic tenor White Eagle where Rulli was featured performing Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait.

Most recently, he recorded Sonata for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble by Kent Kennan with the CSU Symphonic Wind Ensemble in a live performance at the College Band Directors National Association, Southern Division Conference on Vestige Records. Other recordings of note include, with the Wisconsin Brass Quintet, major new works for brass quintet on a CD titled Images, released on Mark Records; and with the Madison Opera Menotti's The Globolinks, on Newport Classics. A current recording project is underway which will include new trumpet sonatas with collaborative pianist Linda Beckman.

Rulli's dissertation explored the world of Hollywood trumpet playing through interviews with eight of the top trumpeters in the business. He is an active recitalist and chamber musician, recently performing and giving master classes at major universities in Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri and Kansas as a soloist and with the Boston Mountain Brassworks. His trumpet teachers include John Aley, Malcolm McNab, Donald Green, Anthony Plog, Kim Dunnick, Frank Campos, William Pfund, and Daniel Kuehn.

Cory Mixdorf is thrilled to be a part of the distinguished faculty at the University of Arkansas. He holds a B.A. from the University of Northern Iowa as well as Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees in trombone performance from Indiana University.

While maintaining a strong studio, Mixdorf sustains a regular schedule as a guest artist and clinician on the national and international levels. In addition to frequent solo recital tours, his most recent endeavors include: presenting at the 2016 International Trombone Festival at The Juilliard School, performing at the 2015 American Trombone Workshop, touring Germany and recording a CD with the brass ensemble, Eurobrass and traveling to the Universidade de Brasilia where he was invited to solo with the Trombones Sociedade Anônima and give a master class to the University's trombone students. Mixdorf was also fortunate to have been selected as a fellow in the 2011 Alessi Seminar in Tuscaloosa, AL.

Outside of his collegiate duties, Mixdorf enjoys performing with several area ensembles. He is the current Principal Trombonist of the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra. Before coming to Arkansas, he served as the Acting Second Trombonist with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra and has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra Augusta, the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra and the Georgia Brass Band, a group with which he recorded the album, A Christmas Festival.

While attending Indiana University, he held the positions of Principal and Second Trombone in the Columbus, IN Philharmonic from 2006-2009. Other orchestral experience includes performances with the New World Symphony in Miami, FL, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra and Evansville Philharmonic. He has appeared as a soloist with the Indiana University Symphonic Band where he performed Richard Peaslee's Arrows of Time. Mixdorf has also toured with the Mr. Jack Daniel's Silver Cornet Band.

Before his appointment at the University of Arkansas, Mixdorf served as Assistant Professor of Trombone at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA, adjunct instructor of brass at Vincennes University, associate instructor at Indiana University, and adjunct instructor of trombone at St. Ambrose University.

His principal teachers include Peter Ellefson, M. Dee Stewart, Nancy Vogt, D. Paul Pollard, Bruce Tychinski, and Brad Edwards. Mixdorf is a Conn-Selmer Performing Artist.

When not playing trombone, Mixdorf spends every minute possible with his beloved wife Elizabeth and children, Miles, Madelyn, Mason, Meyer and Montgomery.

Bulgarian pianist Miroslava Panayotova has made numerous appearances as recitalist and concerto soloist in the United States, Canada, Bulgaria, Russia, Slovakia, Romania, and Mexico. As well, Panayotova has appeared at such music festivals as Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Vermont, XXI Festival Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado in Mexico, the Orford Festival in Canada, Apolonia in Bulgaria, and others. Her numerous awards include the first prize at the Green Valley Piano Competition, and the second prize and the Silver Medal at the XVII National Piano Competition Svetoslav Obretenov in Bulgaria. As a winner of the 2006-2007 President's Concerto Competition, Panayotova appeared with The Arizona Symphony Orchestra. Recent concerto performances include appearances with The Florida Orchestra and the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra. She toured the southwest as soloist with University of Arizona Pianists on Tour. Her performances have been broadcast by KUAT-FM, KUAT-TV, and the Bulgarian National Television.

Panayotova holds Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees in Piano Performance from the National Academy of Music in Bulgaria, a Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance from the University of South Florida, and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance with a minor concentration in musicology from the University of Arizona. She studied with Daniela Andonova, Svetozar Ivanov and Tannis Gibson.

Panayotova's repertoire encompasses variety of styles, including contemporary music and premiere performances of both solo and ensemble works. Enjoying a wide variety of performance opportunities as a collaborative artist, she appears with Patrick Neher, bassist on recently released CDs by ISG Publications.

Panayotova serves as Artist Faculty at the Beverly Hills International Music Festival. She was a member of the music faculty at the University of South Florida, where she taught piano, piano pedagogy, and chamber music. In 2014, Dr. Panayotova joined the faculty at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville as Instructor of Class Piano and Collaborative Piano.