Mills, Fred
Fred Mills was born in Guelph, Canada. While at the Juilliard School of Music in New York studying with William Vacchiano, Fred was invited to join the Houston Symphony Orchestra in Texas as Principal Trumpet by the conductor Leopold Stokowski. In 1961, Stokowski formed the American Symphony Orchestra in New York City, and Fred was a founding member. While living in New York City, Fred played with the Symphony of the Air, New York City Ballet Orchestra, Musica Aeterna Orchestra at the Metropolitan Museum, Marlboro Festival Orchestra, Cassals Festival Orchestra. He made recordings with Morton Gould, Robert Shaw, Igor Stravinsky, William Steinber, and Stokowski. For six years, Fred was principal trumpet with the New York City Opera Orchestra and was an active freelance New York musician. In 1968, Fred returned to Canada to play with the Orchestra of the National Ballet of Canada and was then appointed solo trumpet with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. In 1972, he joined the Canadian Brass and for 24 years Fred played over 3500 concerts in Asia, Europe, and North America with the Canadian Brass. As a member of the renowned Canadians, Fred made over 40 Cds for RCA, Sony, Phillips, and BMG. During this time Fred contributed more than 50 transcriptions and arrangements to the Canadian Brass repertoire. While with the Canadian Brass, Fred made numerous appearances on PBS, CBC, NDR, NHK, BBC and all the American Television Networks. He was a Grammy award nominee in 1992. Presently, Fred is Professor of Trumpet and Brass Chamber Music at the University of Georgia. A new CD was released in 1999 called “Mills and More” with the RENN Brass Quintet of Germany featuring Fred as soloist and arranger.
