JOHN THIESSEN

Described by the New York Times as “the gold standard of Baroque trumpet playing in this country”, John Thiessen’s performances combine beauty of sound with brilliance and virtuosity for 17th-19th century clarino repertoire. He appears regularly as soloist and principal trumpet with North America’s foremost early music ensembles, including American Bach Soloists, Tafelmusik, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Juilliard Baroque, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, the Boston Early Music Festival, and Early Music Vancouver. Internationally, Mr. Thiessen has performed under maestros Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Christopher Hogwood, Nicholas McGegan, Ton Koopman and Andrew Parrott. On the modern trumpet, he recently performed as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, and Principal Trumpet with the Orchestra of St Lukes. 2013-14 season highlights include Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 2 with ensembles in NY, San Francisco and North Carolina, Leipzig cantatas with Trinity Baroque, Messiah with Tafelmusik and American Bach Soloists, two European tours, and recordings of Beethoven symphonies. Mr. Thiessen holds degrees in Trumpet Performance from the Eastman School of Music and Musicology from King’s College, University of London, and has presented master classes for the International Trumpet Guild, The Juilliard School, the Glenn Gould School, UT Austin, UNT Denton, USC and LSU. He serves on the faculties of Juilliard’s Historical Performance department and the American Bach Soloists Academy, and has recorded 70 CDs for Sony Classical Vivarte, Telarc, EMI, BMG, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, London Decca, Analekta, CBC, Tafelmusik Media and Denon, including major works by Bach, Handel, Purcell, Vivaldi, Biber, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.

Learn more about John Thiessen at the American Bach Website.