Dr. Eric Swisher
Before his appointment to Murray State University in 2003, Dr. Eric Swisher worked as an active freelance musician in Oklahoma, Indiana, California and Texas. He holds a Bachelors degree in Music Education from the University of Oklahoma, a Masters degree in Trumpet Performance from Indiana University and a Doctorate in Trumpet Performance from the University of North Texas. His primary trumpet instructors were Dr. Jacob Larson, Louis Ranger, Edmund Cord and Keith Johnson.
Dr. Swisher has performed with numerous orchestras, wind ensembles and chamber groups. Some of these include: the Dallas Wind Symphony, the Dallas Opera Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Irving Symphony, the Evansville Philharmonic, the Paducah Symphony (KY) and the Jackson Symphony (TN). In this capacity he has performed with Kurt Masur, Gerard Schwarz, Eugene Corporon, Jerry Junkin and Frederick Fennell. Additionally he can be heard on many recordings with the University of North Texas Wind Symphony and the Indiana University Philharmonic Orchestra.
An active soloist, he has performed the Suite in D-Major by G.F. Handel with the Timberline Symphony Orchestra (CO), Haydn's Concerto for Trumpet in E-flat with the San Jose Wind Symphony and the Concerto for Trumpet in A-flat by Alexander Arutunian at the International Trumpet Seminar (Truro, UK). Additionally, he as performed solo recials and masterclasses througout the the United States.
He has also published a trumpet method book: Basic Skills for Developing Trumpeters (Colin Music Puclications) and two arrangments for Trumpet Ensemble W.A. Mozart's Overture to the Marriage of Figaro and Gabrieli's Sonata Piano e Forte (both through Eighth Note Publications).
His former students have continued their trumpet studies at some of this country's finest music programs: Indiana University, the University of North Texas, the Aspen Music Festival, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Yale University. Others have entered the field of music education, working in highly successful programs. Under his direction the Murray State Trumpet Ensemble performed at the 2006 International Trumpet Guild Conference and placed 6th at the 2007 National Trumpet Competition.
Mr. Kyle Millsap
Kyle Millsap holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance from Wichita State University and a Master of Music in Performance with related studies in Jazz from the University of North Texas. He is currently completing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree (ABD) from The University of Memphis with a minor in Conducting. His primary teachers in include Dr. David Spencer, Mr. John Holt, Ms. Judith Saxton, and Mr. Kevin Hartman.
Mr. Millsap has performed with such artists as The Temptations, Johnny Mathis, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Jon Mayer, Rufus Reid, Vincent DiMartino, Kirk Whalum, and David Sanchez, as well as the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfonica UANL (Monterrey, Mexico), the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, the Corinth Symphony Orchestra, the Memphis Jazz Orchestra, and the Jazz Orchestra of the Delta. Comfortable on stage or in an orchestra pit, Mr. Millsap frequently performs for Memphis-area theatres and has played for the national tours of Chicago, High School Musical, The King and I, and My Fair Lady, and for the Mid-South regional premieres of Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, Jerry Springer: The Opera, The Producers, and The Wild Party, among other shows. He can be heard on the Southern Comfort Jazz Orchestra recording Voices, released in 2007.
Mr. Millsap has served as a clinician and applied instructor in Kansas, Tennessee, and Texas. He has frequently been asked to serve as an adjudicator for the West Tennessee TMEA auditions. Additionally, he has performed on recitals and conducted in England, Germany, and Mexico. Mr. Millsap is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society.