Bruce
Briney leads a diverse musical life that reflects his
passions and abilities as a conductor, performer and teacher. As a music professor at Western Illinois
University,
he is the
Director of the university's Symphony Orchestra and has additional
conducting
contacts with the Opera Theater and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble. His conducting background also includes
expertise in orchestral brass ensembles and English brass bands.
Briney
received his musical education from the University of Illinois
and Northwestern University where he earned a Bachelor of Music, Master
of
Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance. At Northwestern,
his
conducting teachers and mentors included John Paynter and Victor
Yampolsky. His primary teachers in trumpet were David Hickman and
Vincent
Cichowicz with additional studies from Arnold Jacobs, Ray Mase, Charles
Geyer,
George Vosburgh, Ray Sasaki and Luther Didrickson.
Briney received WIU's Outstanding
Teaching Award from the College
of Fine Arts and
Communication in 2001. Amazon.com distributes his solo trumpet CD, Time
Passages. The Journal of the International Trumpet Guild describes the
recording as ". . . beautifully performed in every aspect from tone
color
to technique." Three of his recent
WIU students were recognized as finalists in the 2005 National Trumpet
Competition.
As
the Music Director of the Millar Brass Ensemble (resident brass
ensemble at
Alice Millar Chapel, Northwestern University), Briney recorded and
released
five compact discs on the Crystal, Koss, Premiere and RMC record
labels. During
his tenure, the ensemble commissioned over twenty new works for large
brass
ensemble and performed clinic/concerts at the International Trumpet
Guild
Convention (1994, 1987), the International Trombone Workshop (1988),
the New
York Brass Conference (1989), the Mid-West International Band and
Orchestra
Convention (1986), and the Texas Music Educators Convention (1993). In
1990, he
became the conductor of the Illinois Brass Band, a community ensemble
founded
in the English brass band tradition and sponsored by the Boosey and
Hawkes
Corporation. With his relocation to Macomb and WIU,
he
co-founded and directed the Macomb Brass Band for five years and
currently
conducts the Macomb Municipal Band each summer.
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