Kevin Quill
trumpet
Trumpeter Kevin Quill is known for his sound and musicality. A native of Nanuet, New York, Mr. Quill has been playing the trumpet since the age of nine. While in high school, he performed at the Eastman Theatre in the 2009 and 2010 New York All-State Symphonic Band, playing principal trumpet on several works. In June 2010, he played principal trumpet for the National Honor Band, where he performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. In his later high school years, he began taking lessons with Ethan Bensdorf of the New York Philharmonic.
After graduating high school, Mr. Quill moved to New York City to attend the Juilliard School where he began studying under Raymond Mase and Mark Gould. He currently holds both a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. Upon receiving his Bachelor’s degree, he was awarded the John Erskine Prize for an exceptional level of scholastic and artistic achievement. Mr. Quill was a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship during his years in the Master’s program. Mr. Quill is currently studying towards a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Juilliard, becoming the first trumpet player in many years to be accepted into Juilliard’s C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellowship program.
As a member of the Juilliard Orchestra, Mr. Quill has played principal trumpet on numerous works, including Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7, Strauss’s Don Quixote, and Alan Gilbert’s concert arrangement of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. He has performed under numerous world class conductors including Alan Gilbert, Valery Gergiev, Esa Pekka Salonen, Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, and Jaap Van Zweden. He has performed at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall, and Peter Jay Sharp Theater, as well as Carnegie Hall. In the summers of 2014, 2015, and 2016, Mr. Quill was a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland. Highlights from the Verbier Festival include performing principal trumpet on Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 under Zubin Mehta and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 under Michael Tilson Thomas.
Mr. Quill is excited to be returning to Switzerland in the summer of 2017 to perform with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra. Additionally, he was principal trumpet of the New York Youth Symphony, which he performed with from 2011 to 2014, playing eight concerts in Carnegie Hall. In January of 2014, he was invited to play with the Music for Life International Orchestra in a benefit concert performing at Carnegie Hall dedicated to providing aid to children living in war-torn Syria. This orchestra performed Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 and was largely made up of members from the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In February 2017, Mr. Quill performed again with the Music for Life International Orchestra, performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in the benefit concert of Mahler for Vision: A Concert for the Restoration of Vision for the Millions Affected By Cataract Blindness.
In his sophomore year, Mr. Quill won the Juilliard Trumpet Concerto Competition and performed Tomasi’s Trumpet Concerto as a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra under the baton of Emmanuel Villaume at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. His most recent solo performance with orchestra was in the fall of 2015, when he played Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto with the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble. As a winner of the 2011 West Point Band Young Artist Solo Competition, he performed Arban’s Carnival of Venice with the West Point Band. Mr. Quill has given two solo recitals at The Juilliard School where he has played music from the standard repertoire as well as his own arrangements.
Starting in September of 2015, Mr. Quill formed the brass quintet, Apex Brass, with several colleagues from Juilliard. Apex Brass has performed at many venues including Alice Tully Hall, Paul Hall, Morse Hall, the New York State Supreme Court Rotunda, and most recently at St. Paul’s Chapel of Columbia University. Apex Brass will be competing at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition this May.
In 2015, Mr. Quill also collaborated with other trumpet players at Juilliard to herald the naming of Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall and to perform alongside Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs during his Emperor’s Ball at The Marquee Club in Manhattan. In the spring of 2016, he performed at the United Nations with a small brass ensemble to celebrate the signing of the Paris Agreement on Climate. Mr. Quill performed music from Renaissance Venice with the American Brass Quintet at Paul Recital Hall in October of 2016.
While pursuing his doctorate at The Juilliard School, Mr. Quill looks forward to engaging in rigorous academic study while furthering himself in the realms of solo, chamber, and orchestral playing.
