Paul Neebe is highly accomplished across classical music genres as a soloist, orchestral musician, and chamber player. The International Trumpet Guild praises his “crystal clear sound” and “ringing articulation,” and the Slovak music magazine Hudobný život sums up his playing in one word: “virtuosity.”
Neebe performs as a soloist across the Eastern United States and throughout Europe, where he has appeared with the Goethe Institute Cultural Program in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, in Germany, as well as in Norway, Portugal, and Slovakia. He currently serves as principal trumpet of the Sarasota Opera and Roanoke Symphony Orchestra.
Neebe has been praised for his commitment to the commissioning and recording of contemporary American works for trumpet. Neebe’s album Te Deum (MDG 2003) includes the first of his commissions, Prayer and Epilogue, from American Composer Roger Petrich, a work for trumpet and organ premiered and recorded in Germany. His second album, American Trumpet Concertos (Albany Records 2005) with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra consists of world premieres of concertos for trumpet and orchestra. For his third album, 21st Century American Trumpet Concertos (Albany Records 2014) with the State Philharmonic Orchestra Kosice, Neebe commissioned, recorded, and premiered all of the trumpet concertos. His fourth solo album, UNDISCOVERED TRUMPET CONCERTOS with the Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra, includes two Concerti by Joseph Podprocký and Enjott Schneider, both written for Neebe. The other two pieces, Lamento for Don Quixote by Terry Mizesko and the Jan Bach Orchestration of Fantasia by Carl Roskott, were only recently rediscovered.
Neebe holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School as well as a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Catholic University of America. He has taught at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), the University of Virginia, James Madison University, Elon University, the National Music Festival, and the Summer University in Bayreuth, Germany. His teachers included Bernard Adelstein, Barbara Butler, Charlie Geyer, John Harding, Steve Hendrickson, Arnold Jacobs, Doug Myers, Vincent Penzarella, and William Vacchiano.
Albums
Undiscovered Trumpet Concertos
Catalog Number: TROY1982
Trumpet virtuoso Paul Neebe is the rare kind of musician destined to be a soloist: commanding a characteristic, recognizable sound full of determination and expression, yet never sacrificing precision or clarity. Who better, then, to champion UNDISCOVERED TRUMPET CONCERTOS by four contemporary composers?
Despite what the recency of these works may suggest, the language of these concertos is largely tonal and consonant. Neebe’s solo trumpet is symphonically complemented by the Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra, an acclaimed ensemble from musically rich, musically conservative Hungary. Considering the tonal-yet-contemporary material, one could not imagine a more perfect symbiosis. Neebe and the Hungarians form a veritable dream team, and the result is nothing short of a revelation.