Anthony Kirkland, trumpet

Dr. Anthony B. Kirkland is Assistant Professor of Trumpet as Mississippi State University where he teaches studio trumpet, trumpet consort, and brass ensembles. He received a Bachelor of Music Education from Troy State University (magna cum laude), a Master of Music degree from Florida State University, and completed a Doctorate in Trumpet Performance at the University of Maryland. His trumpet teachers include James Wadowick, Emerson Head, Brian Goff, Philip Collins, and Chris Gekker. Dr. Kirkland’s areas of expertise include the preparation and literature for wind band auditions and chamber music for trumpet and percussion.

He was a member of The United States Air Force Band’s Ceremonial Brass in Washington, D.C., for 20 years and has performed ceremonies and concerts at The White House, The U.S. Capitol, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Arlington National Cemetery, The National Cathedral, and other national venues. During his tenure in the USAF Band, he performed regularly in Chamber Players and the Concert Band, performed on numerous recordings, and was leader of the Ceremonial Brass Quintet for seven years. He has performed internationally with the Air Force Band in The Netherlands, Russia, Norway, and Sweden. In 1997 he performed Taps at the funeral and memorial service for actor and U.S. Air Force Brigadier General (retired) James Stewart in Los Angeles, California.

He and percussionist Mark Carson performed Rondo: A Duet for Trumpet and Percussion by Clarence Barber on the New Works concert at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in 2013. Dr. Kirkland and MSU Percussion professor Dr. Jason Baker performed Gregory McLean’s Suite for Trumpet and Percussion at the Trumpet Festival of the Southeast in 2014. In May of 2014 he was trumpet soloist with the MSU Wind Ensemble during its Italian tour and led a performance by the Wind Ensemble’s brass section at the Papal Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi.

Dr. Kirkland has performed with the Arlington Virginia Symphony, the Capitol Wind Symphony (D.C.), the Annapolis Symphony, National President’s Day Choral Festival Orchestra at The Kennedy Center, The Louisiana Philharmonic, and was principal trumpet in Maryland’s Chesapeake Symphonic Winds and the Mormon Orchestra of Washington, D.C. He is currently principal trumpet of the MSU-Starkville Symphony, and since coming to Mississippi Dr. Kirkland has performed with the Mississippi Symphony, the Meridian (MS) Symphony, and the Memphis, Tennessee chamber ensemble “Prizm.” Dr. Kirkland has published articles and reviews in the International Trumpet Guild Journal, The Instrumentalist, The Brass Herald, and Bandworld. His book Wind Band Excerpts for Trumpet and Cornet was published by Balquhidder Music in 2016.