Brass Masterclass with Amos Miller

The Purcell School is very excited to be welcoming Amos Miller, Head of Brass at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, to give a masterclass to our first study brass students, and selected second studies. The masterclass will be followed by a reception in the Liszt Room.

Amos studied Experimental Psychology at Oxford University and trombone at the Royal Academy of Music, learning with John Berry, Eric Crees, Denis Wick and Ian Bousfield, and played principal trombone for the National and European Youth Orchestras. Having gained the Dip.RAM, the RAM’s highest award for performance, he completed the Jazz Course at the Banff Center for the Arts in Canada, under artists including Jim Hall and Kenny Wheeler.

Amos is a founder member of internationally acclaimed brass quintet Onyx Brass, and has combined the post of principal trombone with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia with a busy freelance career in which he has worked as guest principal trombone with the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, BBC Concert, Royal Philharmonic, English National Opera, and Royal Opera House Orchestras, as well as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin’s, the London Sinfonietta and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, with esteemed conductors and soloists such as Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Colin Davis, Marin Alsop, Yuri Temirkanov, Sir Simon Rattle, Sakari Oramo, Pierre Boulez, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jessye Norman, Bryn Terfel, Leonidas Kavakos, Joshua Bell, Placido Domingo, Martha Argerich, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Montserrat Caballe, Andras Schiff, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and Angela Gheorghiu. Away from the UK he has worked with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Ensemble Modern, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also a member of the City of London Sinfonia.

Amos is also in demand in the studio: he has played for hundreds of film soundtracks, including ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Terminator Salvation’, ‘Inception’, ‘Paddington’, ‘Mission Impossible’, ‘Superman’, ‘Wonderwoman’, ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’, ‘Vice’ and ‘Godzilla, King of the Monsters’ and has collaborated with an eclectic range of light music stars including Kylie Minogue, Chaka Khan, Rufus Wainwright, Lulu, Sharleen Spiteri, Barry Manilow, Marianne Faithfull, Gary Barlow, James Blunt, and Jarvis Cocker.

Amos is the co-author of “Time Pieces for Trombone” (ABRSM), the author of “A New Tune a Day for Trombone”, (Boston Music Company), and was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 1998. He was one of the trombone professors at the Royal College of Music from 2012-2018 and is now Head of Brass at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, a position he took up in September 2018. As a teacher with over 25 years of experience, he is especially interested in the relationship between mental well-being, posture, and breathing, and their effects on performance. He was thrilled to have been awarded “Teacher of the Year 2019” by the British Trombone Society.

Away from the musical world, Amos is a keen photographer, cook, outdoors lover, and sofa-based sports fan.