Dr. Jeremy Brekke was appointed Associate Professor of Trumpet at North Dakota State University in 2008. He teaches trumpet, high brass methods, various brass chamber groups, jazz lab band, and jazz combo. Previously, he was the Assistant Professor of Trumpet at Loyola University in New Orleans from 2002-2008. Dr. Brekke received a B.S. in Music Education from NDSU and taught middle and high school band in Langdon, ND. He received a Doctorate of Arts in Trumpet Performance and Pedagogy and a M.M. in Trumpet Performance from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, CO, where he studied with William Pfund and performed with the award winning Jazz Lab Band I.
Dr. Brekke has a very diverse performance background and has experience playing in a multitude of idioms. His orchestral experience includes the Centennial Philharmonic in Denver, Grand Forks Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, Central City Opera, Louisiana Philharmonic, Fargo/Moorhead Symphony and Opera, and South Dakota Symphony. He has performed on the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Boulder Dinner Theatre, Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre, and various big bands including the John Mahoney Big Band and the Jazz Arts Group of Fargo/Moorhead in lead and solo capacities. He was the winner of the Rocky Mountain Concerto Competition in 2001, and has been the featured soloist with the Centennial Philharmonic, International Music Camp Orchestra, University of Northern Colorado Orchestra, Loyola Orchestra and Band, The John Philip Sousa Honor Band, New Orleans Civic Symphony, and North Dakota State University Windy Symphony and Jazz Ensemble. He has performed with the likes of Wayne Bergeron, Allen Vizzutti, Rex Richardson, Wycliffe Gordon, Manhattan Transfer, Platters, Temptations, Kurt Elling, Plácido Domingo, and Stanley Drucker, and many more.
Dr. Brekke currently performs throughout the upper Midwest with the NDSU Faculty Brass Quintet, Fargo/Moorhead Symphony and Opera, Post Traumatic Funk Syndrome, various jazz groups, and teaches at the International Music Camp. He was awarded the 2013 Outstanding Creative Activity Award by the NDSU College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and is an active clinician and adjudicator. He contributes to the International Trumpet Guild (ITG) in various capacities and his students have been chosen to perform at numerous ITG conferences and selected for the final round of the orchestral and youth competitions.
Dr. Brekke is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
