Paul Neebe, The Budafok Dohnáyi Orchestra, Thomas Bithell & Mladen Tarbuk
Biography Paul Neebe, The Budafok Dohnáyi Orchestra, Thomas Bithell & Mladen Tarbuk
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.
Mladen Tarbuk
is one of the most versatile composers and conductors of his generation. He has conducted many prestigious symphony orchestras and opera companies, including the Hungarian State Opera, Teatro Verdi Trieste, the Prague State Opera, the Nordic Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Wien Concert-Verein Orchestra, the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Slovenian Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, the Hungarian Radio and Television Orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestra of the State Mexico, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Prague State Opera, and at the National Music Festival in Chestertown MD. From 2004–2009 he worked regularly at the Opera at Rhine in Düsseldorf as a guest conductor, conducting a large repertoire including An Abduction from Seraglio, Il Trittico, and La Wally. In 2013–2014 he was music director and in 2014–2017 general artistic director at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. From 2002–2005 he was the general director of Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.
Thomas A. Bithell
is a professional trumpet player whose career spans both decades and continents. Bithell earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Graduate Performance degrees in music from the New England Conservatory in Boston MA and the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore MD. He was privileged to be taught by several renowned artists including Charlie Schlueter and Timothy Morrison from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Josef Burgstaller from the Canadian Brass Quintet, Edward Hoffman from the Baltimore Symphony, and Steve Hendrickson from the National Symphony Orchestra. A longtime member of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra in Virginia, Bithell also plays with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. In July 2022, Bithell traveled with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra to Spain to perform concerts in Madrid, Valencia, Zaragoza, and Granada.
The Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra
is Hungary’s most dynamic and versatile symphony orchestra, supported by the Municipality of Budafok-Tétény (22nd District of Budapest). It was turned into a professional orchestra in 1993 and gained recognition on the Hungarian and international music scene, becoming a top classical music ensemble in a relatively short time span under the baton of Liszt Award-winning conductor, Artist of Merit, Maestro Gábor Hollerung.
