2025 Arkansas Trombone Workshop

Timothy Higgins was appointed to the position of Principal Trombone of the San Francisco Symphony by Michael Tilson Thomas in 2008. He was previously the acting Second Trombonist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC.  Mr. Higgins, a Houston native, has a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from Northwestern University and has performed with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Music of the Baroque, Aspen Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Sun Valley Summer Symphony and Washington National Opera.  His principal teachers have been Michael Mulcahy (Chicago Symphony), Michael Warny (Houston Grand Opera), and Royce Landon (Des Moines, Iowa).

In tandem with a busy orchestra career, Timothy Higgins is a sought after composer and arranger.  He was the sole arranger of the National Brass Ensemble’s Gabrieli recording. In November 2021, Tim composed and premiered as soloist in his Concerto for Trombone with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. Additional arrangements and compositions have been programmed by the San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Steamboat Springs Strings Festival and numerous university brass ensembles. Tim’s compositions have been commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony, American Brass Quintet, international tuba soloist Sergio Carolino, and Music City Brass Ensemble. He was the composer in residence at Music Academy of the West in 2018, debuting a piece for chamber ensemble and voice featuring Deborah Voigt. His arrangements and original compositions are available through his publishing company, 415Music, established in 2014.

As a teacher, Timothy is currently on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and has been a faculty member of Northwestern University, the Pokorny Seminar since 2012, the Aspen Music Festival since 2018 and the Pacific Music Festival. He has led masterclasses in Australia, China, Canada, Japan and the United States, including classes at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, the New World Symphony, Vanderbilt University, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School of Music.

In 2005, Timothy won the Robert Marsteller Solo trombone competition, as well as the ITA Trombone Quartet competition with CT3.  While attending the Tanglewood Music Center, Mr. Higgins was awarded the Grace B. Upton Award for Outstanding Fellow. 

In 2013, Timothy released his solo CD, Stage Left, which can be found here. Recent albums include two self-produced recordings from 2020 in his Underground series.

Timothy Higgins is a Bach Artist and an Ultimate Brass Artist.

Bradley Kerns joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky in the fall of 2011.
As a soloist, Brad has performed on multiple occasions at the Eastern Trombone Workshop, the International Trombone Festival, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Great American Brass Band Festival, the Jazz Education Network Conference, the Moscow Brass Days, the Brazilian Trombone Association Conference, the state education conferences of Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, the Art College of Inner Mongolia, and the DIA T Festival in Recife, Brazil to name a few.
As an educator, Brad has taught and given masterclasses at institutions such as the Conservatorio Pernambucano de Musica (Recife, Brazil), the Moscow Conservatory, the St. Petersburg Academy of Music, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas State University, Morehead State University, the Art College of Inner Mongolia, the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Oberlin Conservatory, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Wright State University, Appalachian State University, and the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts.
Brad has been involved in nearly thirty recording projects under multiple recording labels and has performed for programs such as National Geographic, the BBC England and WRFL Lexington. His recently released solo recordings – Song Cycle, ReUnion, The Whistler and His Dog, Conversations, and Rising Sun – can be found on all major digital distribution websites such as iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc. Additionally, Brad can be heard as lead trombone on Wycliffe Gordon’s latest album, Somebody New (Wycliffe Gordon with the DiMarino/Osland Jazz Orchestra). He is a founding member of the Momus Trombone Quartet whose debut album, The Lexingport Project, remains one of the top-selling trombone quartet albums in the world.
Professor Kerns received a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from the University of Kentucky while studying with Dale Warren and a Master of Music Degree from Boston University while studying with Scott Hartman. Brad is an Edwards Instruments and Pickett Brass Performing Artist.
He currently resides in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife, Katie, their two sons, Charley and Simon, and two dogs, Sydney and June.

Dr. Cory Mixdorf is thrilled to be a part of the distinguished faculty at the University of Arkansas. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa as well as Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees in trombone performance from Indiana University.

While maintaining a strong studio, Dr. Mixdorf sustains a regular schedule as a guest artist and clinician on the national and international levels. In addition to frequent solo recital tours, his most recent endeavors include: recording his first solo album, “Songs and Elegies,” performing at the 2021 and 2022 International Trombone Festivals, recurring performances at the American Trombone Workshop, touring Germany and recording a CD with the brass ensemble, Eurobrass and traveling to the Universidade de Brasilia where he was invited to solo with the Trombones Sociedade Anônima and give a master class to the University’s trombone students. Dr. Mixdorf was also fortunate to have been selected as a fellow in the 2011 Alessi Seminar in Tuscaloosa, AL. Dr. Mixdorf is also a member of the Blue Ridge Trombone Quartet, a group that tours frequently and has most recently performed Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse with the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” at the 2019 American Trombone Workshop in Washington D.C.

Outside of his collegiate duties, Dr. Mixdorf enjoys performing with several area ensembles. He is the current Principal Trombonist of the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, the Second Trombonist with the Fort Smith Symphony, and plays regularly with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. Before coming to Arkansas, he served as the Acting Second Trombonist with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra and has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra Augusta, the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra and the Georgia Brass Band, a group with which he recorded the album, A Christmas Festival.

While attending Indiana University, he held the positions of Principal and Second Trombone in the Columbus, IN Philharmonic from 2006-2009. Other orchestral experience includes performances with the New World Symphony in Miami, FL, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra and Evansville Philharmonic. He has appeared as a soloist with the Indiana University Symphonic Band where he performed Richard Peaslee’s Arrows of Time. Dr. Mixdorf has also toured with the Mr. Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band.

Before his appointment at the University of Arkansas, Dr. Mixdorf served as Assistant Professor of Trombone at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA, adjunct instructor of brass at Vincennes University, associate instructor at Indiana University, and adjunct instructor of trombone at St. Ambrose University.

His principal teachers include Peter Ellefson, M. Dee Stewart, Nancy Vogt, D. Paul Pollard, Bruce Tychinski and Brad Edwards. Dr. Mixdorf is a Greenhoe Performing Artist.

When not playing trombone, Dr. Mixdorf spends every minute possible with his beloved wife Elizabeth and children, Miles, Madelyn, Mason, Meyer, and Montgomery.