Publicity Bio

• BME, University of Wisconsin-LaCross, Music Education
• MM, East Carolina University, Trumpet Performance
• DMA, University of Illinois, Major in Trumpet Performance, Minor in Wind Conducting

Dr. James Zingara is currently Professor of Trumpet at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where his responsibilities include applied trumpet and brass methods, coaching and conducting brass ensembles, performing with the UAB Faculty Brass Quintet and coordinating the annual UAB Brass Symposium. From 1998 to 2011 Dr. Zingara was Associate Professor of Music at Troy University in Troy, Alabama where he taught applied trumpet, brass methods, conducted the Troy University Trumpet Ensemble and served as Coordinator of Applied Studies. He has performed in 32 states as well as Canada, England, Denmark, Latvia, Germany, Czech Republic, China, and Singapore. From 1989-1996 he served as principal cornet/trumpet soloist with the US Air Force Heritage of America Band. Former positions include the Pensacola Symphony, Northwest Florida Symphony, National Symphonic Winds, Sinfonia da Camera, Illinois Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Cheyenne Symphony. As a chamber musician, he has performed with the UAB Faculty Brass Quintet, the Alabama Trumpet Guild Ensemble, the Chicago Chamber Brass, the University of Illinois Faculty Brass Quintet, Ensemble Screamer, the Heritage Brass and many other regional brass quintets and ensembles. His over 120 solo appearances have included professional, military, university and high school level organizations across the United States. He has recorded on the Telarc, Zephyr, Capstone and Mark labels, including a Grammy Award winning CD in 1994. His recording of modern works for trumpet entitled Textures was released on the Ravello label in March 2016, and a CD featuring new works by the UAB Chamber Trio, Many New Trails to Blaze, was released on Ravello in 2018.

Conference presentations and performances include the International Trumpet Guild Conference, College Music Society National, South, Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Northwest, Great Lakes, and South Central Regional Conferences, the Society of Composers National and Southern Conferences, the National Association of Wind and Percussion Instructors National Conference, the International Clarinet Association International Conference, and the state music conferences in Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maryland. He has served as President of the Alabama Music Educators Association (AMEA) Higher Education Division and is currently President of the Alabama Trumpet Guild.

Dr. Zingara holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, East Carolina University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in trumpet performance with a minor in wind conducting from the University of Illinois. His principal teachers include Michael Ewald, John Aley, Britton Theurer, Manny Laureano, Charles Schlueter, and David Baldwin. Dr. Zingara represents Conn-Selmer, Inc. as an endorsing artist for Bach trumpets and cornets.

As a conductor, Dr. Zingara has conducted the Music South Symphony, Tri-State Community Orchestra, The University of Illinois Symphonic Band I and Concert Band II, the UAB Wind Symphony and Symphony Band, and The Troy University Chamber Winds. He has studied conducting and score study with James Keene, Col. Lowell E. Graham, Scott Carter and Duilio Dobrin. Collegiate and civic trumpet ensembles under his direction have performed a total of nine world premiere works at the 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 International Trumpet Guild Conferences.

Publications have included articles and reviews in the International Trumpet Guild Journal, Teaching Music, The National Association of College Wind and Percussion Teachers Journal, The Canadian Band Journal and Ala Breve. A book of arranged duets for various instruments entitled Just for Two: Short Melodic Duets, Volume 1 was published in 2016 through Eighth Note Publications. Honors include the A.A. Harding and Mark Hindsley Band Awards from the University of Illinois, membership in the Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Kappa Lambda academic honors fraternities, the Phi Kappa Phi 2009 Troy University Artist Award and the United States Air Force Commendation Medal.