The University of Arkansas' Music Monday series continues at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall Monday night with Cory Mixdorf, trombonist and professor of trombone, and pianist Miroslava Panayotova. Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani spoke with Cory Mixdorf ahead of his performance about why he chose the trombone as an instrument and the balance of education and performance in his career.
University of Arkansas professor and trombonist Cory Mixdorf says when he first began playing music, he was more interested in the trumpet or the drums. But fate had other plans.
"I was in fifth grade, and they had the instruments all set out, and you try a little bit on each one, and the band director tells you which one. Either which one he thinks you'll be best at or which one he needs more players in. But I remember trying really hard on the trumpet and the drums because that's really what I wanted to do. But he saw a skill in trombone, and I've been doing it ever since."
Mixdorf is originally from Iowa and went to the University of Northern Iowa for his undergraduate degree. At the time, he says, his focus was on jazz performance.
"I kind of wanted to be like the next J.J. Johnson, who's a big jazz trombone player. So University of Northern Iowa had an incredible jazz program, and I did well there. But also I was in a history class where they introduced a recording of Berlioz's 'Symphonie Fantastique,' and I heard the trombones in that, and I was just like, 'I really need to do that. That's pretty awesome.'
"At the same time, there were skills being developed in jazz that I just didn't have the heart for. So this shift sort of came naturally at that time."
That shift away from jazz included a brief stint touring with a group called the Mr. Jack Daniel's Silver Cornet Band before pursuing his master's and doctorate at Indiana University. Throughout this time, Mixdorf says, he didn't necessarily have teaching in mind.
"And it kind of all came to a head at the end of my doctoral career when I was offered a fellowship to play with the New World Symphony. It's a training orchestra in Miami, a very prestigious group. But at the same time, I had applied for and received a position of assistant professor of trombone at Georgia State University in Atlanta. So I had these two. It was either sort of performance or teaching.
"And at the time I had a wife and a child and one had benefits and a good salary. The teaching position. And the performance position was, they gave you housing, but it was sort of like a little one-bedroom apartment. And for the family, it was the better choice. But I also felt kind of within my own being that was the better choice.
"And it proved to be true because not only do I have a really deep love for teaching and affecting and impacting students, but as a college teacher, especially at a Research 1 institution, I'm not only encouraged, but basically required to keep performing and develop a career on this side of my profession, so it's great I get to do both."
Mixdorf says he appreciates the loud, boisterous sounds of the trombone, but he prefers what he calls the lyrical side.
"The part of the instrument that can just play a pretty melody. And the trombone typically isn't known for that. We don't get all the pretty solos. And in the orchestra, and even in movie soundtracks, those are given to obviously violins, woodwinds, maybe a French horn if you're playing a John Williams score.
"Lately, when I say lately, I mean the last half a century, composers have written more for the trombone and seen that ability of the instrument, and I've fortunately been involved in a couple commissions for solo pieces that really milked that side of the instrument. What I really love to share with people is melody making in a sweet timbre that people don't think about when they think about trombone."
Mixdorf will be performing alongside University of Arkansas assistant professor and pianist Miroslava Panayotova this coming Monday, starting at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Music Monday series at the University of Arkansas. He says the performance will be right after they return from a weeklong recital tour.
"Essentially six recitals in five days in around the southeast United States, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. And so we'll just be fresh off of that tour. So if the music isn't prepared by then, it never will be. So we should feel comfortable with it then.
"A lot of people, when they form a list of repertoire for recitals, they make a theme that interconnects all the pieces. And I don't know if these people think of the theme first and then the pieces, or they think about the theme as the pieces come together. For me, I've had the same theme for every recital, and that's stuff I want to play, things that I think people will want to listen to.
"So I've had a lot of family members that weren't necessarily classically trained. But they love what they call 'toe tappers,' pieces of music that can relate to. And so I really try to craft recitals that are able to display my abilities on the trombone, but also can connect with people with every piece and not just one or two pieces."
Cory Mixdorf and Miroslava Panayotova are frequent collaborators and friends, and he looks forward to both their tours and music.
"Monday performance, pianist Dr. Panayotova will be coming with me, so that'll be fun collaborating for the music, but also just as friends. A lot of times we say the hang is the most fun part. But of course, I love sharing music and hoping to impact people in some way with that."
Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani, speaking with University of Arkansas trombone professor Cory Mixdorf about his Music Monday performance in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the University of Arkansas. This approaching Monday night, music scheduled to begin at 7:30. Interspersed in this interview was the song "Bright and Dark," performed by Cory Mixdorf and University of Arkansas assistant professor and pianist Miroslava Panayotova. It was recorded as part of their collaborative album "Songs and Elegies," recorded in January 2022.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
