Brass Area Faculty

Dr. Zachary Cooper is a dedicated performer and educator and he is passionate about cultivating the next generation of musicians. Cooper’s devotion to teaching horn has shaped the careers of numerous students, many of whom have earned scholarships to renowned universities and conservatories across the United States. His guidance has led students to successful careers as both educators and performers, reflecting his commitment to nurturing talent and fostering excellence. 

Cooper is newly appointed principal horn of the Carmel Symphony Orchestra and he has recently performed as guest principal with the Richmond (IN) Symphony and Evansville Philharmonic. His orchestral journey commenced at an early age, with notable performances alongside orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra (UK) and the Orlando Philharmonic when he was 16. At the age of 19, he won his first audition as second horn with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, marking the beginning of a flourishing career. His rich orchestral background includes positions as principal horn in the Missoula Symphony, associate principal horn in the Helena Symphony, and a multitude of performances with more than two dozen orchestras, including the Dayton Philharmonic, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Opera, Memphis Symphony, and Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico, to name a few. Highlights of his performance career to date include performing Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings with the String Orchestra of the Rockies, the Corno Obligato for the Scherzo of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 with the Glacier Symphony, and performing alongside musical acts like Mannheim Steamroller.

An avid chamber musician, Cooper is a founding member of several chamber groups, including Entropy, a horn and trombone duo in collaboration with Dr. Nathan Dishman, and Cooper Duo, a horn and flute duo in collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Cooper. Most recently, Cooper has focused his scholarly research on commissioning new works to increase the horn repertoire with an emphasis on supporting minority and BIPOC composers, either as the sole commissioner or by joining commissioning consortiums. New works supported by his efforts include Sonata for horn and piano (Anthony Plog), Sure-Fire for horn and wind ensemble (Catherine Likhuta), El Viaje for horn ensemble (Aliyah Danielle), One More Mountain for horn, trombone, and piano (Amy Riebs Mills), Entropy for horn and trombone (Austin Hammonds), Wunlit for solo horn (Shawn Okpebholo), Passages for flute, horn, and piano (Paul Basler), become/decay for flute and horn (Tyler Kline), and The Final Battle Cry for solo horn (Alexis Carrier). Cooper  has presented lectures and performances at the International Horn Symposium, International Women’s Brass Conference, National Flute Association Convention, Southeast Horn Workshop, and Northwest Horn Symposium, to name a few.  

Cooper’s academic journey has been marked by significant achievements, including being named to his current position as Assistant Professor of Horn and Music Theory and Coordinator of Brass at Butler University. Previously, Cooper was a tenured professor at the University of Montana where he worked for eight years as Chair of Music Theory and Chair of Brass and Percussion and received recognition as a Student Wellness Advocate.  He has served in leadership roles for several organizations in the horn world. Cooper was three times elected by the membership to serve on the board of  the Northwest Horn Society, as President (2023 until moving away from the region) and twice as Secretary (2023-2020, 2020-2017). He also served the International Horn Society as the State Representative of Montana.

Cooper holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Florida State University. He studied under the mentorship of esteemed teachers such as Dr. William Capps, Duane Dugger, Randy Gardner, and William C. Robinson, the founder of the International Horn Society.

JARED RODIN came to Indiana from Chicago, where he had been a student of Frank Crisafulli and Arnold Jacobs to earn the MM degree from Indiana University,studying with Keith Brown and Lewis Van Haney. He earned his BM from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale under the tutelage of Gene Stiman, William E.Bootz and Mel Jernigan of the St. Louis Symphony. Jared also counts Michael Mulcahy and Charlie Vernon as mentors.

Active as a clinician and soloist, Jared has commissioned and premiered many works for the bass trombone including “Morph” (1993 Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra) by Ken Kugler, “”DIAX, in Two Parts” (2008) by Frank Glover, “Beneath the Surface”(1997) by Steve Allee and another “Concerto” (1998) by Stan Adams. Jared has presented concerts of music for trombone and strings with the Indianapolis String Quartet at the Indianapolis Arts Garden. He has presented concerts and been clinician at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory, University of New Mexico, Hochscule fur Musik in Trossingen, Germany and Northwestern University and Indiana University.

A faculty member of The International Trombone Camp, held periodically in the province of Cuneo, Italy and other locations, Jared has performed as Guest Artist in recital and with notable trombonists Joseph Alessi, Ronald Barron,Joseph Burnam, Abbie Conant, Stuart Dempster, Jay Friedman, Michael Mulcahy,Charles Vernon and Jiggs Whigham.

Additional works have been premiered in Europe including “Remembrance” and “Welcome to the Skeleton Circus” by Frank Glover, and others with the Seraphim Trombone Quartetat the A-DEvantgarde Festival in Munich, Germany. Another work, “Adrenaline”,by William Kleinsasser was performed at the 2005 Florida Electro-AcousticFestival.

Principal Trombonist of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Jared was also Acting Bass Trombone with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 2008-16. He also appears with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Utah Symphony Orchestra and the Alabama Symphony as well as regional orchestras including the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. He has been appearing with Chicago’s “Music of the Baroque” since 1999 and with the Grand Teton Music Festival since 2008. He was also bass trombonist with Italian National Radio Symphony in Turin, Italy for two seasons.

Aversatile musician, Jared just completed a run with Disney Theatrical’s “TheLion King” in Mexico City and has performed with artists diverse as Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole, The Who, and Gladys Knight and the Pips. Jared can beheard on the Telarc, Musical Heritage Society, Steinway & Sons, Liscio,Archaeus, Delos, Fonit Cetra, Friggemall, Sea Breeze Jazz and Monarch Jazzlabels.

Jaredis Adjunct Professor of Trombone at Butler University, having held similar positions at Ball State and Purdue Universities. Jared has been guest lecturer at Beinen School of Music, Northwestern University 2000-01 and, as a sabbatical replacement, at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University in 2004, 2011, 2014/15 and 2016/17.

Jaredis a principal in Wood & Rodin, Inc., a musical services company, that assists clients in the publishing industry, individual artists and other entertainment entities through the performance and recording process with budgeting, scheduling, talent management and payroll and other functionary responsibilities.

Allen Miller, trumpet

Allen Miller is a lifelong Indiana resident of Indiana.

Allen has taught at Butler since 1999 and has also taught at the University of Indianapolis, Indiana State University, and the Indianapolis Center for the Performing Arts.

Allen Is currently the assistant principal/third/utility trumpet of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.  He has performed with the ISO in various capacities for many years.  He is a frequent guest performer with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra as well as regional orchestras at Fort Wayne, Richmond, Marion, Terre Haute, Lafayette, and others

He has appeared as a guest soloist with the ISO, several regional orchestras, college bands and orchestras, high school bands, community ensembles, the Indiana Pacers and the Indianapolis Colts. He plays principal trumpet on many Philharmonia a Vént recordings. He has also recorded with the ISO, Indiana Brass, Keynote Brass, the Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra, the Chamber Brass Choir, Gaither Studios, Hal Leonard Publishing, and many others.

On the jazz scene, Allen has performed with many big bands including the Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra, Steve Allee, Jim Edison, Al Cobine, and others.

Allen has played for numerous Broadway musicals, operas, ballets and festival orchestras.

Mr. Miller has performed with hundreds of commercial artists such as Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, Mannheim Steamroller, Dennis DeYoung, Barry Manilow, The Four Tops, TheTemptations, Frankie Valli, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, The Spinners, Idena Menzel, Liza Minnelli, Leslie Odum Jr., and Sandi Patty.

Allen also performs with several brass chamber ensembles including  Indiana Brass, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Brass Quartet, Keynote Brass, and Chamber Brass Choir.

Allen and his wife, Debbie, live in Greenwood and have three children and two grandchildren.

(317) 940-3056(office)    (317)340-7563 (cell)
admiller@butler.edu

Anthony Kniffen’s first professional orchestral experience, at age 18, was playing Principal Tuba in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Georg Solti as part of their tuba audition process in 1988.  A year later he joined the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and was subsequently appointed Principal Tuba of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in September 1997.  His teachers have included Daniel Perantoni and Harvey Phillips, both at Indiana University, Gene Pokorny and Arnold Jacobs of the Chicago Symphony, Robert Tucci, of the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra and Floyd Cooley, of the San Francisco Symphony.

Playing along with such diverse groups as folk artists The Makaha Sons of Ni’ihau in Hawaii to the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra here in Indianapolis, Mr. Kniffen has also performed with the Saint Louis, Minnesota, Detroit and New Mexico symphony orchestras and recorded numerous discs with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.  He has toured the U.S. extensively with Summit Brass and in Japan with Sierra Brass.  He has won four concerto competitions and appeared as soloist with the Honolulu and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras. Other solo appearances include regional and international tuba conferences and colleges, including his alma mater, Indiana University.  A highlight of Mr. Kniffen’s career was performing the John Williams Tuba Concerto on an ISO Classical Series Concert under the baton of Mario Venzago in February of 2008.

Mr. Kniffen is the ‘play-along’ tuba player on a Hal Leonard educational project called, “Essential Elements 2000," and can also be heard on a tribute CD to jazz legend David Baker, "Basically Baker" (volume one), and on "CSO Resound:  The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass Section Live."  Along with recordings of the Indianapolis Symphony, Mr. Kniffen can also be heard on a five recordings with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

His teaching career began at the University of Hawai’i and for a time here at the University of Indianapolis.  A great honor has been to fill in for sabbaticals at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and several times for his mentor, Dan Peranatoni at IU.  In the fall of 2018, he gladly filled in for the semester at Ball State for his friend and colleague, Matt Lyon.  Most recently, he travelled to Hokkaido, Japan for their prestigious annual euphonium/tuba workshop.

He is devoted to his lovely wife, ISO violist Amy Kniffen, their children, and their church, and is proud of having recently completely remodeled their master bathroom mostly by himself learning from Youtube videos.