Dr. Donny Albrecht enjoys an active career balancing his love of teaching and performing as a freelance trumpet player in the Washington, DC, area. Dr. Albrecht is the professor of trumpet at Frostburg State University, where he teaches jazz and classical trumpet. He has held teaching positions at several musical institutions over his 15 - year teaching career. Dr. Albrecht's students have gone on to many careers as professional musicians and attended several top colleges and universities. Dr. Albrecht is a member of the Local 161 - 710 Musicians Union where he can be heard playing at various theaters and performance locations around the DMV.
Dr. Albrecht has had the privilege of freelancing all over the US, performing with groups at the Kennedy Center, Schleshinger Hall, Katzen Center for the Arts, Boston Symphony Hall, Kupferberg Center for the Arts, Mondavi Center, Krannert Center, Beantown Performance Center, Murchison Performing Arts Center, JEN Conference, NTC Conference, Red clay Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Bean Town Jazz Festival, Notre Dame Latin Jazz Festival, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Louis Armstrong Museum, and others. Dr. Albrecht has performed at several jazz clubs like Blue Note Nappa, Blues Alley, Mr. Henry's, Ryles Jazz Club, Scullers Jazz Club, Wally's Café, The Beehive, Scat Jazz Lounge, Jazz UpFront, The Canopy Club, and others.
Dr. Albrecht is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. At Berklee, he studied with Charlie Lewis and Lin Biviano. Upon leaving Berklee, Dr. Albrecht moved to study with Jay Saunders at the University of North Texas. Dr. Albrecht continued his musical studies in New York City, attending the Aaron Copland School of Music under the tutelage of Michael Philip Mossman with additional studies with Tony Kadleck and Nick Marchione. Upon graduating with his Master's in Music from Aaron Copland School of Music, he would earn his Doctoral Music degree at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign under Tito Carrillo, Ronald Romm, and Charles Daval. Dr. Albrecht would also start to study with Bobby Shew at this time.
Dr. Albrecht's dissertation entitled: Lead Trumpet Style: A Stylistic Analysis of Modern Lead Trumpet Playing through the Examination of Five Prominent Lead Trumpet Players features the stylistic analysis and interviews of Wayne Bergeron, Tanya Darby, Jon Faddis, Tony Kadleck, and Bobby Shew.
