Andrew Millat, M.M.
Applied Trombone
Contact: amillat2445@wowway.com
Andrew Millat, Principal Trombonist of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, has taken a colorful and eclectic route to his present position. His varied experiences and training in jazz, rock, chamber music, and military band, as well as the symphonic field, have prepared him to perform the wide variety of styles in the CSO's concert schedule.
His musical training began in Dayton, Ohio, where he played trombone in the school band, starting in the seventh grade. After graduation from Oakwood High School, he worked as a machinist trainee in his father's precision machining shop for a year before starting college at Washington University in St. Louis. During his two years in St. Louis, he gained his first orchestral experience as co-principal trombone of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, under the baton of Leonard Slatkin.
After transferring to the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music in 1974, he began an intense interest in jazz that was to occupy him for the next five years. He graduated from CCM in 1977 with a degree in Jazz and Studio Music. Though he was to retain an abiding love for jazz, he eventually felt the need for more academic training, continuing his trombone studies with Buddy Baker, at the University of Northern Colorado, from which he graduated in 1981 with a Master of Music degree.
During the period from 1981 to 1987, he gained experience in virtually every genre as an enlisted professional musician in the United States Air Force Academy Band in Colorado Springs. When the opportunity came to audition for the orchestra in his hometown, he made the transition back to civilian life, being named Principal Trombone of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra in 1987. Between 1987 and 1990, he was also a member of the highly acclaimed, award-winning Carillon Brass Quintet.
In 1990, he won the audition for Principal Trombone of the CSO. His teachers include Tony Chipurn, John Daley, Buddy Baker, Paul Piller, Bernard Schneider, and John Rieger.
He is on the faculty of Otterbein College and Cedarville University, and has an active private teaching studio. He has appeared as soloist three times with the CSO, as well as the Air Force Academy Band, the Yellow Springs Community Orchestra, and the University of Northern Colorado Orchestra. He lives in Hilliard with his wife, Bette, a teacher, and they have three grown children.
