Andy Kozar
A native of Pittsburgh, Andy Kozar is a New York City based trumpeter, improviser, composer and educator that has been called a "star soloist" by TimeOutNY, noted for his "precise trumpeting" by New York Classical Review and has been said to be "agile as he navigated leaps and slurs with grace...he shifted between lyricism and aggression deftly" by the International Trumpet Guild Journal. A strong advocate of contemporary music, he is a founding member of the contemporary music quartet loadbang which has been called "inventive" by the New York Times, "cultivated" by The New Yorker, and "a formidable new-music force" by TimeOutNY. He is also a member the Byrne:KozarDuo, and has performed with new music ensembles including Bang on a Can, Ensemble Signal, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. He has worked closely with leading composers including Helmut Lachenmann, Christian Wolff, Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away), George Lewis, Chaya Czernowin, and Pulitzer Prize winning composers David Lang and Charles Wuorinen. Kozar has performed at venues both domestically and abroad including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, MoMA, Rothko Chapel, The Barclays Center, and Shanghai Symphony Hall. Andy is on trumpet faculty at Hunter College in New York City as well as the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Boston and is a Yamaha Performing Artist and exclusively performs on Yamaha trumpets.