A native of Pittsburgh, Andy Kozar is a New York City based trumpeter and composer. A strong advocate of contemporary music, he is a member of and has performed with many ensembles in New York including, loadbang, TACTUS, Mimesis, Signal, The Andes, and Mark Gould’s Pink Baby Monster. He has performed with artists such as Dave Douglas, Todd Reynolds, Ken Thompson, Lisa Moore, Jeremiah Cymmerman, Brad Lubman, David Cossen, Caleb Burhans, Gregg August and Jason Price, premiered pieces by numerous composers including Augusta Reed Thomas and Pulitzer Prize winning composer David Lang, premiered music for the Electronic Music Foundation (EMF) and in the past two years, has had over twenty pieces written for him.Equally well versed in the traditional repertoire, he was featured as a soloist with the Pan-American Symphony and the Carnegie Mellon Baroque Orchestra, was featured in Eastman School of Music’s ‘Rising Stars’ recital, performed with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, is currently a member of New York City based orchestra Camerata Notturna and in 2003, he served as principal trumpet of the Pittsburgh Opera Center Orchestra.In addition to contemporary and traditional music, his versatility has also allowed him the opportunity to perform with the contemporary jazz Dave Rivello Ensemble, indie pop bands such as the Generationals and Emanuel and the Fear, and the Grammy Nominated Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra, with whom he played the 2008 Montreal Jazz Festival.During the summer of 2008, he spent three weeks at the Bang on a Can Festival and was seen performing regularly at MASS MoCA in addition to performing on the Bang on a Can Festivals at both MASS MoCA and in New York City. He has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Miller Theater at Columbia University, The World Financial Center, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., The Kimmel Center in Philiadelphia, and NYC contemporary/experimental music venues such as The Tank, The Flea, and John Zorn’s The Stone. He has studied with Anthony Pasquarelli, James Thompson, Brian McWhorter, Jens Lindemann and Mark Gould. In addition, he has studied at Carnegie Mellon University, holds a BM from the Eastman School of Music, a MM in contemporary performance at Manhattan School of Music and is on faculty at the Long Island Conservatory.
