Fred Mills

Who was Fred Mills?

Fred Mills was University of Georgia music professor from 1996–2009, and a 1992 Grammy nominee who made more than 40 records as a trumpeter with the Canadian Brass quintet from 1972-1996.

He also played solo, first-chair trumpet with the American Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, the New York City Opera Orchestra, the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, the National Arts Center Orchestra of Canada, the Casals Festival Orchestra in Puerto Rico and others, according to a biography from the University of Georgia.

He attended the Juilliard School of Music and held honorary doctorates from the New England Conservatory in Boston and Hartwick College.

The Canadian Brass ensemble performed hundreds of his arrangements including Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, which appeared on the album The Pachelbel Canon and Other Great Baroque Hits, released in 1980.

On September 7, 2009, Mills was killed in a car crash in Walton County, about 45 miles east of Atlanta. Mills was driving to his Athens home from Atlanta’s airport after a trip to Quincinetto Italy where he was a soloist at the Pentabrass Festival.