Anne McNamara is the Associate Professor of Trumpet at Illinois State University where her duties involve teaching applied trumpet, conducting the trumpet ensemble and performing in the ISU faculty brass quintet. In addition to her duties at ISU, Dr. McNamara works regularly as a freelance trumpeter including recent performances with the Heartland Festival Orchestra, Athena Brass Band, Sinfonia de Camera, Fountain City Brass Band, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Louisville Orchestra and Louisville Master Chorale.
In addition to performing, Dr. McNamara is productive in terms of scholarly and creative activity. Between 2020-2024, she worked on a major research project which resulted in two articles outlining the history and qualitative experiences of non-male trumpet professors. Anne also actively pursues the commission and performance of new works such as her commission of Roy Magnuson’s “through the night, dark and drear” and “Thoughts and Prayers,” Carson Cooman’s Sonata for Flugelhorn and Piano and the adaptation of Kevin McKee’s A Winter’s Night. She is also very active as a clinician and educator giving many university and high school masterclasses each year. She also regularly presents and performs at the International Trumpet Guild Conference and the International Women’s Brass Conference. She is also actively involved in the International Trumpet Guild and served as the chair of the I.T.G. Young Artist Award Committee from 2019-2024.
Dr. McNamara earned a BM in Music Education and a Jazz Studies minor from James Madison University, a MM in Trumpet Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a DMA in Trumpet Performance from the University of Maryland. Her primary trumpet teachers include Chris Gekker, Steve Hendrickson, Dr. Michael Ewald, Ronald Romm, Tito Carrillo, and Jim Kluesner. Dr. McNamara is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
