Described by the New York Times as “the gold standard of Baroque trumpet playing in this country,” John Thiessen has appeared on period instruments as soloist and principal with Trinity Baroque, Boston Early Music Festival, Tafelmusik, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, American Bach Soloists, and Opera Lafayette. He has also performed with the Academy of Ancient Music, Taverner Players, the English Baroque Soloists and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.

Mr. Thiessen serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School’s Historical Performance Department, gives masterclasses throughout the US and Canada, and is the Executive Director of Gotham Early Music Scene, New York’s foremost advocate for early music. On modern trumpet, he has performed Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 with the San Francisco Symphony, the Bach Virtuosi Festival and the Pegasus Orchestra, and was formerly Principal Trumpet of the Toronto Pops Orchestra. Highlights this season have included Bach projects with the Handel and Haydn Society, New York’s Bach Vespers, Trinity Baroque and the Bach Virtuosi Festival, as well as Beethoven and Mozart with the American Classical Orchestra, and Handel’s Messiah in New York and Arizona. Thiessen has recorded extensively for Sony Classical Vivarte, Telarc, EMI, BMG, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, London Decca, Analekta, CBC, Tafelmusik Media and Denon, including the major works of J.S. Bach, Handel, Biber, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. A forthcoming solo recording, Music from Grace featuring 17th-century German repertoire by Schütz and Pezel, will be released soon.