Brazilian trumpeter Dorival Puccini, Jr. is an active soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and educator.  Mr. Puccini has been a member of the Orquestra Sinfônica de Santo André, the Amazonas Filarmônica, and the West Shore Symphony in Muskegon, Michigan.  He has performed as acting second trumpet with the Palm Beach Opera for the 2005-06 season and is an active guest musician with the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and the Santo Domingo Festival Orchestra.  In addition, Mr. Puccini has performed with the New World Symphony and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Municipal de São Paulo.  He has performed with world-renowned conductors such as Charles Dutoit, James DePriest, Gerard Schwarz, James Conlon, John Adams, David Lockington, and Roberto Minczuk.

Mr. Puccini is a founding member of the Axiom Brass, and is a former member of the Grand Valley State University faculty brass quintet in Allendale, Michigan.  He has performed with the Brazilian Brass, and the Amazon Brass.  Mr. Puccini has recorded Shadowcatcher by composer Eric Ewazen with the Avatar Brass and the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Wind Ensemble, and has recently recorded a CD of compositions by Kurt Ellenberger with the Avatar Brass and the GVSU Trumpet Ensemble.  Mr. Puccini was a prizewinner of the 2002 International Trumpet Guild Orchestra Competition and winner of the Grand Valley Symphony Concerto Competition.

As an educator, Mr. Puccini has served as brass coordinator and trumpet teacher of the Projeto Gurí, a governmental social project dedicated to teaching music to underprivileged teenagers in São Paulo.  He is currently on faculty at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and has recently been appointed to the music faculty at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.  Mr. Puccini also serves as director and artist faculty at the Axiom Brass Summer Seminar.  Prior to joining the Faculty at Hope College, Mr. Puccini taught at Grand Valley State University where he was also the co-founder and associate director of the GVSU International Trumpet Summer Seminar.

Mr. Puccini holds a Bachelors degree in Music from Grand Valley State University, a Masters degree in Music Performance from the Juilliard School of Music, and is currently working towards his Doctorate of Musical Arts at Michigan State University, under the mentorship of Michael Bowman.  He has studied with trumpet teachers Harold Paladino, former solo trumpet of the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de São Paulo; Mark Gould, former principal trumpet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York; and with international trumpet soloist Stephen Burns.  Mr. Puccini currently lives in Chicago, Illinois with his wife, violinist Rachelle Perrin and his Chocolate Labrador, Godiva. During his free time, he enjoys cooking with Rachelle and teaching Godiva the art of soccer goal keeping.