Trumpeter Dorival Puccini, Jr. is an active soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and educator. Dorival is a member of the Santo Domingo Festival Orchestra, the Camerata Colonial de Santo Domingo, and a former member the Orquestra Sinfônica de Santo André, and the Amazonas Filarmônica. He has performed with the Palm Beach Opera and is an active guest musician with the Grand Rapids Symphony. In addition, Dorival has performed with the New World Symphony and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Municipal de São Paulo and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado 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. In 2014, Dorival made his China Debut as a soloist, performing the Haydn Trumpet Concerto with the Shenzhen Grand Theater Philharmonic under the baton of maestro Hongjia Cui.

Founder of the award winning Axiom Brass, his interest in chamber music has led him to contribute several musical translations for brass quintet specially written for the Axiom Brass. His works have been performed across the U.S. as well as in Europe and Asia. Dorival has co-produced all of Axiom Brass’ albums including New Standards, First Impressions, and Astor; the later including ten of his musical translations of Piazzolla’s compositions. Dorival is also actively involved in creating new educational programs and new collaborations for Axiom while playing a significant role in the ensembles administration and artistic development. As a proponent of chamber music, Dorival has commissioned and premiered dozens of new works for brass and is the founder and chief-editor of Brass Legacy, a publication and commissioning consortium entirely dedicated to Brass Chamber Art Music.

As a chamber musician, Dorival has also performed with the Brazilian Brass, the Amazon Brass and Metal Mania. He has recorded Shadowcatcher by composer Eric Ewazen with the Avatar Brass and the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Wind Ensemble, and also recorded a CD of compositions by Kurt Ellenberger with the Avatar Brass and the GVSU Trumpet Ensemble. Dorival was a prizewinner of the 2002 International Trumpet Guild Orchestra Competition and winner of the Grand Valley Symphony Concerto Competition.

As an educator, Dorival enjoys teaching dozens of masterclasses, clinics, and lectures every year as a guest artists at institutions all over the country. Dorival has served as director and artist faculty at the Axiom Brass Summer Academy, and was on the artist faculty of the National Brass Symposium. His teaching career began as brass coordinator and trumpet teacher of the Projeto Guri, a governmental social project dedicated to teaching music to underprivileged teenagers in São Paulo. He has held teaching positions at Lake Forest College, Hope College, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and Grand Valley State University where he was also the co-founder and associate director of the GVSU International Trumpet Summer Seminar. In 2015 Dorival released the first complete video-recording set of performances and clinics of the Fourteen Characteristic Studies by Jean Bapitiste Arban available on YouTube, and is currently recoding the entire Arban book as a reference recording for students, with over 100 recordings already available on Instagram.

Dorival holds a Bachelors degree in Music from Grand Valley State University, a Masters degree in Music Performance from the Juilliard School of Music, and a Doctoral degree from Michigan State University. He has studied with trumpet teachers Haroldo Paladino, Mark Gould, Michael Bowman, Richard Stoelzel and Stephen Burns.

Dorival currently lives in Evanston, Illinois with his wife, violinist Rachelle Puccini, his daughter Valentina and his tinny Great Dane, Bela. During his free time, he enjoys cooking and cycling with Rachelle, teaching Bela how to talk, and watching Valentina smile.

Dorival is a Bach Artist and performs exclusively on Bach Trumpets and Mutec Mutes.

Characteristic Study n.1 by J. B. Arban

Characteristic Study n.2 by J. B. Arban

Characteristic Study n.3 by J. B. Arban

Characteristic Study n.4 by J. B. Arban

Characteristic Study n.5 by J. B. Arban

Characteristic Study n.6 by J. B. Arban

Characteristic Study n.7 by J. B. Arban

Characteristic Study n.8 by J. B. Arban

Characteristic Study n.9 by J. B. Arban

Characteristic Study n.10 by J. B. Arban

Characteristic Study n.11 by J. B. Arban