Carole Dawn Reinhart

Session: Carole Dawn Reinhart – “I Met a Girl” (with Wendy Matthews)

Carole Dawn Reinhart is recognized as one of the world’s outstanding trumpet soloists, acclaimed not only for her technical ability, but also for tone quality and interpretation.

Miss Reinhart was born in Roselle, New Jersey on Dec. 20th, 1941, a Christmas carol born at dawn. It was only natural that her mother, who played trombone, should begin teaching her daughter on the slide cornet at the tender age of two and a half. By the time Carole was 7, she was playing duets in concert with her older brother, who was an accomplished trumpeter.

At age 10, she received a scholarship to study with Edward Treutel at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. As well as being first chair in New Jersey All-State Band and Orchestra during high school, she was chosen as a soloist for the Juilliard Preparatory Division graduation concert.

At age 16, she was commissioned as the youngest and only woman bandmaster in the Salvation Army. Her first international appearance was as guest soloist and conductor at a youth congress in Toronto, Canada.

After graduating from high school, she received a symphony orchestra scholarship to the University of Miami, where she worked under Fabian Sevitzky and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Representing her university in a competition combining beauty and brains, Carole became the “1960 National College Queen”.

A Fulbright scholarship took her to study with Helmut Wobisch in Vienna, Austria, where she was the first woman on a brass instrument to achieve the coveted “Reifezeugnis” with honors at the Academy of Music.

Carole then returned to New York to complete her education at the Juilliard School of Music. She was first trumpet in the Juilliard Orchestra under Jean Morel, and received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Science degrees.

Along with playing in the orchestra at Radio City Music Hall and in Leopold Stokowski’s American Symphony Orchestra, Carole continued her solo appearances with high school and college bands and various orchestras, including the Utah Symphony in Salt Lake City under the direction of Maurice Abravanel. She also did numerous TV shows including the “Tonight Show”, the “Mike Douglas Show” and several Al Hirt “Fanfare” shows, where in addition to her solos, she played duets with Al Hirt.

In 1971, Carole moved to Berlin, Germany where she did studio work, filled in as first trumpeter at the “Deutsche Oper”, and continued her solo performances on television and with symphony and chamber orchestras. She made records for Deutsche Grammophon and BASF with the Munich Philharmonic, German Bach Soloists, Amsterdam Chamber Orchestra and Wuerttemberg Chamber Orchestra, along with numerous radio recordings. Her concert tours have taken her throughout Europe, the Orient, Middle East, Africa, naturally the United States and Canada, and Australia, where she played Haydn’s “Concerto” with the Australian Symphony in Melbourne at a live-telecast open air concert with an audience of over 100,000 in a natural amphitheater. Other special concerts included one at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece where Marie José, the last Queen of Italy, was in attendance, and a charity concert hosted at Castle Hohenzollern in Germany by Prince Louis Ferdinand, the grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm.

In 1983, Carole was offered a professorship at the prestigious University of Music in Vienna, Austria. From October 1996 until October 1998, she served as Head of the Department of Winds and Percussion Instruments.

In 1994, the Vienna University Press published the book, “Carole Dawn REINHART” – Aspects of a Career”. An updated version of that book by Dr. Elena Ostleitner and Ursula Simek was recently released in 2002.

Although Carole ended her solo concert performances in 1996, she continues to be active teaching her 24 students at the university, giving master classes around the world, and as a juror for solo competitions. Her desire is to inspire and encourage young people in fulfilling their dreams as she has been blessed in more than fulfilling her own.