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We just received information that Vincent Cichowicz, a member of
the Orchestra's trumpet section from 1952 until 1974 and professor
emeritus of trumpet at Northwestern University, died on Monday evening
following a long illness at his home in Fontana, Wisconsin. He was 79. A
lifetime figure on the music scene in Chicago, Cichowicz had served on
the faculty at Northwestern since 1959 and as professor of trumpet from
1974 until his retirement in 1998. He began his musical career at the age
of seventeen as a member of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and, after
military service in the Fifth Army Band, returned to Chicago to attend
Roosevelt University. He was a member of the Civic Orchestra from 1947
until 1950 and in 1952 became a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
where he remained for twenty-three years under music directors Rafael
Kubelík, Fritz Reiner, Jean Martinon, and Sir Georg Solti. During this
period he also was a member of the Chicago Symphony Brass Quintet and was
a participant in the Grammy Award-winning recording of The Antiphonal
Music of Gabrieli.
He was appointed music director of the Millar Brass Ensemble in 1995;
their collaboration can be heard on the Delos recording Brass Surround.
In 1997 Cichowicz received a special achievement award from the European
Chapter of the International Trumpet Guild and was presented with the
Legends in Teaching Award by Northwestern University, and in 1999 he
received the International Trumpet Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.
Cichowicz was a faculty member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada
from 1980 until 2002, and the Brass Seminar program at The Domaine Forget
in Charlevoix, Quebec, from 1986 until 2004. He conducted numerous
workshops and clinics throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and
Japan and was regarded as one of North America's foremost experts in
brass pedagogy. Vincent Cichowicz was born on August 27, 1927, to Walter
and Mary Cichowicz in Chicago, Illinois, and they preceded him in death,
as did a brother, Walter. Cichowicz's first marriage to the former Lois
Cahill, with whom he had three sons, ended in divorce. He married Genriq
E. Murphy in 1987, and she survives him. He also is survived by three
sons, Michael of Evanston, Steve and wife Donna of Arlington Heights, and
Rob of Evanston, and grandchildren Kent, Lindsay, and Keith of Arlington
Heights, and by sisters Ange Duda and Ann Carney and husband George.

A memorial service for Cichowicz is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. this Friday,
December 15, at Saint Benedict's Catholic Church in Fontana, Wisconsin (

www.stbensparish.org, 137 Dewey Avenue, (262) 275-2480). Music at the
service will be provided by the Millar Brass Ensemble, and lunch at the
Abbey is planned afterward.
Letters of condolence may be sent to Ms. Murphy at 292 White Oak Road,
Fontana, Wisconsin, 53125. Cichowicz asked that any donations be given in
his name to the Millar Brass Ensemble (

www.millarbrass.com) or to the Vince Lombardi Charitable Funds (

www.lombardiclassic.com).
--René

The news of Chichowicz passing has urged me to reflect back on that day in October of 1998 when Arnold Jacobs passed away. I was a senior at NU and was in the middle of a lesson with Prof. Rex Martin when he received the news of Mr. Jacobs' passing. After much time spent on the lake fill that day I eventually came to compose this poem:

Yesterday Arnold Jacobs stopped breathing

And some might say that he has passed on

But today I heard him singing

He is still here, he lives in our song

(May we all find inspiration and celebrate our teachers, colleagues, and heroes with every note we play and every lesson we teach).

What sad news. He was such an important figure at Northwestern for so long it is hard to imagine that he has left us. Although I was studying tuba at NU, I had the opportunity to hear Vincent teach and work with other students, and it was always inspirational. I was even fortunate to have taken a few lessons myself (he would always talk about Jacobs and “how Arnold would play thisâ€

I also took a class or two from him at Northwestern. He was truly an inspiration.

Kutz wrote:
For those who don’t know much about him and his teachings, take a look on the Internet a see what you can find out. There are to my knowledge several dissertations that interview him as well. He is a personality well worth discovering.

I agree wholeheartedly. Thanks, Dave, for the links you provided. I got to sit in one of Mr. Cichowicz's masterclasses at Domaine Forget and was impressed by his teaching. Every trumpet player at those brass sessions got better during those weeks.

Sadly, another musical giant has left this realm....