Patricia D. Backhaus is an internationally acclaimed trumpet and cornet soloist.  Dr. Backhaus has been a successful private studio teacher for 39 years and was awarded the Certificate of Excellence for music instruction in 1997 by Milwaukee’s Civic Music Association.  In addition she has taught band at every level from elementary to community, college and professional ensembles.  In 2004 she taught at the acclaimed VanderCook College of Music in Chicago.  She has guest conducted the Premier Band of the US Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut and the combined bands of Fort Sheridan Army Base and the Great Lakes Navy Band in Illinois.  In addition to the Milwaukee Festival Youth Brass and the Milwaukee Festival Brass, she is Music Director of The Studio Orchestra in Madison, the Shorewood Concert Band and the Soli Deo Gloria Brass.

Dr. Backhaus was born in Milwaukee and has always called the Metro Milwaukee area home.  She attended Carroll College (now University) in Waukesha, Wisconsin where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Trumpet Performance.  She also holds a Master of Music degree and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree, both in trumpet performance, from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.  Her most notable teachers were Dr. David Baldwin, trumpet professor at the U of M, the late Dr. Edgar Turrentine, music education professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the U of M, the late Terry Bjorkland, her high school orchestra director who taught her about conducting, and the late Elizabeth A.H. Green who literally wrote the book on conducting and scared her nearly to death when she insisted that she conduct Mozart Symphony #23 from memory in Miss Green’s living room when she had never heard it.  Dr. Paul E. Bierley was the most influential person in her development as a band music historian followed closely by William H. Rehrig.  Byron Autrey, former cornet soloist of the Detroit Concert Band, was a tremendous inspiration in her career as a cornet soloist. 

Backhaus has written for professional Journals and magazines including “The Instrumentalist”, “Bandworld”, “The Journal of Band Research”, “The New York Brass Conference”, “The Woman Conductor”, “The National Band Association Journal”, “Windjammers” and the “WMEA Journal”.  She has also authored the method book Creative Practice.  Backhaus has served as a clinician and adjudicator all across the United States. In 2002 she was a presenter for the International Trumpet Guild Conference held in Manchester, England.  In addition she was a featured soloist with the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Ensemble representing the United States for the 4^th of July Concert.  In 2006 Pat was a presenter and featured soloist with the Athena Brass Band at the International Women’s Brass Conference.  She has presented clinics at state music educator meetings, several papers at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, Kentucky, the Sonneck Society for American Music and Women Band Directors International and she was a featured presenter at the IGEB conference held in Feldkirche, Austria.  In 2002 she presented at Midwest International Band & Orchestra Clinic in Chicago.

Dr. Backhaus is active in many professional organizations including being a Past-President of Women Band Directors International, a past Council member of the Wisconsin Music Educators Association.  She is a member of the International Trumpet Guild.  Dr. Backhaus is a National Arts Associate of Sigma Alpha Iota.  She was elected to the Alpha Sigma chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society “which is the highest honor the Conservatory faculty can bestow on a student in recognition of outstanding musicianship and scholarly achievement”.  She is a co-founder and past vice-president of, Soli Deo Gloria Institute for the Arts, Inc. an organization devoted to developing an appreciation for the arts in worship.

An internationally known cornetist and scholar, Backhaus is a performing artist for the Getzen Company and plays the Getzen Eterna and Custom Series cornets.  She has also performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, the Florentine Opera, the Pamiro Opera, the Waukesha Symphony and the Racine Symphony.  She has served as the Volunteer Music Coordinator of Milwaukee’s famed Great Circus Parade.