Career
Miller received his early musical training at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the New England Conservatory in Boston. He also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in humanities and engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was awarded a Fulbright grant for music study in Amsterdam. While in Boston, he founded the Bubonic Bassoon Quartet and made the premier recording of the Hummel Bassoon Concerto, released along with the Weber Concerto on Cambridge Records.
Miller assumed his present position as principal bassoon of the Minnesota Orchestra in 1971, when he also joined the music faculty of the University of Minnesota.
Since then, he has continued his solo career, performing numerous times with the Minnesota Orchestra, as well as many other orchestras. He has also presented master classes and recitals at many of the world’s major conservatories and music schools.
Among his solo recordings are four concertos by Vivaldi and the Mozart and Wanhal bassoon concertos, all conducted by Sir Neville Marriner on two Pro Arte discs. One of Miller’s educational activities, the Nordic Bassoon Symposium, begun in 1984 as the John Miller Bassoon Symposium, has attracted an international mix of hundreds of professional, student, and amateur bassoonists.