Timothy Riordan

Timothy Riordan is a distinguished trombonist and educator who teaches at Northern Illinois University and directs the trombone studio at Chicago’s Merit School of Music. He previously served on faculty at the Washington Brass Institute and as trombone instructor for the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative. 

A respected pedagogue, Riordan has given master classes at Juilliard, Eastman, Northwestern, DePaul, Lawrence, Indiana University, and the University of Illinois. He has also taught at Carthage College and coached brass chamber music for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras. 

His students have earned eight Jack Kent Cooke Scholarships, won the American Brass Quintet Prize at the Fischoff Competition multiple times, and claimed top prizes at the M-Prize. Many have been selected for the National Youth Orchestra and NYO-2, and performed with the Chicago Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Navy Band, and on Saturday Night Live and the Grammy Awards. 

An S.E. Shires Performing Artist, Riordan holds a Bachelor of Music and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with John Marcellus.