Transit coach operator makes beautiful music

Transit coach operator Michael Tyrrell runs a 40-foot bus and is responsible for the safe transport of students and commuters throughout Ann Arbor and surrounding communities. When he is not driving, however, Tyrrell operates an instrument of a different sort.

(Photo by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services)

Tyrrell, an accomplished musician, is a bass trombonist with the Michigan Opera Theater and the Kalamazoo and Lansing symphonies. He is a member of the Detroit Chamber Winds, the Michigan Chamber Brass, a founding member of the Great Lakes Brass Ensemble, and an occasional substitute musician for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Tyrrell also is a part-time bass guitarist and vocalist with a local classic rock and roll band, and he works with another popular ensemble out of Brighton.

"I can enjoy Mozart as well as Metallica," Tyrrell says. He likes playing Brahms and Tchaikovsky symphonies, as well brass ensemble pieces and operas by such composers as Puccini and Verdi.

"I always dreamed of playing in operas and symphonies," Tyrrell says. "My father, Robert Tyrrell, who was a very gifted tenor vocalist in his day, introduced me to the joys of music at a very young age."

Tyrrell's family made music a part of their lives with yearly trips to Blesch Auditorium in Menominee, Mich., where they would hear the Milwaukee Symphony perform. "It was this constant nurturing of my affinity for music that allowed me to develop my love for music," Tyrrell says.

A tenor trombone player since he was 9 years old, Tyrrell began playing the bass trombone in 1990 on the recommendation of his studio instructor at U-M. Tyrrell was a master student in performance at the School of Music when he began working for Transportation Services during his free time. He continued to work while striving for his doctor of musical arts degree, which he received in May 1997.

When Tyrrell is not working at U-M or performing with one of his many groups, he enjoys relaxing, watching television and cooking.

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