About HimmelMusik
At HimmelMusik we specialize in the service and repair of band instruments for the school, student, and amateur/semi-professional player. Our goal is to provide quality service and quick turnaround so you are not without your instrument for a long period of time. We will pick your instrument up at your home, school, or business, and deliver it to you when work is complete. We understand the needs of student or part-time musicians, who need their instruments playable without fancy extra treatments. We strive to get your instruments sounding great as efficiently and inexpensively as possible.
Chris Himmel, owner and proprietor of HimmelMusik, is a trumpet player who spent 12 years teaching general music and band in the Salem, MA public schools. As his career progressed, Chris found himself doing more and more instrument repairs, and discovered the joy of fixing an instrument so the player was playing to the limit of their potential, rather than the limit a non-functioning instrument was putting on them. Chris founded HimmelMusik out of a desire to give the student and amateur/semi-professional musicians of northern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire a local resource to keep their instruments in good working order, without having to make a long trip to a dealer or shop that would take their instrument for an extended period of time.
When he's not fixing instruments, Chris is an active performer, playing for weddings, church services, and with various groups in the area. Chris has been a member of the Salem Philharmonic Orchestra since 2003. In 2014, Chris had the honor of conducting the Salem High School Concert Band at Carnegie Hall with his friend and mentor, Cynthia Napierkowski.
Chris is a Massachusetts native, having grown up in Topsfield and graduated from Masconomet Regional High School. He then proceeded on to The Hartt School to study music education under notable professors Dr. Chris Azzara and Dr. John Feierabend. Chris studied trumpet with Randy O'Keefe, Jeff Thomsen and Roger Murtha and Jazz/Improvisation with Russ Ryan. Chris lives in Amesbury with his wife, Erin, and their triplet(!) children, Maggie, Charlie, and Sophie.
