Chad Winkler has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 2006 and has been a member since November 2008, serving as Fourth/Utility Trumpet and appearing as a featured soloist. He has performed as guest principal trumpet with the orchestras of Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Rochester, and has played with the symphonies of Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and Minnesota, among many others. A three-time National Trumpet Competition winner (1995, 1998, 2000), he also serves as Principal Trumpet of the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra in Lakeside, Ohio.

A passionate educator, Winkler has presented masterclasses at the University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, Butler, West Virginia University, and the Conservatory of Music in Puerto Rico, and has served on the faculty of the Masterworks Festival and the Eastman Trumpet Institute. Students of the Pittsburgh South Hills Trumpet Studio have earned first-chair placements in the PMEA All-State orchestra, wind ensemble, and jazz ensemble, and have gone on to study music at Northwestern, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Michigan. In summer 2025 he founded the Pittsburgh Trumpet Camp, a one-week intensive for middle and high school players.

Originally from Morgantown, West Virginia, Winkler earned his Bachelor of Music from West Virginia University, studying with his father, Dr. John Winkler, and his Master of Music from Duquesne University under George Vosburgh, retired principal trumpet of the Pittsburgh Symphony.