Featured Artists
Bios
The American Horn Quartet continues to be unique in the field of brass chamber music. Their exuberant performances have brought audiences all over the world to their feet. In 1982, four American horn players who were working and residing in Europe met for the first time to explore the potential of the horn quartet, a chamber music formation with a surprisingly long tradition. The individual members of the AHQ, Kerry Turner, Kristina Mascher-Turner, Geoffrey Winter, and Denise Tryon, are all successful soloists in their own right, having won top international competitions in Geneva, Prague, New York, Passau, and Munich. To these accolades, they added top honors with the quartet at chamber music competitions in Barcs, Hungary (Philip Jones Competition), Brussels, and Tokyo.
The American Horn Quartet has established itself at regular chamber music concert
series on the international circuit. They have also appeared as soloists with
numerous symphony orchestras, among them the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic,
Sinfonia Varsovia, Philharmonica Hungarica, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano
Giuseppe Verdi, the Brabants Orchestra of Eindhoven, the Queensland Symphony
Orchestra, and the Bordeaux Aquitaine Symphony Orchestra in France, just to
name a few.
The AHQ has appeared as featured soloists at several International Horn Society symposia, including Tallahassee, Florida (where they received a five-minute standing ovation after their performance), Kansas City, Indiana, Yamagata, Valencia, Denver, Brisbane, London, and Los Angeles (where they received a five-minute standing ovation before the concert began). Other highlights include performances at the Barbican in London, the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, an appearance with orchestra at the Tonhalle in Zürich, recording collaborations with the horn sections of the New York Philharmonic and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, a recital in Melbourne, Australia featuring the great horn soloist Barry Tuckwell, and many more.
Chris Castellanos
In late 2003, Chris found his passion as a chamber musician after joining the Dallas Brass for a 6 year tenure touring the U.S. and abroad. In 2009 Chris joined the prestigious Boston Brass as Hornist, Arranger and Co-Owner of the group, with whom he presently tours the world with over 180 days per year. In addition to his duties with the Boston Brass, Chris is an active soloist and frequently commissions new music with bands and orchestras around the country having most recently recorded a premiere piece “Prophecy” for horn and Wind Orchestra by Anthony LaBounty with the UNLV Wind Orchestra on the Klavier record label.
As an educator, Chris has covered every state in the US as well as 36 countries. Clinics and masterclasses include The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, The Sibelius Academy (Finland), The Bruckner Academy of Music (Austria), Yong Siew Toh Conservatory (Singapore), Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, The Royal Academy of Music (London), The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and many more.
Chris is a Yamaha Performing Artist and currently resides in Utah where he enjoys spending his time with his wife and two children.
Chris Castellanos will perform on a featured artist recital and present a masterclass at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Richard Deane
Elizabeth Freimuth
Elizabeth Freimuth is the principal horn of the Cincinnati Symphony
and Pops Orchestras. Before joining the CSO in 2006, Elizabeth was
principal horn of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra (2005-2006),
principal horn of the Kansas City Symphony (2000-2005) and assistant
principal horn of the Colorado Symphony (1998-2000).
Elizabeth has performed as the featured soloist with the Cincinnati
Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Butler County Symphony (PA), Johnson
City Symphony Orchestra (TN), Overland Park Symphony (KS) and the
Lakewood Symphony (CO). She has also performed as a guest principal horn
with the Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony,
Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Saint Louis
Symphony. She was a Featured Artist at the International Horn
Symposium, Memphis 2013 and a featured artist at the International
Women's Brass Conference, Northern Kentucky 2014.
In 2011, Elizabeth Freimuth joined the Adjunct Horn faculty at the
University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music. From
2000-2003, Ms. Freimuth was the Adjunct Professor of Horn at the
University of Missouri in Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She has
also given numerous master classes and has done guest teaching at
Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, The Eastman School of
Music, The University of Evansville, San Francisco Conservatory, Dayton
University, Ohio State University, University of Northern Colorado, and
the University of Northern Iowa and Interlochen School of the Arts. In
2011, she was the distinguished featured artist and clinician at Blast
of Brass, a summer brass intensive for students in Dallas, TX.
Annually, she performs with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Sun
Valley, ID and has also performed with the Grand Teton Music Festival,
Sunflower Music Festival and Chatauqua Music Festival Orchestras. As a
chamber musician, Elizabeth is an active member in concert:nova, a
Cincinnati-based chamber ensemble. She has also been a member of the
Chamber Music Society of Kansas City, the principal horn of the Kansas
City Chamber Orchestra and has performed with the Burning River Brass
chamber ensemble. Elizabeth is a graduate and recipient of the coveted
Performer's Certificate of the Eastman School of Music (B.M.) and a
graduate of Rice University Shepherd School of Music (M.M.) where she
studied horn with Verne Reynolds, W. Peter Kurau and William VerMeulen
respectively.
Randy Gardner
Randy C. Gardner is Artist-in-Residence at Temple University and Professor Emeritus of Horn at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where he was awarded the Ernest N. Glover Outstanding Teacher Award and a University of Cincinnati Award for Faculty Excellence. A successful and dedicated teacher, his students occupy performing and teaching positions throughout the US and abroad. Prior to joining the CCM faculty, he was Second Hornist of The Philadelphia Orchestra for 22 years, under the music directorships of Wolfgang Sawallisch, Riccardo Muti, and Eugene Ormandy. He maintains an active schedule as an orchestral and chamber musician, soloist, and clinician. He performs regularly with the Cincinnati Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestras. He has also performed as a substitute/extra musician with the orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Colorado, Minnesota, and Pittsburgh.
Professor Gardner presents innovative and popular
Modular Music Masterclasses, is the author of the acclaimed International
Opus publication
Mastering the Horn’s Low Register and self-published
Good Vibrations: Masterclasses for Brass Players, and composed
WHY?! for unaccompanied horn, published by Thompson Edition. He was a performer
and co-producer of the Summit Records Shared Reflections: The Legacy of Philip Farkas and is
featured on
D+, a recording in collaboration with trombonist M. Dee Stewart.
Gardner has fostered the composition of new works for horn by commissioning
compositions and by serving as Chair of the International Horn Society’s Meir
Rimon Commissioning Assistance Fund. Among the institutions where Randy Gardner
has held faculty positions are Indiana University, Trenton State University
(now The College of New Jersey), and the New York State Summer School of the
Arts. He is a long-standing member of the Kendall Betts Horn Camp faculty.
Randy Gardner was a Featured Artist at International Symposia of the International
Horn Society in Beijing, China (2000), Lahti, Finland (2002) and Denver, CO
(2008). In 2012, he had the distinct honor of performing Schumann’s Konzertstück
for Four Horns and Orchestra at IHS Symposium 44 with conductor Barry Tuckwell
and fellow hornists Gregory Hustis, Joseph Ognibene, and John Ericson. Gardner
also had the great pleasure of performing Kenneth Fuchs’ Canticle to the Sun
with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra at the 2008 IHS Symposium. He has been
a Contributing Artist at many international and regional horn workshops and
he serves as an adjudicator at solo and chamber music competitions.
An enthusiastic member of the International Horn Society, Gardner serves on the IHS Advisory Council, on which he also served from 1999-2005. He was honored in 2018 to receive an IHS Punto Award. Randy is a Board Member of the Kendall Betts Horn Camp and he served for many years as a member of the International Horn Competition of America Board of Advisors.
Randy Gardner’s major horn teachers were Philip Farkas, Christopher Leuba, Ethel
Merker, and William Adam.
In his free time, Randy enjoys spending time with his family, fishing, hiking, reading, sports, and church/community activism. Psychology, sports psychology in particular, has been an area of personal study for many years. Randy is an avid Chicago Cubs fan who was thrilled to witness his team win the 2016 World Series after a “drought” of 108 years. He believes that Cubs fans model two important personal character traits – optimism and perseverance.
Randy Gardner will perform on a featured artist recital and a featured presentation at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Noa Kageyama
Performance psychologist Noa Kageyama is on the faculty of The Juilliard
School and is a performance coach for the New World Symphony in Miami, FL.
A conservatory-trained violinist with degrees from Oberlin and Juilliard
before pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology, Noa now specializes in working with
performing artists, teaching them how to utilize sport psychology principles
and more consistently perform up to their full abilities under pressure.
He has conducted workshops at institutions ranging from Northwestern University, New England Conservatory, Peabody, Eastman, and the U.S. Armed Forces School of Music, to programs such as the Starling-Delay Symposium, The Perlman Music Program, and the National Orchestral Institute, and for organizations like the Music Teachers’ National Association and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Noa’s work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Musical
America, Strings Magazine, Strad, and Lifehacker. He maintains a private
coaching practice and online mental skills courses, and authors a performance
psychology blog and podcast called
The Bulletproof Musician.
Noa Kageyama will make a featured presentation as part of the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Peter Kurau
W. Peter Kurau, Professor of Horn, Director of the Eastman Horn Choir, and
hornist with Eastman Brass, was appointed in 1995 to the full-time faculty
at the Eastman School of Music, succeeding Verne Reynolds. He previously
served on the faculties of the University of Missouri-Columbia, SUNY-Geneseo,
Roberts Wesleyan College, Houghton College, and Nazareth College. In September
2004, he was appointed Principal Horn of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra,
having previously served as Assistant Principal/Acting Principal Horn (1983-95)
and as Acting Assistant Principal Horn (2002-2004).
A prizewinner in the Heldenleben International Horn Competition and a recipient
of an I.T.T. International Fellowship and numerous faculty merit and development
awards, he also served as an Artistic Ambassador for the United States Information
Agency, presenting recitals and master classes in Serbia-Montenegro, Kazakstan,
Macedonia, and Syria during September 1997. Active as a soloist, chamber
musician, and clinician (the latter for Conn/Selmer), he has appeared in
these capacities at conventions of the International Horn Society, International
Trumpet Guild, College Music Society, Music Educator’s National Conference,
New York State School Music Association, Music Teacher’s National Association,
National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, Southeast
Horn Workshop, Northeast Horn Workshop, Mid-South Horn Workshop, Midwest
Band and Orchestra Clinic, Eastman/Hamamatsu Seminar, Matsumoto Horn Seminar,
South Korean Horn Workshop, the 2002 German Brass Academy and Sauerland Festival,
Lieksa (Finland) Brass Festival, and leading universities throughout the
United States and Europe (including the Hochschule für Musik/Detmold, the
Sibelius Academy, the Helsinki Scandia, and the Lahti Conservatory), as well
as at the Bravo! Colorado Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Chautauqua
Festival, Orford Festival, Skaneateles Festival, Fortissimo!, Bowdoin Summer
Music Festival, Monteux School, Eastern Music Festival, Kendall Betts Horn
Camp, Texas Music Festival, International Festival Institute at Round Top
(TX), and Sun Valley (ID) Summer Symphony.
Active within the International Horn Society, having served on its Advisory
Council for eight years and as Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, Pedagogy
Editor and member of the Editorial Board for the Horn Call, he hosted the
29th Annual International Horn Workshop, held in 1997 at the Eastman School.
He is honored and humbled to be the 2016 recipient of the I.H.S. Punto Award.
He has been active in commissioning and premiering new works for horn, including
compositions by noted American composers Verne Reynolds, John Cheetham, Mark
Shultz, Yehudi Wyner, Sydney Hodkinson, James Willey, Daniel Baldwin, James
Walker, Margaret Brouwer, and Eric Street.
In 1991, he appeared as soloist in the first modern performance of the then
recently discovered and reconstructed version of the Mozart Rondo, K.371
for horn and orchestra. He received his formal musical education at the Eastman
School, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal College of Music,
University of Connecticut, and Florida State University, where his principal
teachers were Verne Reynolds, David Cripps, William Capps, and Horace Fitzpatrick
(natural horn).
Peter Kurau will present a masterclass at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Julie Landsman
Principal horn with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for 25 years,
Julie Landsman is a distinguished performing artist and educator. She
received a bachelor of music degree from The Juilliard School in 1975
under the tutelage of James Chambers and Ranier De Intinis, and has
served as a member of the Juilliard faculty since 1989.
A native
of Brooklyn, New York, Landsman achieved her dream of becoming principal
of the MET in 1985 and held that position until 2010. She has also
shared her talent to many other ensembles within the city as a current
member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and having performed and
recorded with the New York Philharmonic. Additionally, she has performed
with numerous groups outside the city, including her co-principal
position with the Houston Symphony, substitute principal position with
the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and recent performances with The
Philadelphia Orchestra as Associate principal horn, and the Los Angeles
Chamber Orchestra, principal horn.
She has recorded for RCA,
Deutsche Gramophone, CRI, Nonesuch and Vanguard labels, and is most
famous for her performance of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle as solo horn with
the MET Opera under the direction of James Levine. Landsman has
performed as chamber musician at many festivals and concert series,
including the Marlboro Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, the
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, La Jolla
Summerfest, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orcas Island
Chamber Music Festival, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she
appeared as a guest artist with the Guarneri Quartet. In the summers she
performs and teaches at the Music Academy of the West , the Sarasota
Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival.
World renowned as a master teacher, Julie Landsman holds a new faculty position at USC's Thornton School of Music, and has been teaching at The Juilliard School for over 30 years, Bard College Conservatory, and as a frequent guest
at the Curtis Institute. She has presented master classes at such
distinguished institutions as The Colburn School, Curtis Institute,
Eastman School of Music, Mannes College of Music, Manhattan School of
Music, USC Thornton School of Music, Cal State Long Beach, Rowan
University, University of Oklahoma, and University of Southern
Mississippi, to name a few. She is also a visiting master teacher at the
New World Symphony in Miami. Her international presence includes master
classes in Norway, Sweden, and Israel. In 2016 Landsman was an honored
jury member at the ARD horn competition in Munich, Germany.
Her
students hold positions in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Opera
and Ballet Orchestras, Washington National Opera Orchestra, Dallas
Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Colorado Symphony,
and the American Brass Quintet. She recently received the “Pioneer
Award” from the International Women’s Brass Conference and was a
featured artist at the International Horn Society Conference in 2012 and
2015.
Her recent series of Carmine Caruso lessons on YouTube have
led to further fame and renown among today’s generation of horn
players. Landsman currently resides in Nyack, New York.
Julie Landsman will present a masterclass at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Frank Lloyd
Frank Lloyd is an English virtuoso horn player and teacher, Professor of Horn at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany and formerly professor of horn at both the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Trinity College of Music in London.
He played with RSNO for four
and a half years before returning to London and the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra, with whom he played for three years, leaving to fulfill
ever-increasing demands for his services as a soloist and chamber-music
player, also joining the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, Nash Ensemble and
the English Chamber Orchestra as Principal Horn.
For some years he served as Professor of Horn at both the Guildhall School of Music and Trinity School of Music in London, until in 1998 he was appointed Professor of Horn at the Folkwang Hochschule, succeeding the legendary Hermann Baumann.
Frank has performed as a soloist throughout
Europe and the United States as well as Canada, Japan, Taiwan, China and
Australia. He has featured on numerous occasions at the International
Horn Workshops in the United States, Japan, Europe and South Africa, and
also tours Europe extensively giving master classes and performing both
as soloist and with chamber groups. He was President of the
International Horn Society 2006-2007 and was re-elected President in the
summer of 2010/2011.
His mastery of unusual playing techniques
can be heard clearly in Tico Tico on the London Horn Sound CD, and on
several of the arrangements on the new, London Horn Sound 2 Jazz CD
“Give it one”. He has been awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Academy
of Music.
Frank Lloyd will perform and present a masterclass with the American Horn Quartet at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Kristina Mascher-Turner
Kristina Mascher-Turner, former principal horn of the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra (Flemish Radio Orchestra), hails from Albany, Oregon and is based in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Douglas Hill) and the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin (Kurt Palm), and also studied privately with Fergus McWilliam of the Berlin Philharmonic. Early in her career, she was engaged in various chamber and symphony orchestras, including the Odense Symfoniorkester in Denmark and three tours as principal horn with the Gustav-Mahler-Jugendorchester under the direction of Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, and Kent Nagano.
She joined the world-famous American Horn Quartet in 2009, with whom she has toured and recorded extensively. Kristina is also a member of the Ni Ensemble of Luxembourg (1st prize at the 9th Passau International Chamber Music Competition for Brass Ensembles) and forms with husband Kerry Turner the Virtuoso Horn Duo. Their critically acclaimed albums can be found on the MSR Classics and Naxos labels.
Ms. Mascher-Turner has given master classes and performed in over 30 countries on six continents, widely recognized for her beautiful sound and compelling musicality. She is currently Vice President of the International Horn Society and is the editor of the IHS digital newsletter, "Horn and More.” Horn aside, Kristina sings with a semi-professional vocal octet, has a passion for travel, food, and languages, and is a certified Reiki master.
Kristina performs on a Ricco Kühn W393X triple horn.
Kristina Mascher-Turner will perform and present a masterclass with the American Horn Quartet at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Jeff Scott
Jeff Scott is the French hornist of the Oberlin-founded ensemble Imani Winds,
a position that has brought him to Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall,
the Kennedy Center, and countless other prominent stages—as well as the stage
of Finney Chapel for an Artist Recital Series performance in 2014. With Imani
Winds, he leads master classes with hundreds of students every year.
Scott has been a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Dance
Theater of Harlem since 1995, and he has performed numerous times with the
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis.
He was an orchestra member for The Lion King’s Broadway run from 1997 to
2005, as well as the 1994 revival of Show Boat. In the studio, Scott has
performed on movie soundtracks by Terence Blanchard and Tan Dun, and has
collaborated with the likes of Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Chris Brubeck,
Jimmy Heath, and others. He has toured with the backing ensembles of Barbra
Streisand and Luther Vandross.
Insatiable in his appetite for all aspects of the creative process, Scott has
served as composer or arranger for a multitude of projects, including an
Off Broadway production of Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee and
the staged production of Josephine Baker: A Life of le Jazz Hot! in addition
to many original works for solo winds and ensembles of all kinds.
Scott is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied under
David Jolley. He earned a master’s degree from the State University of New
York at Stony Brook under William Purvis, and he continued his studies with
Scott Brubaker and Jerome Ashby.
Jeff Scott will perform on a featured artist recital and present a masterclass at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Denise Tryon
Denise Tryon is the Associate Professor of Horn at University of Cincinnati CCM. She served as the Horn Professor of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore from 2007 – 2019. Since 2019 she is 4th horn of the world renowned American Horn Quartet. Previously, Tryon was fourth horn of The Philadelphia Orchestra (2009-2017).
Tryon graduated from the famed Interlochen Arts Academy and in 1993 received her Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in Boston. She received the Presidential Scholarship while in the Artist Diploma Program at NEC with the Taiyo Wind Quintet.
An active and accomplished educator, Tryon is sought after for her masterclasses. She has taught extensively in the United States, Scandinavia, Europe, Asia and South America. She’s been a featured artist at many IHS Symposiums and Regional Workshops.
Tryon released her debut solo album, SO•LOW, in 2015. As a part of this album, she commissioned 4 new pieces for low horn and piano. In 2009, Tryon founded Audition Mode, a yearly horn seminar, with Karl Pituch. The seminar focuses on the skills horn players need to be successful in orchestral auditions.
Denise performs on a Rauch R1 double horn.
Denise Tryon will perform on a featured artist recital and present a masterclass at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Catherine Turner
Originally from West Chester, Ohio, Catherine Turner has been the Second Horn of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal since 2010. Before joining the OSM, she held the position of Fourth Horn in the San Antonio Symphony and Assistant Principal Horn in The Florida Orchestra. In addition, she has performed as guest Associate Principal with the Cincinnati Symphony, has toured and recorded as Principal Horn with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and has performed with numerous other groups, including Les Violons du Roy, the Richmond Symphony, the Sarasota Orchestra, and the San Antonio Opera. Catherine began her studies with Greg Snyder and Karen Schneider, before attending Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where she was a student of William VerMeulen. Her studies have also taken her to many summer programs, including the Tanglewood Music Center and the Aspen Music Festival, where she studied with John Zirbel and was the winner of the Brass and Percussion Concerto Competition in 2009.
Catherine has been featured in solo recitals at the University of Akron and
Colorado State University, and in 2014 she was the winner of the Horn Division
of the Susan Slaughter Solo Competition at the International Women’s Brass
Conference. She has been a featured soloist with the Colorado Music
Festival Orchestra, on Public Radio International’s “From the Top,” and
has also performed internationally as a soloist, giving both the U.S. and
European premieres of Brant Karrick’s “Taranto Reflections” for Horn and
Wind Symphony. She has also given masterclasses at the University
of Akron, Colorado State University, the University of Montreal, the Canadian
Women's Brass Conference, and Montreal Horn Day, and she is currently an
instructor of horn at McGill University. Since her appointment with
the OSM, she has performed internationally in the orchestra on major tours
in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. She can be heard on
the OSM’s recent recordings of Beethoven’s Symphonies and Mahler’s Orchesterlieder.
Catherine Turner will perform on a featured artist recital and present a masterclass at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Kerry Turner
Kerry Turner has become one of the most recognized names, not only in the horn world but in brass playing in general. Whether as a composer or a performing artist on the horn, he appears regularly on the great concert stages of the world. Mr. Turner’s major ensembles with whom he performs include the world-famous American Horn Quartet, the stunning Virtuoso Horn Duo, and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. As a member of these prestigious organizations, he has concertized on four continents. He is also a frequently invited soloist and clinician, having performed and taught in Germany, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, the United States, and the Czech Republic.
A native of San Antonio, Texas, Kerry Turner received his Artist Diploma from the Manhattan School of Music in New York and, as a Fulbright Scholar, continued his studies with Hermann Baumann at the Stuttgart College of Music and Performing Arts. Following his studies, he placed 5th at the Geneva International Horn Competition and won the Bronze Medal at the 39th Prague Spring International Music Competition.
Mr. Turner’s compositional career has sky-rocketed over the past several years. His works for horn in combination with virtually every genre of chamber music continue to be heard literally around the world. He has been commissioned by many organizations, including the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Japanese Horn Ensemble, and the Richmond, Virginia Chamber Music Society, just to name a few. He has been awarded top prizes at the International Horn Society Composition Contest as well as the IBLA Foundation. In his spare time, Mr. Turner sings tenor, studies languages (he is fluent in 4 and dabbles in a few others) and loves to cook.
Kerry is a Dürk Horns Artist and performs on the new Ab Aeternum model.
Kerry Turner will perform and present a masterclass with the American Horn Quartet at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
William VerMeulen
World-renowned soloist. Virtuoso orchestral and chamber musician. Horn teaching guru. These are all descriptions of William VerMeulen, arguably among the most celebrated hornists in the world.
Regarded as one of the most influential horn teachers of all time, Mr. VerMeulen is Professor of Horn at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Faculty at Miami's New World Symphony and Visiting Professor of Horn at the Eastman School of Music. His students perform in numerous major orchestras throughout the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Canadian Brass, Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Montreal, St. Louis, Toronto, Detroit, Dallas and Houston Symphonies. Over 400 positions and offers of employment have been awarded to his students.
He also previously served as Brass Artist-in-Residence at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada and as Instructor of Horn at Interlochen Center for the Arts. In 1985 he was invited to the White House to receive a “Distinguished Teacher of America Certificate of Excellence” from President Ronald Reagan and the White House commission on Presidential Scholars. He received his training from Dale Clevenger at Northwestern University and at the Interlochen Arts Academy and is Founder and President of VerMeulen Music, L.L.C., which offers music and products for horn players worldwide here at http://www.williamvermeulen.com.
Mr. VerMeulen is not only regarded as an incredibly accomplished pedagogue but also as a preeminent performer. Hailed as “one of today’s superstars of the international brass scene," William VerMeulen has risen to become America’s leading horn soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He has been Principal Horn of the Houston Symphony since 1990 and has performed as a guest Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Prior to Houston, he was employed with the orchestras of Columbus, Honolulu, and Kansas City.
Mr. VerMeulen has been an Artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and participates as a performer and on faculty with the finest music festivals and chamber music presenters among which include: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Aspen, Music@Menlo, Banff, DaCamera, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Rockport, Joshua Bell and Friends, Tanglewood, Sarasota, Interlochen Arts Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Grand Tetons Orchestral Training Seminar, National Repertory Orchestra, Steamboat Springs, Seattle, Santa Fe, Orcas Island, New World Symphony, Domaine Forget, Chamber Music Northwest, and the Sun Valley Music Festival, the latter for which he currently serves as Principal Horn.
He is a popular artist at International Horn Society Symposiums, where he is member of the Advisory Council. He also serves as a board member of the International Horn Competition of America. Along with the dozens of orchestral recordings in his discography are numerous solo and chamber recordings, including the complete Mozart Horn Concerti with Christoph Eschenbach and the Houston Symphony, Texas Horns featuring the Dallas and Houston horn sections and “The Christmas Horn” featuring playing from Mr. VerMeulen combined with his students from Rice University and conducting by Dale Clevenger. He has recorded much of the chamber music repertoire including Brahms Trio Op. 40, Mozart Quintet K. 407, Beethoven Septet, Ravel Tombeau de Couperin for wind quintet, Schubert Octet, Spohr Nonet, Ligeti Bagatelles, Schoenberg Wind Quintet and the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 1.
A champion of new music, Mr. VerMeulen has had numerous pieces written for him including concerti by esteemed American composers Samuel Adler, Pierre Jalbert and Tony DiLorenzo and the horn cantata “Canticum Sacrum” by Robert Bradshaw. He recorded the Canto XI by Samuel Adler for a CD called “First Chairs”. Among his awards and honors, Mr. VerMeulen received first prize at the 1980 International Horn Society Soloist Competition and the Shapiro Award for Most Outstanding Brass Player at the Tanglewood Festival.
Mr. VerMeulen is married to Houston Opera and Ballet violinist Sylvia VerMeulen and they have two lovely children named Michael and Nicole. In his free time, he enjoys having good friends over to share in his passion for fine cooking and wine.
William VerMeulen will make a featured presentation as part of the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Geoffrey Winter
Geoffrey Winter grew up in a musical family near Seattle, Washington. His early horn instruction began with Robert Bonnevie (then principal horn with the Seattle Symphony.) Upon starting his university studies, he received instruction from Christopher Leuba, professor of horn at the University of Washington, Seattle. During these early years, he had many opportunities in the Seattle area to play in both youth orchestras and in various chamber music ensembles long before he decided to pursue horn playing as a profession. Later he attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where he continued his education with Vince DeRosa and James Decker, both leading hornists in the Hollywood soundtrack recording industry.
After his first professional appointment as Associate Principal Horn with the Orquésta Sinfonica Municipal in Caracas, Venezuela, Mr. Winter later moved to Germany when he won the position as 3./1. Horn with the Philharmonia Hungarica in Marl. Soon afterwards in 1985, he was asked to join the American Horn Quartet. Later he was awarded prizes for his skills as a soloist at international music competitions in Markneukirchen, (DDR) and the ARD Competition in Munich (BRD). Since 1988 Mr. Winter has been principal horn of the Beethoven Orchestra of Bonn, Germany.
Beyond his activities with the AHQ and his orchestra in Bonn, Mr. Winter has had the chance to perform with many other orchestras around the world. He has appeared as a soloist with ensembles such as the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Radio Orchestra of Berlin, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra and the Beethoven Orchestra. He has also had the opportunity to perform as guest principal horn at the Seattle Wagner Festival, the Ring Festival in Melbourne, Australia as well as with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Wellington. In between these engagements, Mr. Winter can also be found teaching at horn workshops and festivals in and around Germany.
Geoffrey plays a 1978 Paxman 72 XL, one of only three ever built.
Geoffrey Winter will perform and present a masterclass with the American Horn Quartet at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
Michael Winter
Michael Winter joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as third horn in
September 2012. At the BSO, he occupies the Elizabeth B. Storer chair.
Prior to his appointment with the Boston Symphony, Mr. Winter was acting principal horn of the Buffalo Philharmonic and principal horn of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra for several seasons. He has performed as soloist with the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops on several occasions in Schumann’s Konzertstuck in Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood. He has also performed as guest principal horn with Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Michael Winter was born and raised in Southern California by a musical family.
He began his horn studies with his grandfather, respected horn teacher Dr.
James Winter, and later studied with Jim Thatcher and John Mason. Mr. Winter
then moved to Boston to pursue a degree at New England Conservatory, where
he worked with BSO members Richard Mackey and Richard Sebring.
Photo by Marco Borggreve/courtesy BSO
Michael Winter will perform on a featured artist recital and present a masterclass at the 2021 Northeast Horn Workshop.
