He is a French horn player and teacher from Ottawa, Illinois who was a member of his high school band and received the Arion Award for French Horn Player before moving on to further education at the Northwestern University where he was a major in French Horn Performance. While at the university he performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and after graduation he became a member of the Charleston Symphony and the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra prior to a nine-year stint with the Honolulu Symphony.
In 1995 he became Third Horn of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and took the role of Acting Principal Horn for the 2002-3 season. Other orchestras he has appeared with are the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Sun Valley Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Arianna Quartet and in the Holiday Brass concerts staged annually at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica.
An active participant in competition he won the American Horn Competition in 1999 and has made appearances in several chamber music festivals.
As a teacher he has been on the faculties and/or given master classes at universities in Illinois, Missouri, Honolulu and the Manhattan School of Music, and has also given private tuition for many years.
In 2006 he was inducted into the Ottawa Township High School Hall of Fame for his achievements as a student and in his later professional career.
Holiday Brass recordings
Angels We Have Heard on High (Traditional French/James Chadwick/Edward Barnes )
Music Masters 01782 (CD: Holiday Brass featuring Susan Slaughter)
Trumpet – Susan Slaughter
St. Louis Children’s Choirs – Concert Choir
He appears here being interviewed during a rehearsal…..
Sources:
- http://www.ottawahigh2.com/foundation1/oths_hall_of_fame_press_release.htm
- http://www.stringsinthemountains.com/chamber_musicians_detail.php?artistID=32
- http://www.hornplayer.net/teachers/t7958.html
- http://www.msmnyc.edu/brass/default.asp
- http://www.ariannaquartet.com/Templates/email_Jan23_05a.dwt
- http://www.cherylsherbs.com/holiday_brass.htm
- http://finearts.academickeys.com/whoswho.php?dothis=display&folk[IDX]=497511
- http://www.artshound.com/?app=eventDetail&id=5409