Contributing Artists

Neoteric

Neoteric is a unique ensemble of cello, horn, and bassoon. Probably the first ensemble in history with this combination, Neoteric has a diverse and eclectic repertoire that juxtaposes ancient and brand new music. Concerts include 21st century works with a wide variety of influences, and arrangements of Medieval counterpoint, classical Divertimenti, and Gershwin pieces. They are comfortable performing in a variety of venues, and their concerts have a relaxed atmosphere that includes enthusiastic commentary and friendly interaction with audiences.

Robert Patterson

Robert G. Patterson lives in Memphis, Tennessee. His music is infused with the popular rhythms and melodic fragments around him, and these provide source material for his personal voice. Recent commissions from the Iris Chamber Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra confirm an emerging interest in his innovative musical style that has led to performances in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as across the United States and Canada.He is also the founder and director of the Riverside Wind Consort, a small performing group dedicated to chamber music for wind instruments.

Patterson holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Memphis, and Oberlin College, having studied composition with George Crumb, Jay Reise, Don Freund, and John Baur. His compositions have received numerous awards, including the 1999 University of Michigan Bands Commission, the 1994 International Composition Prize from the City of Tarragona in Spain, and the 1990 Distinguished Composer of the Year award from the Music Teachers National Association.

Patterson is also a horn player with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra as well as a software developer. His plug-ins for Finale software are used by musicians throughout the world.

Quadre

In their fifteenth season, QUADRE - The Voice of Four Horns has grown from a small horn club in their first year to a touring organization dedicated to educational outreach and mainstage performances throughout the USA. Featured as artists and lecturers nationally with the Music Academy of the West, Manhattan School of Music, University of Georgia, and Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, QUADRE continues to be at the forefront of their genre through numerous commissions and work with other artists.

Hailed as an ensemble that "zaps the myth that classical stuff's stuffy" (Birmingham News), QUADRE has toured throughout the United States performing over 1000 concerts since 1998. In its second year, QUADRE was awarded the prestigious Chamber Music America rural residency grant. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, they performed for over 35,000 people all over the state of Alabama during the 1999-2000 season. They worked with the FLIMP Festival at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, the Panoply Festival in downtown Huntsville, Alabama and performed in the inaugural 1st Lady Children’s Arts Festival that took place at the Governor’s Mansion in Montgomery, Alabama. In 2000, they returned to California and were awarded a residency with the San Francisco Symphony. Taking part in the organization’s Adventures in Music program, QUADRE reached out to over 7000 students in the San Francisco area during the 2001 & 2003 seasons. Other educational residencies that QUADRE has collaborated with include the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra, the Mobile Symphony, and the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View, CA.

Active as collaborators, QUADRE has worked with orchestras, jazz bands, college wind ensembles, school academic programs such as Math and Civics classes, as well as other professional performers including flutist Molly Barth, soprano Elizabeth Weigle, and percussionist James Kassis. As teaching artists, the ensemble has received funding from numerous community and family foundations. Their current initiative is called ‘Toot your own Horn’ where members of the group teach students ensemble skills, music fundamentals and repertoire leading up to a collaborative performance with the ensemble. Having commissioned over sixty original works and arrangements, the ensemble has been active in bringing these works to a wider audience care of their 4 albums, publications and concerts. In 2002, they began their work with composer Mark Adam Watkins in a multi-year commissioned project for horn quartet and 7-piece jazz combo entitled simply, “The Show” fully realized in 2004 working with Music South. Their second recording project, Citrus, was released in 2006 focusing entirely on new music with Afro-Cuban, neo-classical and jazz influences. Their third album, Horns for the Holidays has met with critical acclaim and their fourth, released in Spring, 2011, is titled Our Time and features new music collaborations for horn quartet plus one.

Trio da Canção Brasileira

The main repertoire  of the Trio da Canção Brasileira (Brazilian Song Trio) is a set of songs in Portuguese language. It includes pieces originally written for voice, piano and horn and arrangements especially written for the Trio by the composer and horn player Daniel Havens, covering the variety of rhythms and forms that make up the Brazilian music framework.

The first piece originally written for horn, voice and piano by a Brazilian composer was a set of three songs composed, in 1969, by Radames Gnatalli upon poems by Manuel Bandeira: “Azulão”, “Acalanto para John Talbot” and “Canção”. In 1977, Lindembergue Cardoso (a composer from Bahia State) wrote “A Estrela”, also on a poem by Bandeira, extending the expressive possibilities of this ensemble bringing the contemporary music aesthetic to its repertoire.

The works of these two masters were essential for the assimilation of this kind of ensemble to the practices of Brazilian concert music. From the 1980s onwards several composers wrote to horn, voice and piano. Among these, we highlight the works “Dirty Poem” (1981), by Denise Garcia; “In Somnis” (1990), by Eli-Eri Moura; “Four Poems” (1997), by Marisa Rezende; “Vento Serrano” (2000), by Edmundo Villani-Cortes; “Camões No. 1” (2000), by Sergio Vasconcellos-Correa.

In this sense, the Trio da Canção Brasileira - formed by musicians of recognized competence -, have the goal to propagate this almost unknown repertoire. They performed in many cities of Brazil and toured in Central America showing the vast possibilities that the meeting between music and literature - specifically Brazilian poetry - can generate: a unique product, fully incorporated to our musical culture. 

Bruce Richards

Born in Michigan, but living and working in Belgium, Bruce Richards blends various schools of playing. Having studied with Neill Sanders, Johnny Pherigo and most importantly of all Francis Orval, Mr. Richards brings a diverse range of musical traditions to bear in his playing and teaching. It is this link with one Belgium's most famous musicians that took him to Belgium where he now makes his home. Since 1991 he has been Co-Principal Horn with the Liège Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2011 he became Professor of Horn at the Liège Royal Conservatory.

Mr. Richards also performs as Principal Horn with the Ictus Ensemble in Brussels specializing in contemporary music. He also performs with brass ensembles such as the Brass Label Brass Quintet and New Brass Directions. As a member of the Liège Horn Quartet he performed as Guest Artist in Banff, Canada and Kalamazoo, Michigan at their respective IHS Symposiums in 1998 & 2001.

Bruce is an active arranger and transcriber for brass quintet, brass ensemble and horn quartet. He has given Master Classes in chamber music, horn quartet playing and horn playing in general. In association with his post as Professor of Horn in Liège Bruce has taken on the challenge of a new summer music course in Spa, Belgium: The Conn-Selmer Academy. This brings together 8 highly developed young horn players eager to broaden their skills and horizons.

With the Liège Horn Quartet Mr. Richards recorded two discs: "Esquisses" and "Modern Classics"

Southeastern Korea Horn Ensemble

The Southeastern Korea Horn Ensemble was founded by professional players in the southeastern area of Korea. They are all professional players and performing in many orchestras including the Daegu Symphony Orchestra, Ulsan Symphony Orchestra, Changwon Philharmonic Orchestra, Gyeongsanbuk-do Provincial Symphony Orchestra, etc. After the first performance in 1997, this ensemble had performed numerous concerts till these days and the ensemble’s repertoire is many and various include works from the Baroque to Contemporary periods. Among many concerts, The Southeastern Korea Horn Ensemble receives recognition for their accomplishments from many audiences and deep affection for music making which they share with audiences from the Daegu, Busan, Ulsan City and surrounding areas. Also, The Southeastern Korea Horn Ensemble was invited 41st and 43rd International Horn Symposium and performed Korean style and world premiere music. Recently, this ensemble is making efforts to perform new horn ensemble music and promote Korean Music to the world.

Chamberosity

The “exciting, dynamic chamber music ensemble” Chamberosity has been critically acclaimed for the “joy-giving communicative quality” of its performances. Chamberosity is dedicated to the vast and rich chamber music repertoire. The core trio consists of Linda Sinanian, violin; Jeffrey Forden, horn; and Christine Doré, piano. The ensemble frequently expands its roster with guest artists, which creates a unique instrumental flexibility. This allows the group to present varied and diverse chamber music programs, from standard repertoire to often overlooked and rarely performed treasures. Chamberosity has been the ensemble-in-residence at the Stony Brook Summer Music Festival, the Music At Greenlawn concert series and the Siena Spirituality Center in the Hamptons.

Four Hornsmen of the Apocolypse

For over fifteen years, The Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse have captivated and excited audiences with their astonishing musicianship, technique and comical repartee. They pride themselves in their ability to connect with the audience and break the traditional barrier between the musicians and the listener. Over the years, The Hornsmen (yes they are aware there is a lady among them…) have performed throughout the United States for audiences at the symphony, college campuses, horn workshops, churches, arts festivals, public schools, public restrooms, farmer's markets, parking lots, hotel lobbies, and interstate rest areas.

Hailed as “absolute beasts” by some random Facebook user from Georgia, The Hornsmen have performed at venues such as the 2010 Midsouth Horn Workshop in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the 2009 International HornSymposiumin Macomb, Illinois, and a wide selection of notable colleges throughout the United States, in addition to performing as soloists with the St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra and the Compton Heights Band. Most recently, they completed a tour of Texas and a residency with Symphony Orchestra Augusta in addition to recording and releasing a CD, entitled “Intuitions”.

The Hornsmen not only entertain, but also educate. They have been called upon to teach masterclasses to students of all ages, present educational outreach programs in schools, and perform side-by-side with students and other world class performers across the country. Whether illustrating an elaborate, academic history of the horn or simply providing the answer to "why y'all gotta mash them buttons," the Four Hornsmen take great pleasure in sharing all of the wonderful intricacies about the horn and all of its idiosyncrasies.

Paul Bivol

Paul BIVOL  is a Romanian horn player living in Turkey. He was born on January 9th 1997 in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania and comes from a family of musicians. 

In 1999 after being invited by Turkey's  Ministry of Culture and Tourism invitation to attend the opening of the  Antalya State Opera and Ballet  his family moved to Turkey. His father is the Principal Horn of the Antalya State Opera and Ballet and his mother is a violinist with the same orchestra. in 2004 Paul was accepted to Antalya State Conservatory’s cello class. After 4 years of playing the cello he knew his true calling was the horn. Paul started playing horn in 2008, and was transfered immediately to the horn class as a result of an opening in the horn class.

Soon after he started horn in 2008 he won the 1^st Prize of XIV International Youth Music Festival Cometition "Hopes, Talents, Masters" (Dobrich, Bulgaria) . From 2010 he actively participated in Turkey's Children Symphony Orchestra (Doğuş Çocuk Senfoni Orkestrası) performing recitals and concerts with the group all over the country and abroad.

Chicago Horn Consort

The Chicago Horn Consort is a collection of established performers from the greater Chicago area. The group formed as a summer horn choir and quickly developed into a year-round ensemble with performances around the calendar.  We'd like to believe that our mission statement is to help audiences fall in love with the horn (but do they really need the help?). 

The CHC's membership performs with virtually every group and within every venue in and around Chicago, and many of our members travel to perform in the neighboring states. You might also find any one of our members with professorships at DePaul, Northeastern Illinois, Illinois Wesleyan, Valparaiso, and a host of other universities in the great Chicago area.  We are also pleased to have several talented arrangers among our members and so much of the music we perform is tailored specifically to our group.