Guy Woolfenden, a former horn player with the National Youth Orchestra and Sadler's Wells as well as the composer of a horn concerto premiered by Pip Eastop in 1995, has taken over as President of the Incorporated Society of Musicians for 2002-03.

In the summer of 2001 the TransAtlantic Horn Quartet hosted a residential course for horn players at the Britten Pears School in Snape (reports Michael Thompson). As far as I am aware, this was the first of its kind in this country. This is a surprising fact, given the quality of horn playing in the UK. Residential horn courses have taken place for some decades in Europe, Scandinavia, Australia and the USA including the TAHQ's own summer school in Macon, Georgia. Interestingly, this year's course (our third) will see the participation of seven British players. Four of the seven were in Snape last year and it will be interesting to get their perspectives on the two different venues. Snape is probably familiar to many of us Brits but was a first-time experience for our two American colleagues, Dave Ohanian and Skip Snead. They were enchanted by the Suffolk landscape and we had glorious weather, the like of which I have rarely seen in the twenty-something years I have played at Snape Maltings and the Aldeburgh Festival.

As well as some lovely evenings in Aldeburgh's pubs and a couple of great parties, we were invited to the Red House, home of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, and most importantly, did some serious horn playing. I suspect that one of the most interesting aspects of the course was seeing the similarities and differences between the Brits and the Americans. When our British students visit Macon this year' they will be in for some treats and maybe some surprises. The most obvious treat is that Macon has a host of wonderful antebellum buildings. That's pre-war to you and me; but we are talking about the Civil War as Dave Ohanian would call it, or the War between the States as Skip would have it. The campus at Mercer University is a mixture of antebellum and state-of-the-art modern with a brand new music building which houses a concert hall and recording studio. The surprises will be a two-way street. The Brits I hope will gain something from seeing at close quarters the self-discipline and dedication of their US counterparts as well as learning about 'Greeks', 'Grits', and the true meaning of "Y'all". While our American cousins might learn something of British savoir-faire and how to pronounce 'Macon'.

National Youth Orchestra principal horn Tim Thorpe was the soloist in the first performance of Martin Ellerby's Concerto for Horn and Orchestra. The concert, which was be the culmination of Tim's time with the Hertfordshire Youth Orchestra, took place on July 28 at the Royal Academy of Music where he currently has been attending the Junior Department. "It was touch and go whether Tim could fit this in to his busy schedule, but, fortunately, he had a day free before going off to do national service with the National Youth Orchestra," reports Phil Ellis of the Hertfordshire Music Service, who commissioned the work. "Also, it was breath-holding time while we saw if Martin Ellerby could find a space to compose it. Naturally, Tim has been central to this project, but it was so important to me that Martin composed this work for Tim. He is a talented composer and he has written a number of very fine concertos in recent years. It will be published, in due course, by Studio." This autumn Tim moves on to the Guildhall School of Music.

Richard Berry is the horn player in The Golden Section. The group is a recasting of the famed The Wallace Collection, a move that has followed John Wallace's appointment as Principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Charlotte Harris reports from the second Berkshire horn workshop.
Having put the emphasis on ensemble playing in our first Berkshire horn, day we thought we would try a different slant this year. Steve Stirling came along as our guest artist, adding his inspiring playing and good humour to the day. He picked a very accessible programme which the students enjoyed, and included pieces which some of them were currently working on. As Steve's recital followed on from a masterclass where he did a brilliant job of trying to persuade every last ounce of expression out of the participants - "when you feel yourself blushing you've probably got it about right" - he had to make a point of living dangerously himself. (He did admit that he prefers to.) It was just what our students needed - it would have been all too easy to have got all technical, but the bottom line was instead always to be musical.

It was good to gather together young horn players from across the county 26 in all - to give them the chance to play in carefully graded ensembles with lots of specialist horn staff on hand. Steve happily mucked in with Peter Widgery, Simon de Souza and myself with the coaching. Perhaps it goes without saying, but it was great to see what a good-natured bunch the students were, and how well they all got on together. Chris Huning very generously came along with the Paxman stand, which served well to put a face to the Paxman name for the younger players. He may not have sold any horns that day, but he had a good run on oils and pull-throughs after Simon de Souza's explicit maintenance session.

The day was a joint venture between Berkshire Young Musicians'Trust and the BHS, and benefited from a bursary from the Society. I feel that it is very important to make sure that young horn players get these good ensemble opportunities, hear first-rate live performances, and simply appreciate that,despite playing what is something of a shortage instrument these days, they are not alone. Without the support of the Society it would not be possible to invite a soloist and so many staff, so I would like to thank the Society and acknowledge the benefits of having an educational fund to support such regional events.

The British Horn Society becomes a fully-fledged charity. After a review conducted with the Charity Commission, the British Horn Society has been granted registered charity status in its own right, as charity number 1090599. Up to now, the BHS has operated as a subsidiary of the British Horn Trust, under whose auspices John Wates set it up. The new status will allow the BHS to set up, in conjunction with the Charities Aid Foundation, a Gift Aid scheme. Gift Aid, which is now widely used by other charities, does not cost members a penny, and will allow the BHS to reclaim the UK income tax paid on membership subscriptions. The extra money that this scheme will raise will enable the BHS to run more and even better Festivals and other special horn events, and further develop its activities. The Charities Aid Foundation will be sending out the necessary forms to members.

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra recently premiered an exciting new piece for 5 horns and orchestra, "Imagin'd Corners".  Written by the orchestra's composer-in-association, Julian Anderson, it featured the CBSO's horn players in the Symphony Hall echo chambers and in different positions on the concert platform. The press gave it an enthusiastic reception - Geoffrey Norris in the Daily Telegraph wrote:

"Julian Anderson was appointed in 2001 for a three-year period, and his Imagin'd Corners is the first fruit of their relationship. It lasts about 12 minutes, is virile, energetic and purposeful, and is packed with ideas pithily expressed. The CBSO, under Principal Conductor Sakari Oramo, gave it its premiere here in a programme containing two other works that, in their day, heralded new musical beginnings - Beethoven's First Symphony and Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht.

Anderson, born in 1967, has been building a glowing reputation in recent times, with important BBC commissions (The Crazed Moon, The Stations of the Sun), a number of works for the London Sinfonietta (Khorovod, Alhambra Fantasy), and some highly acclaimed pieces for dance (Three Parts off the Ground, Towards Poetry and The Bird Sings with its Fingers). Whereas one of the greatest problems for contemporary composers is not so much to secure a premiere but to have a piece played a second time, Anderson seems to have bucked the system with works that have entered the regular repertoire. Imagin'd Corners is a good example of why that should be so.

The title comes from one of John Donne's Holy Sonnets. It is interesting to look beyond the two chosen words, however, and see the context in which they occur, for it is perhaps not too fanciful to infer that this has also governed the music's temperament: "At the round earth's imagin'd corners blow/Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise/From death, you numberless infinities/Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go."

Imagin'd Corners is essentially a work of joy and renewal, using, however, a phalanx of horns, rather than trumpets, to sound the clarion call to life. The five horns are central to the music's sonority. One of the them stays put in the main body of the orchestra; the other four are peripatetic, starting off-stage, then moving to the front of the platform and finally to the sides.

The horns' richness is echoed in the general orchestration, but in a way that seethes with variety of texture, dynamics and colour, from the atmospheric stillness of the opening to the high density and tumult as the piece reaches its final climax. This is a fine score, full of optimism and real creative drive."

The soloists were Mark Phillips, Peter Currie, Martin Wright, Peter Dyson and Rachel McLoughlin.  "Imagin'd Corners" will also be performed at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in London on September 11th 2002.

Horn players throughout the world will surely be delighted to hear that Dennis Brain's Alexander Bb single horn is on its way to what surely must be an ideal home. The Royal Academy of Music in London is paying an undisclosed sum for this historic instrument which, in recent years, has been stored at the home of Dennis's widow, Yvonne Brain. The horn will be on permanent display as part of the Academy's York Gate Collection, where it joins another important horn, that of Adolf Borsdorf, the first professor of horn there and arguably the 'father' of British horn playing. "This is the right place for the instrument", said RAM principal, Professor Curtis Price. "We will treat it as a crown jewel". The collection, which was opened on October 21 last year, is regarded as a living museum and consists of instruments that are both playable and played. It is hoped that the Dennis Brain horn can occasionally be used in special concerts, in which it is likely to be played by players such as the holders of the Dennis and Aubrey Brain chairs, Academy professors Richard Watkins and Michael Thompson.

Sarah Willis has recently been appointed as fourth horn of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In this, she is the first woman and British player to become a member of the BPO horn section. Sarah studied horn at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London in the late 1980s. She then went to Berlin and studied with Fergus McWilliam. In 1991 she was appointed second horn at the Berlin State Opera (Unter den Linden). She is a member of the Consortium Classicum and has spent a month with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as guest fourth horn. Sarah has recently recorded Antonio Rosetti's Concerto in F major for Two Horns and Orchestra on second horn with Klauss Wallendorf  of the BPO, with the SWR-Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Frieberg conducted by Holger Schroter-Seebeck. There are also plans to record three more double horn concertos by Rosetti on the same label.

John Ryan has recent been appointed 3rd horn of the London Symphony Orchestra. John is 22, and has just graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied with Jeffrey Bryant, Richard Bissill and Hugh Seenan. A native of the Republic of Ireland, he initially learned the horn with Padraig Diggin in Dublin. He was the winner of the brass prize and a finalist in the RTE Young Musician of the Year Competition in 1998. John joined the European Union Youth Orchestra at the age of 16, and has been a member for the last six years.

After ten years as principal horn of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Jonathan Barrett is moving to Wales in January to take up his new appointment as principal horn of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Jonathan did a week's trial in Wales, and Richard Hickox the principal conductor offered him the job immediately. Jonathan studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and was offered the principal horn position of the RLPO and the 3rd horn position of the RPO at the age of twenty. He decided on the Liverpool job as he wanted the experience of being principal horn. Over the last ten years he has made many recordings with the orchestra and has frequently performed as a soloist. We look forward to hearing Jonathan's golden tones on the BBC airwaves.

A number of top horn playing jobs are currently vacant in the UK. With John Ryan having decided to join the London Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's principal horn position is being advertised again. The principal horn job at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is also waiting to be filled, as are the second horn positions at the London Symphony Orchestra (Bill Haskins having recently left the orchestra), Opera North and Royal Scottish National. Players wishing to perhaps see what is available further a field could well look at the web site www.musicalchairs.eu.com which lists a number of vacant horn positions throughout Europe.

After 11 years in the second horn seat at Opera North, Douglas Scarfe has closed the gig bag for the last time and joined the company's management team as Concerts Manager and PA to the Musical Director (Steven Sloane). In doing this he becomes the latest of a long line of horn players who have made a career move into management. Many people will know that Dougie has been suffering from Temporo Mandibular Joint Disfunction, a painful jaw condition, which despite a year off playing and a good deal of treatment has failed to improve. Dougie is very keen to raise awareness of this condition and is preparing an article for a future edition of The Horn Magazine. "By raising awareness of the existence of TMJ Disfunction", he says, "I hope that I might be able to prevent someone else having to give up their career as a player due to this condition".

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (conducted by Sir Roger Norrington) has now finished its Mahler 1 tour using horns such as the composer would have envisaged. The section posed for photographer Jim Anderson at the Cité de la Musique, Paris in late September.
Left to right: (back row) Gavin Edwards (Jiracek), Nicholas Benz (Kimura), Julian Baker (Uhlmann), Robert Evans (Ganter);
(front row) Chris Larkin (Engel), Huw Evans (Ganter), Martin Lawrence (Dehmal), Roger Montgomery (Erste Productivegenossenschaft der Musikinstrumentenmacher Wien)

"For years I had wanted to play the Sonata for Four Horns by Andrew Downes on Vienna horns,” says BHS member, Jim Lowe. Jim, who often plays with the Wiener Waldhornverein, believes that the piece is particularly suited to these instruments. A couple of years ago the opportunity arose not o nly to play it, but also to record it. Viennese horn player, Roland Horvath and he thought carefully about which players to ask and believe that they subsequently put together a good quartet. The project grew and ended up with two CDs being recorded. These contain four works by Downes as well as other music both old and new. In particular, Jim recommends Erhard Seyfried's Missa Melodrammatica as being a striking piece. Both the CDs were released in late 2001.

Paxman is looking to fill a long existing gap in its model range, unfilled since production of the Series 2 was stopped. Currently, the Paxman brand is found on top professional instruments or on the Studenti, which is aimed specifically at beginners. The more advanced school-age student or amateur on a limited budget currently has to look to manufacturers such as Holton and Yamaha for a horn designed specifically for them. Now Paxman has, at the prototype stage, a full double horn to fill this gap, which is expected to retail at around £2,500. The company expects to be ready to take orders for the, as yet unnamed, model by the time of the Frankfurt Musikmesse in March 2002.

After two years as a member of the National Youth Orchestra, British Horn Society member Tim Thorpe (18) has been appointed to the position of principal horn. Like so many leading horn players Tim comes from Watford, and is already principal of the Hertfordshire County Youth Orchestra as well as the Junior Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra. In addition he is a pupil at t he Purcell School, where he holds a scholarship under the government's Music and Ballet scheme. He leads the horn section in both the school's symphony and chamber orchestras. In October 2001 Tim made his debut at London's Purcell Room, where he played a solo recital in his school's Instrumentalist Concert. In March he is scheduled to play a solo in the Stillgoe Concert at the Royal Festival Hall with the Junior Academy Orchestra, a month later representing that institution by giving a recital in Leeds city library. Tim was the winner in the London round of the brass section of the BBC Young Musicians competition. He is taught by BHS committee member Simon de Souza.

Lisa Cooper, a third year student of Derek Taylor´s at the Royal Academy, who is currently studying on an exchange programme in Essen Hochschule, Germany, has recently been sucessful in her first audition in Germany for Pratikannt in the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (also known as Duisburger Philhamoniker). She will spend a year exploring the repertoire of forty operas, twenty ballets and twelve symphony concerts, as well as playing elsewhere.

Robin Moffatt's web site, www.hornplayer.net has a new section devoted to teachers worldwide. 217 have so far registered, but Robin says that more are always welcome.