Hello, dear colleagues of the Horn! I am a life member of the IHS and would like to congratulate all involved with our society for the fantastic work that has been done for almost a half century.
I was born in London, and after studying with Adrian Leaper, came to Brazil in 1977 and started playing in the Orchestra of the Municipal Theatre in Rio de Janeiro. It took me a while to get used to the heat, but I learned to love the rich culture and to appreciate the good-natured “carioca” people. I continued my studies in Rio with João Jeronimo Meneses and Zdenék Svab and became more involved with the music scene in Brazil, playing in other orchestras, namely the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra and The Petrobras Sinfônica, as well as solo, chamber work and commercial recording. In 1987 I joined the Villa-Lobos Wind Quintet, which this year celebrates 55 years of existence, and since then am proud to have been able to divulge Brazilian music with this group, recording many CDs, touring extensively, and playing over 1000 concerts in Brazil and overseas.
I have been teaching horn at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro since 2010 and have been lucky to have had some very talented students, some of which I hope will be able to attend IHS49-Natal. I was very fortunate to be able to find a gap in my busy schedule to participate in the IHS47-LA, and had a grand time with my Brazilian friends: Radegundis Tavares, Marcus Bonna, Adalto and Lucca Soares, whilst marveling at the amazing virtuosity of the international horn all-stars.
I have an obligation to play Brazilian music in the symposium, and one of my passions is the work of the wonderful Moacir Santos, an underated jazz composer from Pernambuco who immigrated to California in the 60´s. I thought it would be appropriate to play his “Melodia” for Horn and Orchestra. Moacir´s work has had somewhat of a revival, due to the research of Mario Adnet, Zé Nogueira and Andrea Ernest Dias, and I have been lucky to be able to have known Mr. Santos´s music as a member of the Ouro Negro band, a group created especially for playing this brilliant composer´s music.
Other works I will be playing are by Alexandre Schubert, a composer resident in Rio de Janeiro who is writing a piece especially for the symposium, and Orlando Alves, a professor of composition in the Federal University of Paraíba.
I hope that everyone will enjoy the hospitality of the “potiguar” people of Natal and would especially like to thank my friend Radegundis Tavares on organizing our IHS49-Natal!
