by Andrew Pelletier
I was very honored and a little amused that Mike Harcrow and the Horn and More team wanted to do a “Meet the People” feature with me—I'm always stunned when anyone shows interest in what I've done and try to do with the horn, believing that there are several thousand horn players more deserving or interesting than myself, but I'll try my best....
I was born and raised in Maine, in the Northeast of the USA, and started playing the horn in sixth grade. I quit through junior high school (I could not afford a horn and the school didn't have one for me to borrow) but picked it back up in senior high and have been trying to perfect it ever since. I attended the University of Southern Maine (GO HUSKIES!) for my undergraduate studies and found myself, at 18, playing in the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Maine's only professional orchestra. I played with the PSO for 5 seasons (undergrad plus one gap year), before heading to Los Angeles for graduate study with James Decker at the University of Southern California, earning my master’s degree in 1998 and the Doctor of Musical Arts in 2001. While in L.A. I was super lucky to freelance quite frequently, including for television and feature film studio recording sessions. I also played principal horn for the Santa Barbara Symphony and taught at a few community colleges. In 2004, I moved to Bowling Green, Ohio, to become the horn professor at Bowling Green State University. In my time at BGSU so far, I have played principal horn in Ann Arbor, Michigan (for 11 seasons), and principal horn for the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit (for 16 seasons), and I have been a frequent substitute player with the Toledo Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, in Columbus, Ohio. BGSU named me a Professor of Creative Arts Excellence in 2020, and I was elected the Chair of the Department of Music Performance Studies in 2023.
Now, my deep love and care of the IHS goes all the way to the very beginning, leafing through my former teacher's collection of old issues of The Horn Call. I was (and am) so excited by the history, the traditions, the personalities, and the music of our great instrument. I attended my first IHS Symposium in 1997 at the Eastman School of Music (bravo, Peter Kurau!), thanks to the Jon Hawkins Memorial Scholarship, and I was hooked. The IHS kindly gave me a platform to experiment as a solo artist, usually bringing new pieces I'd commissioned, and I've been lucky to perform at 12 Symposia (thus far—see you in July!) and have commissioned and premiered over 60 works for our instrument. I've made lifelong friends through the IHS, and I always come away from IHS events charged up to learn more, to try new things, to experiment. One of the greatest honors of my life was when I was elected President of the IHS, starting in 2018. It was a challenge to keep the Society healthy and moving forward during covid, but thanks to the extraordinary staff, volunteers, and the hard work of the Advisory Council, I feel like we escaped the pandemic in a good position for growth. I've been involved with the IHS for almost 30 years, now, and although I am currently enjoying a bit of a break in official duties for the Society, I know that this won't last forever, and I look forward to any opportunity I may have to help it grow and prosper, and help to inspire and develop horn players and teachers the world over. I am immensely proud to be an IHS Life Member, and I am always thankful for what the IHS has done for me.
