2020 International Horn Society Composition Contest
en español
en françaisPrizes: $1250 for Each Division
- The Featured Composition Division: Compositions in this division are works of moderate difficulty. “In the featured DIVISION, the horn part should be playable by the entire spectrum of Hornists within the International Horn Society: Students, Amateurs, and Professionals. It should have musical content that would have the integrity to honor the professional hornists—yet within the pitch and technical range of the panorama of student and amateur players.
- The Virtuoso Composition Division: Compositions in this division have no difficulty limitation and are from one of the following instrumentation categories.
INSTRUMENTATION
FEATURED DIVISION:
- Compositions for Horn Ensemble (two or more players, all horns)
VIRTUOSO DIVISION:
- Solo Horn featured with large ensemble. (The large ensemble may include any group of electronic, acoustic instruments and/or voices.)
- Horn with chamber ensemble of three or more performers (one horn part only) (The chamber ensemble may include any combination of electronic instruments, acoustic instruments and/or voices.)
- Compositions for solo horn and keyboard instrument. (Keyboard instruments may include piano, harpsichord, organ, electronic keyboard, or mallet percussion.
- Compositions for Solo Horn (alone/unaccompanied)
- Compositions for Solo Horn with Vocal Ensemble
For more information, rules, and electronic submission see the Composition Contest Portal at The International Horn Society website.
ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED by DECEMBER 1, 2020
If you have any questions about any of the rules, write for clarification: re-faust@wiu.edu.
Randall E. Faust, COORDINATOR, COMPOSITION CONTEST
Recondita Armonia
Corno, not Corona
by Anneke Scott
The beginning of the Coronavirus coincided with the tail end of a long Beethoven Symphonies tour with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Whilst the orchestra is officially based in London, the musicians are a very international bunch. We find ourselves getting together for very intense projects and then going our separate ways. When you’re on tour, it’s easy to become slightly distanced from what is happening in the news. We were all hearing various things from our home countries and also picking up snippets of news from the countries in which we toured, but I think we were all aware that something was coming. We had about two months off between the end of this part of the tour (Chicago) and the beginning of the next part (London). Very sadly everything has now been cancelled, leaving a feeling of a gaping lacuna for us all.
The musicians from the ensemble continue to be in touch with one another - our principal trombone Adam Woolf immediately sprang into action with a rather nice idea, a project he called “Bach Together”. All the IHS readers are more than welcome to contribute to it! The idea is that we can all remotely add our voice a virtual choir and orchestra performing one of Bach’s chorale settings “Ich will hier bei dir stehen” from the St Matthew Passion. You can find the project here: http://adamwoolf.com/bach/
Adam knew I’d recently been given a beautiful two-valved piston horn and wrote asking whether I wanted to use my “new toy” for the project. The problem is that this instrument is nowhere near A440. However, I had just the thing for Bach chorales - my Corno da Tirarsi. This is an incredible instrument with quite an extraordinary story.
Antonio Pirrotto - "Recondita Armonia" from Tosca
Hello everybody from Italy. In this strange period I want share with you and with all the world a single version of "Recondita Armonia" from Tosca of Puccini.
Enjoy listening,
Antonio
Dr. Don Greene - Improving your skills as a musician during the pandemic
Dr. Don Greene, a peak performance psychologist, has taught his comprehensive approach to peak performance mastery at The Juilliard School, Colburn School, New World Symphony, Los Angeles Opera Young Artists Program, Vail Ski School, Perlman Music Program, and US Olympic Training Center. During his thirty-two year career, he has coached more than 1,000 performers to win professional auditions and has guided countless solo performers to successful careers. Some of the performing artists with whom Dr. Greene has worked have won jobs with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Opera, Montreal Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem, to name just a few. Of the Olympic track and field athletes he worked with up until and through the 2016 Games in Rio, 14 won medals, including 5 gold. Dr. Greene has authored eight books including Audition Success,Fight Your Fear & Win, and Performance Success. In 2017, Dr. Greene was named a TED Educator and collaborated with musician Dr. Annie Bosler to produce the TED-Ed How to practice effectively…for just about anything. The video went viral receiving over 31 million views across Facebook and YouTube.
Improving your skills as a musician during the pandemic
by Dr. Don Greene
IHS 52 Cancellation
It is with great sadness and with a very heavy heart that we announce the cancellation of IHS52 at the University of Oregon, Eugene. As the months of this pandemic have progressed, it has became clear that the health and safety of our members, vendors and the concert-going public should be first and foremost in our minds.
With the University moving to online instruction for the duration of its Summer Session, and International travel bans still enforced, it is clear that it would be impossible for the Society to move forward with having our Symposium in August.
The Advisory Council would like to express our great thanks and appreciation to Lydia Van Dreel for her excellent organization and her tireless work on this Symposium. Later this summer, we will be announcing this year’s honorees, the new members of our Advisory Council, and will also be unveiling IHS53, so watch www.hornsociety.org for these very important announcements.
The International Horn Society would not exist without our members, and it is for the protection of all that we have made this difficult decision. We look forward to the first opportunity we have to come together, learn from one another, play music together, and enjoy the nobility and beauty of our most incredible instrument.
- All participant and exhibitor fees will be fully refunded
- Refunds are automatic — there is no need for you to do anything at the moment
- When your refund has been processed, you will be notified by email
- It may take until the end of May for all refunds to be fully processed
Your patience and understanding is greatly appreciated
Please understand that these are unprecedented times for everyone, and the University of Oregon is handling numerous cancellations and restructuring of courses for online teaching. Your patience is appreciated.
