Alexander Grieve receiving the TOAN Lifetime Achievement Award from Roger Wilkins

Alexander Grieve was an outstanding Australian orchestral player, one of Australia's greatest musicians, and beloved for his affability and generosity. "He can make more music with one perfectly placed note than many people do in a lifetime." He was a professional musician, teacher, examiner, and recording artist and an active early member of the IHS.

Alex was a member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for thirty years, then principal horn of the Stonnington Symphony (a community orchestra in Melbourne) for many years. He also played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and many Australian orchestras, including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian Broadcast Company orchestras, Australian Pops Orchestra, and Australia Felix. He was still playing in area orchestras into his 80s "and still makes that magic sound."

Alex made a number of recordings, the most popular being Horn Masterworks (C112 in the Australian Music archives).

Alex was founder and director of the Melbourne Horn Club. He taught at all levels, "in retirement he spent much of his time developing horn players and assisting orchestras by being involved with management committees." He also was an accomplished artist and exhibited paintings and drawings in Australia and overseas.

Alex was awarded the Order of Australia medal in 1994 for services to community music and the TOAN (Australian National Orchestra) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

Alex was a member of the IHS Advisory Council (1971-1977) and was given the Punto award in 1986 at the Detmold, Germany IHS symposium. A tribute appears in the October 2006 issue of The Horn Call.

Eugene (Gene) Wade was principal horn of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (1972-2001) and a music educator with many successful students.

Gene grew up on a wheat farm in Wellington KS. He credits his early upbringing on the farm for teaching him the value of hard work. He began piano lessons with his mother in first grade and moved to horn in eighth grade, studying with Leo Ashcraft in the next town. He listened to symphony orchestras on the radio, and once a month his family traveled 35 miles to Wichita to hear the symphony.

Gene earned a bachelor's degree from Wichita State University, a master's degree from Northwestern University, and a performer's certificate at the Eastman School of Music. His teachers included Philip Farkas, Verne Reynolds, and Louis Stout.

Gene was known for his solid leadership of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra horn section, saying, "The main thing is to try to make things as easy and comfortable as possible with the greatest accuracy and with the best tone." He has appeared as a soloist with the Detroit Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, among others, and as a member of the Detroit Symphony Woodwind Quintet.

As a teacher, Gene has taught at Wichita State University, the University of Minnesota, Carleton College, Mankato State University, Wayne State University, the University of Windsor (Canada), and the University of Michigan. He has been a guest clinician and recitalist at regional and international workshops. Rick Seraphinoff (Indiana University) comments, "He was a very fine teacher for learning how to play the instrument consistently and easily, and for learning all the things one needs to know to be a successful orchestral player. It was from Gene that I got my basic knowledge of the standard orchestral excerpts during my undergraduate years, and was very grateful to have access to his thorough knowledge of them."

Gene was given the Punto award at the 2001 symposium at Kalamazoo MI. A profile appears in the August 2001 issue of The Horn Call.

Eugene Rittich played a remarkable 37 years in the Toronto Symphony (1952-1989), taught many fine students, and developed the Rittich mute, the prototype of the mute used by most horn players today. Fergus McWilliam, a former student and second horn in the Berlin Philharmonic, said, "As far as I am aware, there exists no other personality who has had as much influence on Canadian horn players as Eugene Rittich."

Eugene was born in Calgary, Alberta in 1928 to Hungarian parents. The following year, the family moved to Kelowna, a small farming community in British Columbia. His father had studied cello and was able to put together a string quartet. "The first classical music I think I ever heard was a string quartet. We didn't have a radio and there was no exposure to live music in those days, especially in a rural community and in the 30s." A member of the quartet persuaded the town to purchase band instruments, and Eugene chose an alto horn because, with only three keys, it looked easier than the other choices.

The family moved to Victoria BC in 1941, and Eugene studied with Douglas Kent, who switched him to horn. "Douglas Kent was my first horn teacher. He was probably the seminal influence in my musical career." In 1946, Eugene began studies at Victoria College, but academic life looked difficult, and when Kent suggested he audition for Curtis, Eugene decided to try a career in music.

Eugene traveled to Philadelphia in the fall of 1947 and auditioned for Mason Jones, who had just returned from his war service. Eugene was accepted and began his studies immediately. He noted, "Jones was a brilliant player, and I think I probably learned most by hearing him play. He was very meticulous about basic things."

On graduation in 1951, Eugene's ambition was to get a position in one of the major American orchestras, but he realized that if he won such a position, he would be drafted into the US Army. He decided to go to Toronto because it was the closest Canadian city and it was a music center. He joined the Musicians' Union and after the required three-month wait started playing for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). In the spring of 1952, the first horn of the Toronto Symphony left; Eugene auditioned and got the job.

He was principal horn of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1952 and was co-principal or associate from 1973 until he retired in 1989. He was principal horn of the CBC Symphony Orchestra (1952-1964) and the York Concert Society (1953-1965) and a founding member of the Toronto Winds and the Toronto Woodwind Quintet.

The Toronto Symphony and CBC Symphony shared a number of personnel and so had compatible schedules. It was through the CBC that Eugene had the opportunity to work with composer Igor Stravinsky. "The CBC Symphony was well-known through its broadcasts for doing a lot of contemporary music and for being a virtuoso reading orchestra. Stravinsky was interested in recording all his music and so a deal was reached…. Robert Kraft would lead the rehearsals and then Stravinsky would conduct the concerts…. He had a magic touch."

Eugene also studied privately with Philip Farkas (1967), Frantisek Solc (1971), and Arnold Jacobs (1973). Farkas used the bell throat size of Eugene's Kruspe horn as the prototype for the Holton H179 model. Eugene traveled to Brno, Czechoslovakia to study with Solc and learn about the Bohemian style of playing, "because our tradition of horn playing comes from there."

Eugene commissioned John Weinzweig's Divertimento No. 7 for horn and strings and Oskar Morawetz's Sonata for Horn and Piano and premiered both works on CBC radio in 1980, the divertimento with the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra and the sonata with Patricia Parr. A number of other works were dedicated to him.

In addition to teaching and conducting at the University of Toronto (from 1962), Eugene worked for many years with students in the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and, in the summers, with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada (founded in 1960). His students have been prize-winners in Prague, Munich, CBC, and Toulon competitions, play in orchestras throughout Canada, in the US, and around the world, and are now themselves horn teachers and music educators.

Eugene developed the Rittich mute beginning in the early 1960s because he couldn't find a good mute. "The only ones were commercial models which had no low register so I started to experiment. I tried a plain cone, which was simple to put together. Surprisingly it worked very well. I started to make and improve them, changing the materials and proportions I used." The Rittich mute is used all over the world and has often been copied.

Eugene is unique in having been named a Punto recipient twice – in 1988 at the Potsdam NY symposium and in 1998 at the Banff, Canada symposium. Tributes to Eugene appear in the November 1998 and October 2006 issues of The Horn Call, and profile in the April 1990 issue.