IHS is going a little greener! We are no longer automatically sending out physical membership cards, because you can now print your own if you would like. Log into your account and click on MY PROFILE in the gray menu bar at the top of the screen, then scroll down and click on the IHS INFORMATION tab. You should see a blue button, "Click this button to receive an email with a link to a downloadable pdf membership card." Or, if you would like us to send you a physical card, contact Membership Coordinator Elaine Braun

Join CSO trumpet John Hagstrom to explore the history of the CSO Brass. You’ll hear the sound of a few historical CSO instruments and hear stories from some of the most famous CSO brass musicians, including Adolph Herseth, Dale Clevenger, Jay Friedman and Arnold Jacobs, as they explain their part in creating the transformational energy that only the CSO can deliver. Premiering December 7 on CSOtv and YouTube.

There are Two Divisions

1. 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.
2. The Virtuoso Composition Division: Compositions in this division had no difficulty limitation and were from one of the following instrumentation categories.

Instrumentation

FEATURED DIVISION:

• Compositions for solo horn and keyboard instrument. (Keyboard instruments may include piano, harpsichord, organ, electronic keyboard, or mallet percussion.)

VIRTUOSO DIVISION:

• Compositions for Solo Horn (alone/unaccompanied)
• Compositions for Solo Horn with Vocal Ensemble
• Compositions for Horn Ensemble (two or more players, all horns)
• Horn with chamber ensemble of three or more players (one horn part only) (The chamber ensemble may include any combination of electronic instruments, acoustic instruments and/or voices.  Electronic instruments may be live or pre-recorded. Acoustic instruments may include Wagner Tuben.)
• Solo Horn featured with large ensemble. (The large ensemble may include any group of electronic, acoustic instruments and/or voices. Electronic instruments may be live or pre-recorded. Acoustic instruments may include Wagner Tuben.)

Contest Rules

1. Application Rules include the following:
   1. Scores in PDF Format. Personal name must be removed from the score. MP3 recordings of the composition. Personal information (such as embedded composer’s name) should be removed from the file. Maximum size is 30MB.
   2. A brief description of the work in MS-Word.doc format
   3. An on-line application, which will include the name of composition, entered as well as contact information (full name, address, phone number and email address).
      • Composer’s name and address must not appear on the scores, recording file or description file. All works are assigned a number to guarantee anonymity during judging.
      • Entry fee of $25 U.S.D. for each composition must be paid at the time of submission via the Horn Society website.
      • Entries must be received no later than December 1, 2022. Incomplete entries or entries submitted in an incorrect format will not be considered.
      • No more than one composition per division per composer is allowed.
      • Works submitted must have been composed during the past four years, and any composition that has received support from the International Horn Society Meir Rimon Commissioning Assistance Fund is not eligible. Also ineligible are Officers and Staff of the International Horn Society—as well as the most recent winners of the Composition Contest.
2. Files will not be returned and will become the property of the International Horn Society. Intellectual rights remain the property of the composer.
3. The panel of judges may withhold the awards if the works submitted are deemed unqualified to receive such distinction. Judges may assign Honorable Mention status to compositions not selected for a monetary award.
4. Contestants may expect to receive the results of the contest by February 15, 2023. Results of the contest, including a description of the winning compositions and composers’ biographies will appear in an issue of The Horn Call, the journal of the International Horn Society (circulation: over 3,000 members from 55 countries).
5. The winner of each division will receive a prize of $1250 U.S.D. The winning compositions will be performed or featured, if possible, at an International Horn Society Workshop. The winning composers will have the option of having the  work published by the IHS Online Music Sales.
6. Entrance into this competition constitutes acceptance of Application Rules.

We had a record number of eighty-eight, (88!) compositions submitted from sixteen (16) different countries.  Among this fine group of Horn compositions submitted, the judges have made the following selections:

The prize-winning composition for The Featured Division:

• Invocation for Eight Horns by Keaton Marek of Bruceville, Texas

The judges also made two Honorable Mention Citations in the Featured Division:

• Guiding Light for Horn Quartet or four-part Horn Choir by Chase Hampton of Hazel Green, Alabama and
• Pianto for Horn Quartet by Håkon Guttormsen of Copenhagen, Denmark.

The prize-winning composition for The Virtuoso Division:

• I Threw a Shoe at a Cat - Variations for Solo Horn by Kateryna (Catherine) Likhuta of St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia.

The judges also made four Honorable Mention Citations in the Virtuoso Division:

• Three Pieces for a Newborn for Horn and Vocal Ensemble by Álvaro Artuñedo of Giessen, Germany
• Legacy Concerto for Horn, Percussion, Timpani, Harp, and Strings by Aaron Jay Kernis of New York, New York
• Jam and Toast for Solo Horn by Aaron Houston of Tallahassee, Florida
• Meccanicorno for Horn and Prepared Piano by Theo Chandler of Houston, Texas

pdf This list (567 KB)  provides you with contact information about all of the participating composers. I urge everyone to take a good look at the list of composers and compositions that were a part of the contest. If you see a work or a composer that might be of interest to you, please contact that composer. That composer will, no doubt, be happy for your interest in their music. You might be interested in the particular piece that they submitted for the contest, or you might want to commission that composer to write a specific piece for you.

Randall Faust, Composition Contest Coordinator

2020 Composition Contest Report,  pdf Part 3 of 3 (68 KB)

The IHS announces a new calendar and changes to 2020-2021 IHS Scholarship Competitions!

What’s new?

IHS Scholarship competition deadlines will be spread out over the entire year:

• Dec. 1 Tuckwell (includes recordings) 
• Jan. 1 Mansur (essay/letter only--no recording)
• Feb. 1 Frizelle (includes recordings)
• Mar. 1 Hawkins (includes recordings)
• Apr. 1 Premiere Soloist: virtual prelim, live finals round on-line during IHS 53!

Repertoire requirements have been updated to include unaccompanied solos, and optional piano 

First competition of the year: Barry Tuckwell award

• Application deadline December 1, 2020
• Age requirement: 18-24 on January 1, 2020
• Quick-look application requirements
  Two essays, and a recording(s) of the applicant playing:
  1. one etude
  2. two orchestral excerpts
  3. one movement of a concerto/sonata/unaccompanied piece
       (Piano accompaniment is optional)
• Award: One award of up to $500 will be used to help pay the registration, room and board, and travel costs to attend any master class, workshop or symposium in which the applicant will study with master hornists and perform.
• Award: The winner will also receive a one-year IHS membership.

The Barry Tuckwell Award was established in 1997 to honor the IHS Founding President and is designed to encourage and support worthy horn students as they pursue education and performance opportunities by attending and participating in masterclasses and workshops throughout the world.

Click here for more details and application requirements

More info to come regarding the other competitions, check the website for changes!