Sejam muito bem vindos, caros amigos trompistas, à edição de março de Horn and More!

Depois de longas férias de verão e festividades, estamos prontos para iniciar nossa temporada. Sim! Como muitos de vocês sabem, a temporada de concertos, em muitas partes do hemisfério sul, inicia-se em fevereiro/março. A temporada por aqui está recheada de incríveis concertos com diversas homenagens à Rachmaninov e, para a alegria dos trompistas, Gustav Mahler também está recebendo uma atenção especial por aqui. Eu mesmo irei executar, somente no primeiro semestre de 2023, as sinfonias 1, 3, 4 e 9 de G. Mahler. Maravilha, não é?

Gostaria de agradecer a todos os que têm contribuído com a Horn and More com conteúdos tão relevantes e que, mês a mês, enriquecem nosso conhecimento. Sobre o mês de março, há diversos assuntos interessantes:

Feature – Cuban Dances, por Sarah Willis
Latin America – Sarah Willis in Venezuela, por Gabriella Ibarra, Liber Oscher, e José José Gimenez
Artist and Ensemble – Eastern Standard, Part 2: The Repertoire, por Heidi Lucas
Fearless Performance – Your Why is Bigger Than Your Worries, por Jeff Nelsen e Katy Webb
Europe – Interview with Annemarie Federle, por Austris Apenis
Composer Spotlight – Zenobia Powell Perry, por Caiti Beth McKinney
Pedagogy – Dispelling the Fear of Heights, por Ursula Paludan Monberg
IHS 55 – Discover Université de Montréal, por The IHS 55 Promotional Team

É realmente maravilhoso fazer parte de uma comunidade vibrante e motivada! Depois de tanto conteúdo excelente, se você ficou inspirado em contribuir, por favor, entre em contato conosco. A International Horn Society é nossa e ela só é possível com a contribuição de cada um de nós que está disposto a compartilhar arte, música, conhecimento, tempo e presença.

E por falar em presença, também gostaria de chamar a atenção de vocês para o nosso 55° simpósio que, como sabem, acontecerá na linda Montreal, Canadá. Louis-Philippe Marsolais e sua equipe têm divulgado, nas últimas semanas, diversas informações sobre os Featured Artists e o evento como um todo, aumentando ainda mais nossa vontade e ansiedade em participar. Se você ainda não visitou o website do 55° simpósio - ihs55.org - por favor, considere inteirar-se das novidades e iniciar seu planejamento para estarmos juntos - presencialmente - no mês de julho, em Montreal, Canadá. Mal posso esperar por isso!

Sinceramente,

Dr. Lucca Zambonini, IHS Advisory Council

by Caiti Beth McKinney

Hello everyone!

This month, I want to talk about a composer who, while having a limited repertoire for the horn, deserves more of our attention. Zenobia Powell Perry was born in 1908 in Boley, Oklahoma, a town founded in 1905 by Black people who had been formerly enslaved, as well as people from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. There can be no doubt that Powell Perry’s heritage and upbringing influenced her music and her career. Her grandfather, who had been enslaved and later freed, taught the young Zenobia spirituals and songs that would have a noticeable impact on her compositions. During her collegiate studies at the historically Black Tuskegee Institute, Powell Perry was encouraged to compose by William L. Dawson, a renowned composer in his own right. As a result, Powell Perry attended the University of Wyoming to complete her master’s in composition, where she received instruction from Darius Milhaud (a member of Le Six) and Allan Arthur William. Zenobia was incredibly active in uplifting her community. For example, she worked closely with Eleanor Roosevelt (who would become one of her dear mentors and friends) to facilitate a program for training Black teachers. She was also active in the Civil Rights Movement.

Zenobia Powell Perry composed two pieces which feature the horn: Elegy for clarinet, two horns, and two bassoons, and Three Pieces for Horn and Piano, written between 1973 and 1983. The first movement of the three, Prelude, is tuneful and song-like, evoking the human voice in the horn line. Episode I, on the other hand, is bold and declarative, which demands an entirely different tone color from the horn player. Episode II, marked “Lively,” is just that—a joyful, metrically-shifting romp for the performers, culminating in a cadenza that offers horn players the chance to show off their virtuosity. Please enjoy it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ImDPbR8gY

If you’re interested, check out my podcast where I interview diverse composers who write for horn. Caiti Beth https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/represent-the-podcast/id1669553007

English version

por Gabriella Ibarra, Liber Oscher y José José Gimenez 

Con gran emoción los cornistas venezolanos recibieron y disfrutaron de la presencia de la singular y muy querida Sarah Willis. En su primera visita al país, Sarah estuvo trabajando con los chicos del Sistema Nacional de Orquestas y como venezolana me complace enormemente saber que la Escuela Nacional de Corno en Venezuela se mantiene en pie, dedicada con amor y excelencia a la formación continua de las nuevas generaciones de cornistas. Con orgullo aplaudo de pie la labor de todos los talleristas y profesores, pero en especial reconozco y agradezco el esfuerzo de los maestros Liber Oscher y José José Gimenez quienes además nos han brindado una breve reseña de tal evento, gracias!

En el marco de las celebraciones por el 47 aniversario de El Sistema, Caracas recibe a una de las celebridades más reconocidas del mundo de la música clásica. Se trata de Sarah Willis, cornista de la Orquesta Filarmónica de Berlín, y una figura notable en el mundo del periodismo musical. En su canal de Youtube, recibe miles de vistas en el mundo entero gracias a sus Hangouts, un programa de entrevistas a personalidades del mundo de la música. 

La noticia de la llegada de Sarah a Caracas tomó al Centro de Acción Social para la Música por sorpresa, noticia recibida con desbordante entusiasmo por su fanaticada de El Sistema: aquéllos quienes ya habían compartido con ella durante el evento "Encuentros" con Gustavo Dudamel en Los Ángeles, así como también aquellos que anhelaban conocerla en persona algún día. 

Su visita tenía un objetivo especial: darles un regalo a la nueva generación de jóvenes cornistas de la Sinfónica Nacional Infantil de Venezuela, trabajando con ellos en dos jornadas enteras con clases individuales y grupales. Los chicos de la SNIV se nutrieron de información relevante sobre la técnica del corno, la interpretación de obras de repertorio solista y respuestas a todas las inquietudes sobre la carrera y sobre el manejo de los nervios, tema que Sarah manejó con especial delicadeza y empatía, revelando que ella en sus inicios también enfrentó duros desafíos en un mundo altamente competitivo y compartió estrategias de mucha utilidad para combatir la ansiedad en la ejecución.

Después le tocó el turno a los colegas de las orquestas profesionales. La Escuela Nacional de Cornos, con el patrocinio de la fundación Hilti, tuvo la oportunidad de brindar dos días de Masteclasses a jóvenes profesionales de las orquestas de El Sistema, que incluyó trabajo de repertorio solista, calentamiento, técnica y un seccional de la 3ra Sinfonía de Mahler, que sería interpretada el 18 de febrero con la Orquesta Sinfónica “Simón Bolívar” y la propia Sarah Willis en la sección de cornos. 

Sarah posee una metodología de enseñanza simple, que permite enfocarse en lo esencial del buen tocar del instrumento. En su discurso pedagógico, Sarah  menciona  frecuentemente metáforas que ayudan eficazmente  a entender el funcionamiento del sonido en la interpretación musical. Su forma de dar una clase maestra es muy bien guiada con dos ideas fundamentales: ataques perfectos siempre, y un hermoso sonido. Estas dos ideas guían el desarrollo de la clase en torno a la respiración, la embocadura, la postura, el canto, dinámicas , proyección de sonido, posición de las manos, creatividad en el uso de articulaciones y belleza en las ligaduras, y especialmente el registro grave del corno. En esta última categoría, escuchar a Sarah Willis es en sí una clase magistral de corno grave, y es por eso que le dedicó tiempo para tocar junto a todos los participantes de la semana. Se hicieron ensambles de cornos y los cornistas de la Sinfónica “Juan José Landaeta”, la Barroca “Simón  Bolívar”  y la Sinfónica “Simón Bolívar” subieron al escenario a tocar en uno de sus encores del concierto "Mozart y Mambo", un show memorable de un imaginario Mozart Cubano, que reedita el Rondó del concierto número 3 para convertirlo en un jolgorio caribeño, con pregones e improvisaciones con mucho swing. En su interpretación del Concierto 3 en Eb mayor mostró un primer movimiento regio, con un fraseo elegante y una Cadencia exquisitamente improvisada. Un segundo movimiento ligero y sutil y un tercer movimiento enérgico, con un sonido pulcro y un manejo gracioso y alegre de la escena. 

El viaje de Sarah por Caracas culminó con su colaboración con la fila de cornos de la Orquesta Sinfónica “Simón Bolívar”, interpretando la tercera Sinfonía de Gustav Mahler, cuyo tema principal tiene a los cornos como protagonistas, cerrando con broche de oro la Celebración del 47 aniversario del Sistema. Los jóvenes cornistas de Caracas y el resto del país que se reunieron para conocer a su ídolo, quedaron más enamorados del corno y expectantes de un pronto regreso de esta maravillosa artista.

by Austris Apenis

Congratulations on your new post at the LPO! Has your life changed since the big announcement?

Thank you! Yes, definitely. I have a full-time job now, so obviously my day-to-day life has automatically changed. Having done a bit of orchestral freelancing in the UK, it’s very nice to now go somewhere regularly.

Fantastic! Let’s go back to the beginning. When did you start playing the horn, and why did you choose this instrument?

I started the horn when I was seven, about half a year after starting the piano. Apparently, I was a very loud baby, so I was told my strong lungs would lend themselves well to a wind instrument. There was a brass dectet in Cambridge, where I grew up, who often did family concerts that we would attend, and I think I just liked the look of the horn!

Do you come from a musical family?

Yes, my dad actually studied the violin. He became a biologist instead, but he still plays the violin as a hobby, and so does my mum. Because of this, I always had music around me when I was growing up, so it felt very natural for me to start learning an instrument.

Do you often play together?

We do, at least in the little horn-and-strings repertoire there is. I remember reading through the Mozart horn quintet with them at a very young age, so it was a good way to get to know the repertoire.

Which are your favorite horn pieces?

Orchestrally, it would have to be either Strauss’s Rosenkavalier Suite or Mahler’s Symphony No. 9. These probably seem like very stereotypical choices of composer for a horn player, but they’re both pieces that I don’t think I could ever get bored of playing or listening to. In terms of solo repertoire, at the moment I would probably choose Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings.

I see that you have played a lot in youth orchestras. What was your experience there, and what did you learn from it?

I joined local youth orchestras and ensembles from a young age. One of my first memories of playing in an orchestra is having to play the third horn part in Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, having never done any transposition before. There were a few situations like this where I was really thrown in at the deep end, but I think this was definitely the best way to learn. I then played in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for three years, where being around similar-aged musicians who were much better than I was really helped me progress as a player.

What made you choose music as a profession?

Playing in the National Youth Orchestra was the thing that made me realize I wanted to play the horn professionally. I learned a lot about the possible career paths, and mainly also just had such a good time playing in an orchestra with friends who were equally passionate about music. This is why my main goal has always been to play in a professional orchestra since that’s what I enjoy the most.

You study at the Royal Academy of Music. How are your studies going?

I’m in my third year at the Royal Academy of Music now, and I have really enjoyed my time there so far. I started studying during Covid, so it was slightly strange, but we still had lots of in-person teaching and playing, which was quite lucky. I won’t be going there much now, with my new job, but all my teachers and everyone at the Academy have been so supportive, and I am very lucky to be able to stay there to finish my degree.

Since you mentioned Covid, I’ll say that in the Netherlands practicing at home is quite a challenge. I could imagine that in an overpopulated city like London, it is also difficult to practice a brass instrument. How did you experience the lockdowns? Were there any peculiarities?

In the first lockdown, I was at home with my parents in Cambridge. Our neighbors were generally very accommodating towards my practice, although they had just had a baby, so I needed to be respectful with the times that I would play. In one of the later lockdowns, I was in university halls in London, where there were music rooms that you could reserve. This was very useful, although there was one student whose bedroom was directly above the room I used. She came to interrupt my practice quite regularly, complaining that she couldn’t sleep…at 1:00 p.m. on a weekday.

What do you like to do apart from playing the horn?

When I have time, I enjoy cooking and baking; and living in London has really made me appreciate going to the countryside and going for walks in nature. If I’m at home and bored, I also like doing 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles (a hobby I discovered in lockdown) to pass the time.

Are you working on any other projects at the moment?

I have a few solo concerts coming up which I am really looking forward to, the main one being a recital at the Kultur und Kongresszentrum Luzern, so I am preparing for this at the moment.

Awesome! Which pieces are you going to play?

I will be playing the Beethoven Sonata, Franz Strauss’ Nocturno, Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro, Glazunov’s Rêverie, and the York Bowen Sonata.

What are your tips for future horn players?

Always look for new opportunities to further your playing, whether that is a competition, audition, orchestra, award, etc. Put yourself in situations that are out of your comfort zone, as this is the only way you will learn.

Thank you for the interview! We are all looking forward to seeing how your career will develop!