Bedřich Tylšar, a Czech horn player and pedagogue, was a long-time member of the Czech Philharmonic and an exponent of the Czech tradition of horn playing. He and his brother, Zdeněk (1945-2006) often performed together as a duo. Double horn concertos (and horn concertos in general) were prevalent during the Baroque and Classical periods, and the brothers revived and carried on this tradition.

The inspiration came to Bedřich at a music shop in Brussels, Belgium in 1962 when he heard a recording of two horns and decided to follow up by exploring archives. "I realized that these instruments [two horns] go together perfectly thanks to the abundance of overtones," Bedřich recalls. The brothers' first performance together was a Rosetti double concerto in E-flat in Olomouc, Czech Republic in 1964. The brothers made two-horn works by Czech composers such as Rosetti, Fiala, Reicha, and Pokorny widely known, as well as double concertos by Vivaldi, Telemann, and Haydn and horn concertos by Vivaldi, Haydn, and Leopold Mozart.

After graduating from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, Bedřich Tylšar played in the Gottwald Philharmonic (now the Bohuslav Martinů Zlín Philharmonic), the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK), the Munich Philharmonic (1967-1969), and from 1973 until 2001 the Czech Philharmonic (with his brother as principal horn). He also performed as a soloist at home and abroad and recorded about twenty albums. He has been a judge for the Prague Spring competition and taught at the Prague Conservatory.

Bedřich Tylšar was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 2024.

Martin Hackleman began playing the horn at the age of 16, studying with Caesar LaMonaca in Houston. Other teachers have included Barry Tuckwell and Roland Berger of the Vienna Philharmonic. He studied at the University of Houston and at age 19 joined the Calgary Philharmonic as principal horn. After two seasons in Calgary, he joined the Vancouver Symphony as solo horn, where he played for the next nine years.

In 1983 Hackleman left Vancouver to join the world-renowned Canadian Brass.  His three years with the group saw many outstanding achievements, including recordings for CBS Masterworks, extensive tours of the US, Canada, Europe, and the Far East, a Canadian JUNO award for "best classical record,” the group's Hollywood Bowl premiere, and the release of their first video. Hackleman then joined the Empire Brass Quintet, whose moderate concert schedule allowed him time to pursue a solo career as well as specialty interests such as the Vienna horn and natural horn. He was a member of the EBQ for four years.

He returned to Vancouver in November of 1989, where he played principal horn in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra once again and served as Adjunct Professor of Horn at the University of British Columbia. In 1990, Hackleman helped launch a nationally broadcast chamber music series on CBC Radio called "CURIO," featuring chamber music of forgotten composers.

 For the 1999-2000 season, he was invited to play principal horn in the Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit. In 2000 he was appointed principal horn of the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, where he remained until 2012 when joined the faculty at the University of Missouri Kansas City. He performed as guest principal with the Philadelphia Orchestra on two occasions while living in Washington DC, and also played principal horn in the Chautauqua Orchestra at The Chautauqua Institute and at the Waterloo Festival in Princeton, New York.

Hackleman has made numerous recordings with the National Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Canadian Brass, Tidewater Brass, Washington Symphonic Brass, and the Empire Brass. In 1999 he recorded two solo albums: one entirely of his own arrangements for solo horn with piano and string accompaniment, and one of five lost Romantic concertos with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra. In addition, a recording of chamber music for two horns and bassoon was released in the spring of 1996. In November of 1998 a Christmas recording with horn quartet was released. A disc of the Brahms Horn Trio with other chamber music was released in July of 2000.

Hackleman has made numerous contributions to horn pedagogy, including etudes and other materials published by Editions Bim and Legacy Horn Experience. He has served on the faculty at the University of Maryland, Boston University, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Music. For four years he coached the Asian Youth Orchestra and participated in their annual world tours. As a member of Summit Brass, he has performed, recorded, and taught during the summers at the Rafael Méndez Brass Institute. For many years he was a design consultant with Yamaha. Over the years he has been invited to give master classes at Juilliard, the Manhattan School, Curtis Institute, and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Martin Hackleman was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 2024.

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In a career spanning more than six decades, John Williams has become one of America’s most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage. He has composed the music and served as music director for more than one hundred films, many featuring solo and/or prominent horn parts. These include all nine Star Wars films, the first three Harry Potter films, Superman, JFK, Born on the Fourth of July, Memoirs of a Geisha, Far and Away, The Accidental Tourist, Home Alone and The Book Thief. His 50-year artistic partnership with director Steven Spielberg has resulted in many of Hollywood’s most acclaimed and successful films, including Schindler’s List, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Indiana Jones films, Munich, Saving Private Ryan, The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse, Lincoln, The BFG, The Post and The Fabelmans.

He has received five Academy Awards and 54 Oscar nominations, making him the Academy’s most-nominated living person and the second-most nominated person in the history of the Oscars. He has received seven British Academy Awards (BAFTA), twenty-five Grammys, four Golden Globes, five Emmys, and numerous gold and platinum records. In 2003, he received the Olympic Order for his contributions to the Olympic movement. He received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in December of 2004. In 2009, Williams was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and he received the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the US Government. In 2016, he received the 44th Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute – the first time in their history that this honor was bestowed upon a composer. In 2020, he received Spain’s Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts as well as the Gold Medal from the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society in the UK, and in 2022 he was awarded an honorary knighthood of the British Empire as one of the final awards approved by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

In addition to his activity in film and television, Williams has composed numerous works for the concert stage, among them two symphonies, and concertos for horn, flute, violin, clarinet, viola, oboe and tuba. His Concerto for Horn and Orchestra was written for Dale Clevenger (1940-2022) of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2003 on a commission from the Edward F. Schmidt Family Commissioning Fund. – Information adapted from gsamusic.com/clients/john-williams/.

Williams was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 2023.