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At the age of 10 Xiao-Ming Han began studying horn with his father, Xianguang Han, a renowned Chinese horn professor and prizewinner at the Geneva International Horn Competition in 1960. After graduating from the Academy affiliated with the China Central Philharmonic Orchestra and Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music at the age of 17, Xiao-Ming Han was appointed principal horn of the China Central Philharmonic Orchestra.
Conductor Seiji Ozawa visited China in 1979 and was impressed by Han's talent. He invited Han to attend the Tanglewood Music Center in the United States, and as a result, Han studied with Richard Mackey (member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) at New England Conservatory. In 1983 Han won the first prize at the International Horn Competition organized by the International Horn Society.
In 1984, upon receiving a scholarship from the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD), he studied with Ifor James at the Freiburg University of Music, and with Otto Schmitz at the Munich University of Music, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in 1986. Three months after arriving in Germany, at age 22, Han was appointed principal horn of the Würzburg Philharmonic Orchestra and later that year principal horn of the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.
Han has participated in music festivals such as the Salzburg Music Festival, Würzburg Mozart Music Festival, Saito Kinen Festival, and the Marlboro Music Festival, where he collaborated with Midori Goto, Mitsuko Uchida, and Hilary Hahn. He has performed as guest principal with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
In 1993, at the age of 30, Han became the youngest and only Asian professor of horn in Germany, at the University of Music Saarland until 2011. Han has presented masterclasses in the US, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and Europe, and a regular guest professor at the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) in Beijing and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
Han has promoted international collaboration in classical music through the annual Music Festival of the CCOM (2004-2010) and the first Chamber Music Festival in the China National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing; he was invited to establish an orchestra-in-residence at the NCPA.
Upon returning to Germany, Han toured with the Berlin Philharmonic in Europe and with the Royal Philharmonic in China, performed at the Surrey Hills International Music Festival, London and with the Sydney Opera Orchestra. He has also given several solo, chamber, and orchestra performances in China, Taiwan, and Korea.
Two solo recordings were released by Oehms Classics, and in 2016 Han adjudicated the ARD Competition in Munich.
Han was honored with the Punto Award in 2025.
Gregory Hustis was principal horn (1976-2012) and principal horn emeritus (2012-2014) of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and adjunct professor of horn at Southern Methodist University in Dallas since 1977. Professor Hustis is an active conductor, educator, and advocate for the arts.
A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Hustis has performed as a concerto soloist with numerous orchestras. In 1995, he received the Meadows Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award. As a clinician, chamber music player, and recitalist, he has been a featured guest artist at many international festivals, including Sarasota, Mainly Mozart, and Music in the Mountains in Durango, Colorado, where he was Festival Artistic Advisor and Chamber Music Director (1997-2022).
In addition to the scores of orchestral recordings he has made as principal horn of the Dallas Symphony, Hustis can be heard as a soloist and chamber music player on various labels, including Eric Ewazen's Concerto for Horn and String Orchestra, James Becktel's The Glass Bead Game, and Simon Sargon's Questionings with the Dallas Philharmonia.
He also has served on numerous boards and advisory committees, including those of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, International Horn Society, American Horn Competition, Voices of Change, Blue Candlelight Series, Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, and Dallas Chamber Music Society, where he has served as president.
Hustis was a co-founder of TrumCor, which manufactures and distributes mutes for brass instruments.
Hustis was honored with the Punto Award in 2025.
Sören Hermansson is internationally known as a performer, recording artist, and educator. He studied in Stockholm, Amsterdam, and West-Berlin (Karajan-Academy) and has held orchestral positions in the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Since 1988, Hermansson has devoted his time to his solo career and teaching. His performances have taken him to North and South America, and to several countries in Europe.
He has taught at the Academy of Music and Drama, University of Gothenburg, Ingesund School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and between 1999-2006 was the horn professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has given masterclasses all over the US and Europe, and is a frequent guest in Brazil. He is currently teaching in the Chamber Music Program at Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden.
Hermansson has commissioned and premiered around 60 works for horn. He has recorded many of these works to wide critical acclaim. Among these recordings are world premieres of works by Anders Eliasson, Folke Rabe, Pehr-Henrik Nordgren, and a TV-production of the Bengt Hambreus Horn Concerto. His catalog of recordings also includes two albums on the BIS label: Horn and Harp Soiree, with harpist Erica Goodman, and Horn Concertos by Gordon Jacob, Lars-Erik Larsson, Mátyás Seiber, Max Reger, and Kurt Atterberg.
In recent years, Hermansson has focused on commissioning new works for horn and electronics. Composers such as Marie Samuelsson, Leilei Tian, Per Mårtensson, Joakim Sandgren, Åke Parmerud, Marcus Fjellström, Fredrik Olofsson, and Tommy Zwedberg have written works for him.
The Punto Award was bestowed on Hermansson in 2025.
Susan McCullough served for 22 years as principal/third horn in the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra and on the faculty of the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver (1996-2018) and is highly esteemed as both a performer and an educator.
McCullough earned a bachelor's degree in horn performance from Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas in 1975. She was principal horn and soloist of the Air Force Academy Band in Colorado Springs (1975-1979). She was a member of the Aries Brass Quintet (1996-2008) is a founding member of the Denver Brass (since the first concert in 1981). She toured the US as principal horn with the Swiss chamber orchestra Lucerne Festival Strings in 2003. She is on faculty of the Rafael Mendez Brass Institute (since 2007), the Lamont Academy (since 2208), and the Kendall Betts Horn Camp (since 2021).
McCullough performs with many of Colorado's ensembles and with operas and shows that tour to Denver, considered the number one freelance horn player in the region. She is a soloist and recording artist (often with her son, Jesse McCormick, second horn in the Cleveland Orchestra). She has been a featured soloist and clinician across the US and around the world, including in South African National Symposiums since 2007.
Her valuable contributions to the IHS include serving on the Advisory Council (2008-2014 and 2017-2024), as a featured artist at many symposiums, and as host of the 2008 IHS Symposium in Denver, which set attendance records.
McCullough was given the Punto Award in 2024.
André Cazalet began studying music at an early age, and was awarded two first prizes from the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris. After performing as a soloist for Pierre Boulez's Ensemble InterContemporain, he joined the Orchestre de Paris as solo horn in 1980, a position from which he recently retired. His active solo career has led to performances conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo Järvi, Semyon Bychkov, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Peter Eotvos, John Nelson, Michel Plasson, Antonio Papano, and Walter Weller.
A highly sought-after chamber musician, he has performed alongside Daniel Barenboim, the Talich Quartet, Pascal Rogé, Gérard Caussé, Maurice Bourgue, Katia et Marielle Labèque, Jean Pierre Rampal, Emmanuel Pahud, Schlomo Mintz, Christoph Eschenbach, Pierre Laurent Aimard, Christian Tetziaff, Boris Berezovsky, and Julian Rachlin.
His repertoire stretches from the 18th century to the present day, and he has collaborated with numerous contemporary composers. He is the dedicatee for several works for horn. Having taught at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris since 1985, he has been invited to teach at some of the world's greatest establishments: the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory, the universities in Vienna and Tokyo, Hamburg's Musikhochschule, in Freiburg, Munich and beyond.
His discography includes concerti by Haydn and Leopold Mozart, while his album featuring trios by Brahms and Ligeti for piano, violin and horn and was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque. Nominated for the Victoires de la Musique in 2011, André Cazalet is a Chevalier of the French Order of the Arts and Letters.
André Cazalet was given a Punto Award in 2024.
Jean Gaudreault performed as second and fourth horn in the Montréal Symphony from 1975 to 2016, and served as the orchestra's personnel manager from 2008-2023. A passionate and caring teacher, he has taught hundreds of students at McGill University, Conservatoire de Montréal, Université de Montréal, and Marianopolis College, many of whom now perform with orchestras throughout Canada and beyond. Most of the local players in Montréal studied with him at some point in their careers. He is also known as an avid baseball fan. Jean was honored with the Punto Award at Montréal in 2023.
Wisconsin native John Zirbel was Principal Horn of the Montréal Symphony from 1978-2019, contributing to all the recordings the orchestra made over this 41-year period with bravura and musical conviction. Prior to joining the Montréal Symphony, he performed with the Denver Symphony and studied with John Barrows and Douglas Hill. He taught on the faculty at McGill University and the Aspen Music Festival for many years, and has several successful students. John was honored with the Punto Award at Montréal in 2023.
