Jonathan Luxton
Jonathan Luxton first picked up a coach horn at the age of 5. He played the trumpet at the age of 8 and by 12 was playing the French horn. His mother was his driving force, as she would encourage him to listen to classical music from a young age and to become a member of every local orchestra. Growing up in a rural area, Jonathan was fortunate to have the opportunity to study with Peter Kane (Bournemouth Sinfonietta) and Richard Thomas (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra).
Jonathan studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Professor James Brown. During this time, he played principal horn with the European Youth Orchestra with Claudio Abbado and Daniel Barenboim, and the Snape Maltings Training Orchestra with Hugh Maguire. Before leaving for Portugal, professional experience included playing with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Opera North, Orchestra of the Royal Ballet, Cambridge Opera Group, recording with the BBC, among others.
At the age of 24 Jonathan accepted the position of principal horn in the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon, Portugal. For 31 years, he played a vast repertoire of music and genres, travelled the world with the orchestra, and had the opportunity to work with leading soloists and conductors. Jonathan has extensive experience playing with chamber groups from wind quintets and brass quartets to horn and piano duos, travelling throughout Europe playing recitals.
A great part of Jonathan’s passion has always been to inspire and mentor other musicians at all levels. Jonathan started to teach brass in the UK, and went on to teach horn at university-level in Portugal. He introduced the British method of French horn playing to Portugal where he developed the degree programs for horn Bachelor and Masters at universities. He was given the Punto Award in 2022.
Kristina Mascher-Turner
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| Photo by Frédérique Bouchard |
Kristina Mascher-Turner, former principal horn of the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra (Flemish Radio Orchestra), hails from Albany, Oregon and is once again based in Brussels. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Douglas Hill) and the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin (Kurt Palm) and also studied privately with Fergus McWilliam of the Berlin Philharmonic. Early in her career, she was engaged in various chamber and symphony orchestras, including the Odense Symfoniorkester in Denmark and three tours as principal horn with the Gustav-Mahler-Jugendorchester under the direction of Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, and Kent Nagano. She played fulltime with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra for several years and is a regular guest with orchestras and ensembles around Europe.
She joined the American Horn Quartet in 2009, with whom she has toured and recorded extensively. Kristina is also a member of the Ni Ensemble of Luxembourg and forms with husband Kerry Turner the Virtuoso Horn Duo. Their critically-acclaimed CDs of works for two horns and chamber orchestra can be found on the Naxos and MSR Classics labels. Kristina has given masterclasses and performed in over thirty countries on six continents.
She served as Vice President of the International Horn Society from 2015-2021 and was editor of the IHS digital newsletter “Horn and More.” Horn aside, Kristina sings with a semi-professional vocal octet, has a passion for travel, food, and languages, and is a certified Reiki master. Kristina performs on a Ricco Kühn W393X triple horn. She was given the Punto Award in 2022.
Bohdan Šebestík
Bohdan Šebestík has been professor of horn and the martial art of Aikido at ESMAE (University of Music and Performing Arts, Porto) since 1995. With former students performing and teaching at a high level around the globe, his influence on the last two generations of Portuguese horn players is enormous.
Bohdan was born in Kroměříž in the former Czechoslovakia. He took up the horn following studies in piano and trumpet. From 1978 to 1982, he attended the Janáček Academy of Music (JAMU) University in Brno, where he completed his Master’s degree with Professor František Šolc.
He participated in several national competitions, including the Kraslice National Competition and the JAMU competition of Brno, where he won first prize. Soon afterward, Bohdan was the winner of several international horn competitions in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland.
Professor Šebestík held positions with the orchestra of the Armed Forces in Prague, the Brno Opera, and the Brno Philharmonic. He has been a member of the National Orchestra of Porto since 1994 (solo horn since 2001). He was given the Punto Award in 2022.
Christoph Eß
Christoph Eß has established himself as one of the leading horn players of his generation. He has been a prizewinner at several international music competitions and has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician all over the world. Christoph began his training at the Musikschule Tübingen with Peter Hoefs, with further study in Basel and Stuttgart with Christian Lampert and Wolfgang Wipfler. Prior to joining the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra as Principal Horn in 2007, he held positions as Third Horn with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and Principal Horn with the Essen Philharmonic. From 2017-2020 he served as Professor of Horn at the Musikhochschule Lübeck.
Christoph has won top prizes at national and international competitions, including the European Classic Festival Ruhr, the Concorso Internazionale per Corno di Sannicandro di Bari, the International ARD Music Competition in Munich, and the Richard Strauss Competition. In 2007 he was awarded first prize at the prestigious Prague Spring International Music Competition. In 2008, he won the Soloist Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, followed by a scholarship award at the German Music Competition in Berlin in 2009.
As a soloist he has performed with many of Europe’s leading orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Bamberg Symphony, the Berlin Radio Symphony, the Prague Philharmonia, and the chamber orchestras of Munich, Stuttgart, and Salzburg. In April 2007, he gave his debut at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall with the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin. During the 2017-2018 season he was Artist in Residence with the Philharmonie Neubrandenburg and performed and recorded all the Mozart concertos with the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra in Essen. Further highlights include concerts with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalzm, and the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal. He has recorded frequently for the GENUINclassics and PragaDigitals labels, as well as Bavarian Radio, Radio DRS, Deutschlandradio Kultur, and Czech Radio.
In high demand as a chamber musician, Christoph has collaborated with Christian Zacharias, Andreas Scholl, the Fauré Quartett, the Zemlinsky Quartett, Quatour Ebène, Boris Kusnezow, and Viviane Hagner. He is the founder of the renowned horn quartet German Hornsound, with whom he is a regular guest artist at Europe’s most prestigious music festivals.
Christoph was honored with the Punto Award in 2021.
Anneke Scott
Anneke Scott is a leading exponent of historical horn playing and an influential performer, teacher, and researcher. Her work takes her across the globe and throughout the centuries of music with a repertoire incorporating music and instruments from the late seventeenth century through to the present day. She teaches at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the University of Birmingham, Trinity Laban Conservatoire, and the online music lesson platform Play with a Pro. Her research influences her teaching, and she has published a natural horn method based on her research sources.
Anneke is principal horn of period instrument ensembles including Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, The English Baroque Soloists, ensemble Pygmalion, The Orchestra of the Sixteen, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, and the Dunedin Consort and Players. She also appears as a guest principal horn with orchestras and ensembles worldwide.
Anneke has an international solo career, and her discography embraces three centuries of virtuosic horn works. She is frequently heard performing the famous baroque obbligato arias of composers such as Bach and Handel as well as solo concertos from that period. Her solo recordings also include three discs focusing on the music of Jacques François Gallay.
Anneke enjoys collaborating with a wide group of musicians and is a key member of a number of chamber music ensembles including nineteenth century period brass ensemble The Prince Regent’s Band, the harmoniemusik ensemble Boxwood & Brass, historic wind ensemble Syrinx, and ensembleF2. She regularly works with leading period keyboardists including Steven Devine, Neal Peres da Costa, Geoffrey Govier, and Kathryn Cok and period harpist Frances Kelly.
Claude Maury
Claude Maury is one of the leading Belgian hornists, specializing in natural horn, and is professor of natural horn at the Conservatoire in Paris and Versailles.
Claude was born in Belgium in 1956 and studied modern horn and chamber music at the Conservatoire Royal in Mons, Wallonia, Belgium. Further studies with Francis Orval, André Vandriessche, Michel Garcin-Marrou, and Hermann Baumann led to his first job with the orchestra of the Opera Royal de Wallonie in 1974, then in 1976 as a mem ber of the French Belgian Radio and Television Orchestra. After winning prizes at the Gallay competition for natural horn in 1981 and the natural horn competition in Bad Harzburg, Germany in 1984, he left the orchestra for a career freelancing on period instruments.
Claude plays on a regular basis on period instruments with the ensembles La Petite Bande, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Anima Eterna, Les Arts Florissants, Opera Fuoco, and le Parlement de Musique. He also plays occasionally with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestrata, Concerto Köln, Tafelmusik, The English Concert, Bach Collegium Japan, and others. He has recorded many solo and chamber music CD’s, mainly on natural horn.
Israel Oliveira
Israel Oliveira is an influential horn player in Brazil. He has been first horn of the Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre (OSPA) since 2004.
Israel was a student of Ozéas Arantes at the Municipal School of Music in São Paulo. In 1991, he won the Young Soloists contest at the Universidade Livre de Música and soloed with the São Paulo Youth Symphonic Band.
He has been a member of the São Paulo Symphony, the São Paulo Symphonic Band, the Experimental de Repertório, the Santo André, Ribeirão Preto, Santos and USP Symphonics, the São Bernardo do Campo Philharmonic, and the USP Chamber Orchestra. He has participated in festivals in Poços de Caldas, Itu, Campos do Jordão, and Pelotas, and taught classes in Itanhaém, Belém do Pará, Montevideo, UFRN (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte).
Israel is an active chamber musician, performing with the Quinteto Metal Mania, Quinteto Porto Alegre, and the faculty wind quintet at the OSPA Conservatory. A passionate organizer of horn-related groups, Israel founded the Confrasulhorns (Confraria de Horn players of Rio Grande do Sul), which encourages and mentors young horn players throughout the state of Rio Grande do Sul. He is also the founder and general coordinator of LatinoAmericaHorns, a group of Latin American horn players united by their love of the horn.
Israel was honored with the Punto Award in 2021.