by Charlotte Ulmer, IHS Marketing Director

Even if you weren’t a horn player, you could feel and hear something special happening in Kraków, Poland, last month. Over 500 horn players across 50 nationalities descended on the beautiful and historic city during the first week of July, anticipating long days of learning, performing, and maybe a few purchases. What actually took place was even more remarkable: multi-generations of horn players from all corners of the earth sharing a deep connection through the horn and learning that we feel the same frustration, joy, and insights.

IHS 58 was my second-ever symposium; the other was IHS 44 at the University of North Texas in 2012. As I perused the daily schedule in the online Symposium booklet before the following day of activities, I remembered the panicked feeling I had at UNT, thinking, “I want to go to Every. Single. Event…and I CAN’T! How do I choose?”

During the six days at the Kryzstof Penderecki Academy of Music, there were warm-up sessions with Andrew Bain or Frøydis Ree Wekre; masterclasses with Barbara Jöstlein, Christoph Ess, and Will Sanders; lectures about mouthpiece buzzing techniques, strengthening your sound through body awareness and muscle activation, horn in jazz, women composers’ works for the horn and bringing them into the mainstream catalog; morning runs as the sun came up; and afternoon yoga in any room into which the school could fit participants. University horn quartets were preparing for their competition, natural horns and alp horns were rehearsing for their respective evening performances, and heroic Mahlerian or Straussian calls from the fourth and fifth floors from participants at horn makers’ and exhibitors’ booths. If the building's doors were unlocked, there was never a moment to lose to watch, play, or listen.

While it is difficult to choose my favorite concert, I would say that the two most meaningful to me took place at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, featuring horn choir with organ, and at the Old Synagogue in Kraków, entitled Prayer for World Peace with the Sound of the Horn. The Basilica is recognized by its ornate 68-meter (224-foot) tower, and it is decorated with polychrome murals, mosaics, and stucco decorations. The horn choir of elite players from all over the world welcomed concert-goers with Lobet den Herren mit Pauken und Zimbeln schön ("alla Händel") by Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933). The sound from the gallery cascaded across every corner of the church, and it felt as if the heavens were singing for over an hour.

The Prayer for World Peace concert was equally moving but entirely different. Saar Berger, international soloist and Professor of Horn at the Trossingen State University of Music (Germany), created a sonic world with In the Silence that, as he states, “invites the audience into an experience of sound, space, and inner contemplation. Within the unique atmosphere of this historic place, music becomes the space for listening, concentration, and silent prayer. The horn enters a dialogue with the acoustics of the synagogue—a duet between horn and space. Through its echoes, new resonances emerge, carrying sound to the listener. The horn appears as a singing voice, intimately connected to human breath and song…[as] a prayer without words…."

To end the concert, a 10-piece horn ensemble conducted by IHS 58 host Wojciech Kamonika performed War Horns by Polish composer Paweł Pudło. The power and grace demonstrated by each player is hard to describe, but it felt like The Avengers had assembled. Both concerts received multiple, well-deserved ovations.

If you are curious about whether you should attend a symposium or what it is like, I invite you to Miami, Florida, for IHS 59 at the Frost School of Music, June 2-6, 2027. I look forward to seeing the new friends I made in Kraków again, being moved and astonished by performances, getting excited about what I will learn from a masterclass, and experiencing a city through the unique lens that the horn community creates each year.

by Vidhurinda Samaraweera

The South Asian heartbeat of the arrangement  

Skye Edwards

The ensemble Dave Lee assembled for the track The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (see Part III) is worth careful examination because each choice is deliberate. Skye Edwards, the iconic voice of the British trip-hop group Morcheeba, provides the lead vocal. Her delivery is velvety, unhurried, and entirely devoid of melismatic excess, which is precisely why it works. By keeping the melody grounded, she creates space for the surrounding instruments to breathe and interact. It is worth noting that Morcheeba’s own music was never far from South Asian sensibility. Their track Shoulder Holster from the landmark album Big Calm (1998) was described by the band’s co-founder Ross Godfrey as carrying a “raga, almost George Harrison vibe,” with sitar and Indian percussion at its foundation. Edwards was already sensitized to this world.

Sirishkumar Manji

On the other hand, string arrangements and atmospheric depth came from Steve Bentley-Klein, a crossover arranger who had previously shaped the string textures on Big Calm itself, and who understood Edwards’s timbre. However, the most transformative presence in the room is the tabla, played by Sirishkumar Manji. Sirishkumar is not a session player merely borrowing exotic color but a deeply rooted Indian classical maestro with a formidable heritage. He is a lifelong tabla virtuoso who learned directly from his father, the renowned vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Pandit Bhagwanji Manji. His father, in turn, was a disciple of the legendary Indian classical singer Pandit Omkarnath Thakur. Sirishkumar’s lineage alone commands respect among South Asian musicians.

How the horn finds its place

Playing horn in this context is no easy task. It is an instrument forged in the Western classical tradition, and in conventional terms resists many of the techniques that jazz, soul, and South Asian music demand. Lee met this challenge with several clever strategies.Throughout the piece, rather than doubling the melody or filling space with sustained pitches, Lee treats the horn as a second protagonist, engaging in continuous conversation with Skye Edwards’s vocal line. As she finishes a phrase, the horn responds in a somewhat obbligato style akin to Lester Young following along after Billie Holiday. He mirrors the contours of Edwards’s phrasing without ever competing with them. Moreover, as opposed to what the French call cuivré, Lee resorts to a darker, more focused tone that sits well with the string textures and the tabla rather than overpowering them. Lee also incorporates subtle lip and half-valved bends along with microtonal inflections foreign to any orthodox school of horn but essential to matching the style ascribed to the song. 

A final note

The Bristol trip-hop scene of the 1990s built its distinctive atmosphere from digital samplers, looped vintage vinyl, and synthesised string pads layered over breathy vocals. It was a genre built on borrowed sounds. Dave Lee’s arrangement achieves the exact sonic weight and emotional atmosphere of classic trip-hop but entirely through the live interaction of real musicians: a guru-lineage tabla player performing in the full depth of his tradition, alongside a classical horn player who has adapted his entire approach to meet that tradition with due and equal respect.

I find this deeply significant from a South Asian point of view. As previously noted, the horn has not yet solidified its place as a solo instrument within Indian or Sri Lankan classical music in the way it has, say, in jazz and more contemporary music. That remains true. However, what Dave Lee’s recording demonstrates is something equally powerful: that South Asian musical elements are fully capable of embracing the horn as a lead or obbligato voice. I hope the readers take-away is that the horn’s so-called limitations are, in the proper hands, simply parameters waiting to be reimagined—and that the horn does not belong to any one tradition. It never really did. It belongs to whoever is willing to ask the most of it.

By Vidhurinda Samaraweera (India & Sri Lanka Representative of the IHS)

The South Asian heartbeat of the arrangement  

Skye Edwards

The ensemble Lee assembled for this track is worth careful examination, because each choice is deliberate. Skye Edwards, the iconic voice of the British trip-hop group Morcheeba, provides the lead vocal. Her delivery is velvety, unhurried, and entirely devoid of melismatic excess, which is precisely why it works. By keeping the melody grounded, she creates space for the surrounding instruments to breathe and interact. It is worth noting that Morcheeba’s own music was never far from South Asian sensibility. Their track Shoulder Holster from the landmark album Big Calm (1998) was described by the band’s co-founder Ross Godfrey as carrying a “raga, almost George Harrison vibe,” with sitar and Indian percussion at its foundation. Edwards was already sensitised to this world.

On the other hand, string arrangements and atmospheric depth came from Steve Bentley-Klein, a crossover arranger who had previously shaped the string textures on Big Calm itself, and who understood Edwards’s timbre.

Sirishkumar Manji

However, the most transformative presence in the room is the tabla, played by Sirishkumar Manji. Sirishkumar is not a session player merely borrowing exotic colour, but a deeply rooted Indian classical maestro with a formidable heritage. He is a lifelong tabla virtuoso who learned directly from his father, the renowned vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Pandit Bhagwanji Manji. His father, in turn, was a disciple of the legendary Indian classical singer Pandit Omkarnath Thakur. Sirishkumar’s lineage alone commands respect among South Asian musicians.

 How the Horn finds its place

Playing the Horn in this context is no easy task. The Horn being an instrument forged in the Western classical tradition, in conventional terms, resists many of the techniques that jazz, soul, and South Asian music demand. Lee met this challenge with several clever strategies.

Steve Bentley-Klein

Throughout the piece, rather than doubling the melody or filling space with held chords, Lee treats the Horn as a second protagonist, engaging in continuous conversation with Skye Edwards’s vocal line. As she finishes a phrase, the Horn responds in a somewhat obbligato style akin to Lester Young following along Billie Holiday. He mirrors the contours of Edwards’s phrasing without ever competing with them. Moreover, as opposed to what the French call cuivré, Lee resorts to a darker, more focused tone that sits well with the string textures and the tabla rather than overpowering them. Lee also incorporates subtle lip-bends and/or half-valved slurs, and microtonal inflections that are entirely foreign to any orthodox school of Horn, but essential to match the style ascribed to the entire piece.   

A final note

The Bristol trip-hop scene of the 1990s built its distinctive atmosphere from digital samplers, looped vintage vinyl, and synthesised string pads layered over breathy vocals. It was a genre built on borrowed sounds. Dave Lee’s arrangement achieves the exact sonic weight and emotional atmosphere of classic trip-hop but entirely through the live interaction of real virtuoso musicians; a guru-lineage tabla player performing in the full depth of his tradition, alongside a classical horn player who has adapted his entire approach to meet that tradition with equal respect.

I find this deeply significant from a South Asian point of view. As noted before, the Horn has not yet solidified its place as a solo instrument within Indian or Sri Lankan classical music in the way it has, say, in Jazz and more contemporary music. That remains true. However, what Dave Lee’s recording demonstrates is something equally powerful: that South Asian musical elements are fully capable of embracing the Horn as a lead or obbligato voice. I hope our members in particular take away that the Horn’s so-called limitations are, in the right hands, simply parameters waiting to be reimagined, and the Horn does not belong to any one tradition. It never really did. It belongs to whoever is willing to ask the most of it.