Second (Horn) To None

When I was living in Vienna, I had many opportunities to see the Vienna Philharmonic play live, right there in the Musikverein- one of the most acoustically perfect halls ever built.  I took every chance I had to hear them, even when I was unfamiliar with the repertoire.  One of the concerts included a piece I had never heard before and it happens to be the piece that we are playing this week.  The first- and only time I heard Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances was live with the Vienna Philharmonic.  We've got some big shoes to fill this week. The interior of the one and only Musikverein, oh the memories <3 "Symphonic Dances," originally titled "Fantastic Dances," was Rachmaninoff's final composition and I think it's fair to look at it as his swan song.  If you've heard any of his other symphonic music you would know him to be conservatively Romantic.  His symphonies and piano concertos gush with flowing melodies and sweeping lines blende...

When I was in college and just starting to break into the professional music world, I was excited to play anything and everything.  My first Brahms symphony at Indiana University, my first opera with a professional orchestra (which happened to be Siegfried- nothing like a good 5 hour trial by fire!), my first pops concert with the Houston Symphony (Pink Martini), and everything in between.  However, as musicians become more tenured and we've played Tchaikovsky's 4th 57 times or we're thrown an old piece by someone famous that's rarely performed (there's usually a reason it's never programmed- looking at you Wellington's Victory!), we start to get less excited.  However, I believe every musician has a few (or more than a few!!) favorite pieces that can always spark some joy and imagination no matter how many times they've played it.  This week, we're playing a symphony that I will never, ever, EVER get tired of playing.  I promise. This piece send...

We killed it at our Halloween Spooktacular concert a few weeks ago!  But now that it's finally Halloween, it's time for a very mysteriously eerie Classics concert featuring some true heavy hitters. LPO Horns rocking it as the Four Seasons There are an endless amount of exciting second horn parts in the orchestral repertoire.  Beethoven always has me ready for exciting duets and low solos, Brahms has me leaping into the depths of the lower tessitura, and Mahler has every horn soaring on epic melodic lines.  Recently though, I've discovered just how exciting a composer who wrote predominantly Ballet music can be.  Stravinsky is intensely exciting because he keeps your on your toes.  I don't think I know another composer who wrote with as much variety in what he asks for technically.  We have beautiful, flowing melodies, the shortest and sharpest of accents, thick, gentle, shadowy low notes, loud, high, brash interjections, not to mention plenty of mix...

LPO's Beethoven and Mahler week was a success!  For me, it was some of the most fun I've ever had performing.  Sometimes when we, brass players, especially section players, specifically 2nd horn players have one single solo in a piece, we obsess over it and put so much pressure on ourselves for our one shining moment.  In Mahler, there are so many soaring lines, intricate patterns, and delicate solos (even for 2nd horn!) that you are forced to relax and enjoy it without becoming too wrapped up in making one line sound perfect.  You have so many opportunities to pour your passion out your bell that you can have more fun with it! And I certainly took advantage of that and had an amazing time on stage. LPO Horns and our Music Director, Carlos Miguel Prieto after Mahler's 5th Opening our season with such invigorating music really set the tone for the rest of our season.  This week we are jumping right into our 2nd Classics program of the year with one o...

Hello!  Welcome to my brand new blog!  I'm currently the second horn of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.  This will be my second season with this amazing group of musicians and I couldn't be more grateful to be a part of it.  In order to get the most out of my musical experience and perform my best, I'm a strong believer in learning a ton about each piece before we play it.  No matter how well I *think* I know a piece, there is always something new to learn, recall, or even hear, that will make my experience and hopefully our audience's experience a little more special.  So I hope you enjoy my musings on life as a second horn player! Opening night 2018 playing Beethoven 9 (missing our fearless leader, Mollie!) Beethoven and Mahler are two of my desert island composers.  Of course it's a difficult choice, but if I had to choose a couple composers to listen to exclusively for the rest of my life, Mahler and Beethoven are making the cut. ...