Western Hornist

2010 Western Horn Festival

Hosted by Randall E. Faust

Western Illinois University held its annual Horn Festival on April 19, 2009.

The Western Illinois Horn Festival-2009 was presented on Sunday, April 19, 2009 on the campus of Western Illinois University and featured Rose French~Winner of the 2006 Dorothy Frizelle Competition, the International Horn Society Symposium Exhibits Coordinator and a hornist who has performed with the Phoenix Symphony and the Arizona Opera Orchestra. In addition to the recitals, clinics and horn ensemble rehearsals and performances on the Festival Day—April 19th, Dr. French presented a Horn Clinic to a dozen High School and Junior High School Hornists at Macomb High School on Friday, April 17th. Also during the Festival, Dr. French presented a Master Class with performances by Ms. Nicole Christen –a High School Student from Green City, Missouri, as well as those by High School students-Megan Melcher and Emily Van De Woestyne from Geneseo, Illinois. Several high school and college students from the studio of Prof. Lee Kessinger of Augustana College also participated in the Festival Horn Choir.

The recitals for the 2009 Festival also served as a preview to the 41st International Horn Symposium in June. Several compositions received preview performances at the 2009 Festival—including Robert Palmer’ s Fanfare for the 41st International Horn Symposium, Bruce Thompson’s Venatic Chronicle, Andrew Boysen’s Night Song, Paul Basler’s Serenade, David Amram’s Trio for horn, saxophone, and bassoon, and Jan Bach’s Four Two-Bit Contraptions for flute and horn. In addition to the work by Jan Bach, Dr. French also performed works by Mozart and Verne Reynolds.

In June of 2009, the Western Illinois Horn Institute hosted the 41st International Horn Symposium of THE INTERNATIONAL HORN SOCIETY. Because of the size and significance of this event—a separate report of this event will also be attached.

Program Information

General Information

For more information about the Western Illinois Horn Festival contact Randall E. Faust at RE-Faust@wiu.edu, 216 A Browne Music Hall, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455. Phone: (309) 298-1300.