This Year's Fall Horn Festival: November 1
This year the UW-Whitewater Fall Horn Festival will focus on chamber music for horn. Chamber music is defined as music for a small ensemble in which players perform one on a part, and usually without a conductor. While a horn quartet is the most common chamber music group for horns, you might also play in a horn trio, quintet, sextet or octet.
The organization Chamber Music America offers this wonderful description of chamber music: "At the heart of this art form is a spirit of collaboration. Democratic in essence, chamber music demands that each individual engage in a close musical dialogue with the other performers. Their collective musical instinct, experience, knowledge, and talent guide the process of interpreting, rehearsing, and performing."
In other words, you get to be your own boss – musically! You and your fellow musicians are involved in the complete process of creation—choice of music, who plays what part, how to arrange the ensemble for rehearsal and performance, tempo, dynamics, articulations, breathing, phrasing—every musical element is determined by the group as a collective. This is both the responsibility and the joy of chamber music!
Playing in a band or orchestra during middle and high school is a valuable part of your development as a horn player, but unless you intend to pursue music at the college level, this is often where horn playing ends. The mission of the 2008 UW-Whitewater Fall Horn Festival is to convince you that playing in a horn chamber music group is a fantastic way for you to continue to enjoy playing horn for the rest of your life!
The Artemis Horn Quartet
Originally organized for fun and camaraderie, the Artemis Horn Quartet has evolved over the years into a highly respected chamber ensemble with a repertoire of more than 100 works, including pieces written especially for them by Wisconsin composers Douglas Hill, Edward Gogolak and Charma Davies Lepke.
The Artemis Horn Quartet has performed at International Horn Society conferences and at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. They have been frequent performers on the “Sunday Afternoon Live from the Chazen” recital series on Wisconsin Public Padio, and have presented numerous lecture demonstrations and educational workshops for high school and college students.
Highlights for the group include performing and recording with the Schola Cantorum choir of St. Peter the Apostle in Chicago, and their trip to the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria where they performed orchestral and chamber music concerts in Vienna and eastern Austria.
Highlights for the group include performing and recording with the Schola Cantorum choir of St. Peter the Apostle in Chicago, and their trip to the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria where they performed orchestral and chamber music concerts in Vienna and eastern Austria.
The Artemis Horn Quartet was formed in 1981 by University of Wisconsin horn alumni. Members of the group Linda Kimball, Patty Schlafer, Bill Muir, and Hope Horton were all students of UW-Madison horn professor Doug Hill and all have played, or currently play with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
This year we are offering an opportunity for "mature" hornists to come and join the fun. This could include:
- Private horn instructors
- Band directors who play horn
- Parents of Fall Horn Festival attendees who also play horn
- Adults who used to play horn and want to relive the glory of their horn-playing days
- Adult who just love to play horn for fun!
Have you had the “magic moment” as a hornist?: playing great music, with other great players in an orchestral, band or chamber music setting. The music just seems to flow out of your body and through the horn. You’re not thinking about fingerings or articulations, or reading notes, yet it all seems to be happening – as if by magic. These can be intensely moving experiences and are often why we keep playing horn. Shared with other hornists, these experiences form a special bond and can begin frienships that last a lifetime.
The UW-Whitewater Fall Horn Festival would like to invite ADULT HORNISTS of all levels of ability to join us on Saturday, November 1 as we celebrate both the 10th anniversary of the Fall Horn Festival and these “magic moments” of horn playing. There will be an opportunity to rehearse and perform with young hornists in grades 5 – 12. In addition, a horn ensemble for the more mature players will be offered. Sharing the day with young hornists can show them that you can enjoy playing horn throughout you life, no matter what career path you choose. It will also be an opportunity for you to meet new horn friends.
Linda Kimball
Linda Kimball is principal horn of both the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber orchestra. Linda also has extensive chamber music experience, performing with the Wingra Woodwind Quintet and the Whitewater Brass Quintet. She also founded and performed with the Artemis Horn Quartet for more than 20 years, so you can see why Linda considers herself to be one of the luckiest hornists in Wisconsin! In addition to playing the horn, Linda is passionate about teaching the horn and has been on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater since 1984. She started the UW-Whitewater Fall Horn Festival in 1999 to show young horn students how much fun playing the horn can be, and to offer them an opportunity to meet, rehearse and perform with other young hornists.
Patty Schlafer
Patty Schlafer has been a music educator in Wisconsin since 1981. Her interests are varied and have led to an active professional life as both a teacher and performer. Patty currently directs the concert and jazz bands at Mt. Horeb Middle School and is the Chair for the Wisconsin Comprehensive Musicianship Project. Patty also completed her Master’s degree in Curriculum Theory and Design where her research included a study of musical tastes of the adolescent band student. She has also been the guest conductor and horn instructor at numerous summer music camps around the state. As a hornist, she has been a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Artemis Horn Quartet and the Acme Brass.
Bill Muir
Bill Muir grew up in Minnesota and graduated from St. Olaf College with a degree in music education. After graduation, Bill worked as a high school and middle school band director and music teacher in Spokane, Washington. While in Spokane, he performed with the Spokane Symphony and a variety of local chamber music groups. In 1985, Bill moved to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin where he received a Master’s of Music degree in horn performance. Bill joined the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in 1987, and shortly after won a position in the Madison Symphony Orchestra horn section. He continues to play with both groups. Bill has also been a member of the Artemis horn Quartet for 20 years. In addition to his life in music, he also works as a building contractor and woodworker in the Madison area.
Hope Horton
Hope Horton took up the horn in 5th grade and has played it faithfully since, earning a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Wisconsin (Madison). She has played professionally in orchestras from coast-to-coast, but has also been involved in an amazing variety of additional activities including but not limited to: music publishing, career counseling, arts administration, business management, psychotherapy, sound healing, and choral singing. She took up the Vienna horn during a year’s stay in Austria in 1999-2000 and performed with the Vienna Waldhorn Society, playing a record 25 concerts in 24 days during the Christmas season. Hope performs regularly with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and occasionally with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. She is currently living in North Carolina and it is anyone’s guess what she will do next!
Cheryl Miracle
Cheryl Miracle began playing horn at age ten. She received degrees in both Music Education and Spanish from UW-Whitewater and a Master's degree in Music Education from UW-Milwaukee. She currently teaches middle and high school band in Franklin, Wisconsin, as well as teaching Milwaukee area horn students. In 2007, Cheryl received the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Fellowship Award. Cheryl also performs with the Kettle Moraine Symphony and with her horn quartet "4 Chicks with Horns."
Michael Szczys
Michael Szczys received his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Northern Colorado, and his Master of Music degree at the University of Minnesota. While in Minnesota, Michael was a member of the Duluth Symphony and played with the Minnesota Opera. He now lives in Madison where he is a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.'
The first "Fall Horn Festival" at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater was held in November 1993. It was planned by faculty hornist Linda Kimball as a celebration of both St. Hubert’s Day (the patron saint of the hunt) and the natural, or hunting horn (horn without valves) and it’s close association to nature. The Artemis Horn Quartet and Professor Dennis Rohrs presented a program of music based on hunting calls and fanfares, with poetry readings involving the horn. It was wonderful fun for all involved, and the “Fall Horn Festival” was born.
The following year the Fall Horn Festival featured a program called “Growing Horns.” Starting with 1 solo horn, the recital “grew” to a horn duet, followed by trios, quartets, sextets and octets. The second half of the program was devoted to music for 12- and 16-member horn choirs.
“A Viennese Celebration” was the theme of the 1996 Fall Horn Festival. This was the first of several collaborations between the Artemis Horn Quartet and the UW-Whitewater Horn Choir. The delightful waltzes, gavottes and polkas of Johann Strauss and his contemporaries were featured in the program, which also included a slide show of the Vienna horn and its importance in 19th century Viennese musical life.
In 1997 “UW-Whitewater Horn Choir – Past, Present and Future” was the theme. Graduates from the UW-W horn studio were invited to return to Whitewater to perform with current Whitewater horn students. They were also joined by a number of the areas finest high school hornists. It was a wonderful opportunity to renew past friendships and to make new horn friends.
In 1999, the Fall Horn Festival was presented for the first time as an educational opportunity for young horn students in grades 5 through 12, and their band directors. Students are given the chance to play in a mass horn choir, with as many as 120 other horn players! They also play in grade-appropriate horn ensembles with 10 to 20 players. “Some of the students who come to the festival are the only horn players in their school. They’ve never had the chance to play with other horns, or the opportunity to play a melody. The festival is now designed to get kids excited about playing the horn and inspire them to keep playing. Many of the students who come to the festival come back again the next year, and many bring their friends who also play horn” says UW-Whitewater faculty hornist Linda Kimball.
The Fall Horn Festivals in 2002 through 2007 featured specific themes, including Halloween, Circus, Fiesta, Mozart-Mania, and Horns Go Hollywood. Each different theme presents an opportunity to focus on a specific horn topic or type of music.
The Fall Horn Festival has been a variety of different events over the years: faculty horn recitals, Whitewater horn ensemble concerts, collaborations between the Artemis Horn Quartet and the UW-Whitewater hornists, and a reunion for UW-W horn alumni. Most recently it has become an opportunity for young horn students from Wisconsin and northern Illinois to come together for a day of horn-related activities. All of these events were planned by and for people who share a common interest, and a love of the horn.
This year's Fall Horn Festival:
Saturday, Nov. 1 2008
Registration information can be found at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's Fall Horn Festival page.
You can register through the online form, also at the UW-W website.
Or you can download the registration form in PDF format and return the attached application.
We thank you for your interest in the Fall Horn Festival.
