David Jolley

David Jolley has been acclaimed as one of his generation’s premier horn players. The New York Times described him as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician of “remarkable virtuosity,” and Gramophone Magazine has hailed him as “a soloist second to none.”

A frequent soloist with orchestra, Mr. Jolley premiered Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Concerto for Horn and String Orchestra with the Rochester Philharmonic and performed it in Carnegie Hall with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Highlights of David Jolley’s 2003–2004 season include performances with the Florence Symphony Orchestra; at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and as a member of the Fleisher-Jolley-Tree-O. His 2002–2003 season included performances of Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1 with the Florida Philharmonic and Waterbury Symphony Orchestra. Other recent orchestral engagements include the Detroit Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, London-Ontario Symphony of Canada, Israel Sinfonietta and Kamerata Chamber Orchestra of Athens.

His recital appearances throughout the United States include performances at New York’s 92nd Street Y and Alice Tully Hall. He is a frequent guest artist with the Musicians from Marlboro, Guarneri String Quartet, Beaux-Arts Trio, Kalichstein-Larado-Robinson Trio and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Other collaborations include performances with Andre Watts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds and with Murray Perahia at the 92nd Street Y in the Beethoven Piano and Winds Quintet.

Mr. Jolley is a member of Windscape, the Areopagitica Brass Trio (with Chris Gekker, trumpet, and David Taylor, trombone), and performs as a member of the Fleisher-Jolley-Tree-O with Leon Fleisher and Michael Tree. He has performed at summer festivals such as Dartington Hall in England, Kuhmo and Mustasaari in Finland, Madeira Bach in Portugal, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Marlboro, Bravo! (Colorado), Chamber Music Northwest and the Aspen Festival. He is currently on the faculty of Music Academy of the West.

Mr. Jolley’s numerous recordings include over two dozen CDs with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, including Mozart Concerti for Deutsche Grammophon, and a series of solo albums—Adagio and Allegro, Sonatas and Trios of Alec Wilder and Villanelle—for the Arabesque label. His recording of the Strauss Concerti with the Israeli Sinfonietta was released by Arabesque in the Fall 1999.

A native of Los Angeles, Mr. Jolley received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School.

Gail Williams

Gail Williams is admired for her tenure at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, her teaching at Northwestern University and at many clinics and workshops around the world, her solo and ensemble playing, and her support of new music.

Gail grew up on a farm in a musical family. Her mother studied percussion and viola; her brother, clarinet. Gail studied with Jack Covert at Ithaca College, then earned a master’s degree at Northwestern University and performed with Lyric Opera of Chicago for four years before winning the audition for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1978. She was assistant principal until winning the position of associate principal in 1984, where she remained until retiring in 1998.

Gail teaches at Northwestern University (since 1989), gives master classes at innumerable conservatories and workshops, is horn soloist with major orchestras, and is dedicated to performing chamber music. In 2001, 2005, and 2009, she has served as a judge for the Horn Solo Competition in Porcia, Italy and has coached young brass musicians with Summit Brass since 1986. She has been on the faculty of the Swiss Brass Week in Leukerbad, Switzerland for several years. Her music education degree and playing experience come together in her current teaching.

Gail is principal horn with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra and was principal horn with the Saito Kenin Orchestra in Japan in 2004 and the World Orchestra for Peace in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009.

Gail has performed as soloist with the Chicago Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, New World Symphony, the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Syracuse Symphony, Fairbanks Symphony, Green Bay Symphony, and a number of regional orchestras.

Gail is a founding member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians and Summit Brass. She has performed with the Vermeer Quartet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York City, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Skaneateles Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Olympic Peninsula Chamber Festival, and she was the featured artist on a chamber music series in Ottawa, Canada with the National Arts Orchestra of Canada.

Gail is active in commissioning projects and has premiered new works by Dana Wilson, Anthony Plog, Oliver Knussen, Yehudi Wyner, Collins Matthews, and others. In 1995, she premiered Deep Remembering by Dana Wilson and Anthony Plog’s Postcards at the International Horn Society Workshop in Yamagata, Japan. In 1997, she premiered Dana Wilson’s Horn Concerto with the Syracuse Symphony. A year later, she performed the Knussen Horn Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Knussen. She helped commission Yehudi Wyner’s Horntrio, and was involved in the orchestration of Dragons in the Sky by Mark Schultz. She premiered another horn and piano work by Dana Wilson, Musings, in 2003 and performed the US premiere of a concerto for Horn and Orchestra by Collins Matthews at Northwestern University in June of 2005.

Gail can be heard on recordings from Summit Brass, including solo recordings 20th Century Settings and Deep Remembering, and Northwestern University’s Goddess Triology, featuring compositions by John McCabe and works for horn and percussion by Charles Taylor and Eric Wilder. A CD with the Chicago Chamber Musicians was nominated for a Grammy award.

Gail has been honored by Ithaca College with a Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary doctorate. She received the Charles Deering McCormick Teaching Professorship at Northestern University in 2005, which allowed her to commission and performed new chamber works by Douglas Hill, Dana Wilson, and Augusta Read Thomas. She was a member of the IHS Advisory Council (1997–2000) and received the Punto award in 2008.

John Ericson

John Ericson is Associate Professor of horn at Arizona State University and serves on the Advisory Council of the International Horn Society. He previously served as Website Editor for The IHS Online and was Artist Faculty for seven seasons at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.

His two solo CDs have received critical acclaim: The Horn Call hailed Les Adeiux, released in 2003, for “Fantastic playing.... The level of musicality, nuance and artistry is not to be missed;” Canto, released in 2005, was reviewed in The Horn Call as a “Terrific collaboration between horn and piano.” Both were released on the Summit label. Ericson has made recordings with the Potsdam Brass Quintet, the Nashville Symphony, and other ensembles, including performing on the Grammy Award–nominated Fourth World of Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai.

Ericson has performed and presented sessions at five international horn symposiums and numerous regional events. Author of over 25 articles and four recent books, Ericson is an authority on the history of the early valved horn. He received the Harold Meek Memorial Award from the IHS for his article “Crooks and the 19th-Century Horn.” One of the most visible hornists online today, excerpts from his publications and teaching materials may be found in his website, Horn Articles Online, and much more may be found in Horn Matters.

Besides performing as Principal Horn in the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, he was third hornist of the Nashville Symphony for six seasons, has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, and the Rochester Philharmonic, and was active in the recording studios in Nashville. Prior to joining the faculty at ASU he taught at the Crane School of Music (SUNY Potsdam), Tunghai University in Taiwan, Western Kentucky University, and the Bay View Music Festival.

A native of Emporia, Kansas, Ericson earned his Doctorate in brass pedagogy from Indiana University, Master’s degree and Performers Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and Bachelor’s degree in performance from Emporia State University. Ericson resides in Tempe, Arizona with his wife and two children, and is also active in his church and his hobbies.