2023 Northwest Horn Symposium
Featured Artists
The US Army Brass Quintet
The U.S. Army Brass Quintet has gained a reputation as one of the most highly respected and sought after music performance teams in the military. The ensemble’s entertaining style and varied repertoire has dazzled audiences and dignitaries in forty-eight states and fifteen foreign countries.
Affectionately known as the “B5”, the quintet performs regularly at significant national events and ceremonies throughout the nation’s capital. As the musical backdrop of choice by the highest levels of military and governmental leadership, the quintet is often hosted by the department of defense, the state department, and the white house.
The “B5” is equally proud of their deep commitment to music education, regularly performing at colleges and conservatories across the nation to promote awareness of musical opportunities in the military.
Trumpets:
SFC Kevin Gebo
SSG Andrew Boylan
Horn:
MSG Rick Lee
Trombone:
SFC Greg Hammond
Tuba:
MSG Jon Voth
Affectionately known as the “B5”, the quintet performs regularly at significant national events and ceremonies throughout the nation’s capital. As the musical backdrop of choice by the highest levels of military and governmental leadership, the quintet is often hosted by the department of defense, the state department, and the white house.
The “B5” is equally proud of their deep commitment to music education, regularly performing at colleges and conservatories across the nation to promote awareness of musical opportunities in the military.
Trumpets:
SFC Kevin Gebo
SSG Andrew Boylan
Horn:
MSG Rick Lee
Trombone:
SFC Greg Hammond
Tuba:
MSG Jon Voth
Bernhard Scully
International horn soloist, Bernhard Scully, is currently the Associate Professor of Horn at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a member of the University of Illinois Global STEAM and is Artistic Director of the non-profit 501(c)(3) Cormont Music. He spends most of his summer in the White Mountains of New Hampshire as both the Artistic Director of the Kendall Betts Horn Camp and as the horn player of the North Country Chamber Players. His solo career has spanned across many genres from classical, to jazz and beyond, including being the former long-time horn player of the Canadian Brass and former principal horn of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Among his many awards are top honors at numerous competitions, most notably being the first classical brass player to win a McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians.
His most recent honor was being made a member of the University of Illinois College of Agricultural Consumer Environmental Sciences (ACES) “Global Academy”. His Global Academy Project is a partnership with a faculty colleague, Ann-Perry Witmer from the UI School of Engineering. The project combines music and engineering in a long-range cross-disciplinary research study focusing on the relationship between the cultural and technological epistemologies of rural/indigenous regions around the world. The long-term aspiration of the project is to establish meaningful and deep relationships with the people in each region (currently Aymara communities in Andean Bolivia, and Mende communities in Sierre Leone), learning about their place-based music, culture, and technological practices. On the musical end, this cross-cultural interdisciplinary exchange allows the horn to enter into areas it has likely never been a part, expanding it’s musical scope by integrating into diverse cultural contexts. The project will culminate in a book authored by the various project collaborators entitled “Consilience”.
As the Horn player of Canadian Brass, Bernhard annually toured the world over, is featured on many CD’s and videos, and performed in front of orchestras that included the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony. The Canadian Brass have been featured guest artists at prestigious music events and festivals including, Music Academy of the West, Oregon Bach Festival, Banff Centre For the Arts, Texas Music Educators Convention, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, Chautauqua Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, NAMM Convention, and numerous others.
As Principal Horn of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Bernhard was often featured as a soloist, performing notable works by Mozart, Strauss, and Britten. He toured with the SPCO both nationally and internationally, most notably performing at Carnegie Hall. His concerts with the SPCO were broadcast weekly on National Public Radio. He is also featured on the SPCO’s 50th Anniversary Chamber Orchestra Festival recording. Since his departure to pursue a solo and teaching career, Bernhard has returned to play guest principal horn under the acclaimed director, Pinchas Zuchermann. He has collaborated with many great North American Orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra as guest principal horn, Pittsburgh Symphony as guest principal horn, and as principal horn of the Violon du Roy in Quebec City.
As a soloist Bernhard is featured on numerous recordings. His solo album, “Dialogue en Francais: French Masterpieces for Horn and Piano” was featured on Minnesota Public Radio. His recording “The G. Schirmer Horn Collection Volumes One, Two, and Three“ (Hal Leonard Publishing) includes much of the standard repertoire for horn and piano. The Instrumentalist describes these three volumes: “Scully offers musical, intuitive performances that provide a fine example for hornists of all levels. These carefully thought out publications are a good investment for future growth and belong in every horn teacher and players library.” Bernhard can be heard as a featured performer on numerous Canadian Brass CD’s. His latest CD, “Windows in Time” that features the premiere recording of Gunther Schuller’s “Quintet for Horn and Strings (2009)” in collaboration with the acclaimed Jupiter String Quartet. The album also includes W.A. Mozart’s “Quintet for Horn and Strings, K. 407”. Gunther Schuller produced this recording himself, and this was one of the last projects he took part in before his unfortunate passing in 2015. He is featured on a new album featuring new works for horn by composer and horn virtuoso, Andrew Lewinter. His newest album is being released in 2024, featuring all new and unrecorded works by Douglas Hill.
As a pedagogue Bernhard has given lectures and master classes around the world and is a regular featured artist at international music conventions and festivals. He has been on the faculties and featured at the Chautauqua Festival, Rafael Mendez Brass Institute as a member of the Summit Brass, Music Academy of the West, Brevard Music Festival, Eastman School of Music, in residence at the University of Toronto with the Canadian Brass, Isla Verde Bronces International Brass Festival in Córdoba Argentina, Chilean Brass Festival, Jeju International Music Competition, Saint Bart’s Music Festival and many others. His students now occupy positions all over the globe as performers, educators, and scholars.
His degrees are from Northwestern University (with honors), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he attended on a Paul Collins Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. In 2010 the University of Wisconsin awarded him a Distinguished Alumni Award for excellence in artistry. His teachers include Herman Baumann, Kendall Betts, Douglas Hill, Roland Pandolfi, Frøydis Ree Werkre, and Gail Williams. He resides with his wife, Sarah, who is a music therapist and photographer; their three daughters, Ellie, Abby, Maddie; their Springer Spaniel, Gustav Mahler; and their two cats, Kenny and Lucy.
His most recent honor was being made a member of the University of Illinois College of Agricultural Consumer Environmental Sciences (ACES) “Global Academy”. His Global Academy Project is a partnership with a faculty colleague, Ann-Perry Witmer from the UI School of Engineering. The project combines music and engineering in a long-range cross-disciplinary research study focusing on the relationship between the cultural and technological epistemologies of rural/indigenous regions around the world. The long-term aspiration of the project is to establish meaningful and deep relationships with the people in each region (currently Aymara communities in Andean Bolivia, and Mende communities in Sierre Leone), learning about their place-based music, culture, and technological practices. On the musical end, this cross-cultural interdisciplinary exchange allows the horn to enter into areas it has likely never been a part, expanding it’s musical scope by integrating into diverse cultural contexts. The project will culminate in a book authored by the various project collaborators entitled “Consilience”.
As the Horn player of Canadian Brass, Bernhard annually toured the world over, is featured on many CD’s and videos, and performed in front of orchestras that included the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony. The Canadian Brass have been featured guest artists at prestigious music events and festivals including, Music Academy of the West, Oregon Bach Festival, Banff Centre For the Arts, Texas Music Educators Convention, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, Chautauqua Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, NAMM Convention, and numerous others.
As Principal Horn of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Bernhard was often featured as a soloist, performing notable works by Mozart, Strauss, and Britten. He toured with the SPCO both nationally and internationally, most notably performing at Carnegie Hall. His concerts with the SPCO were broadcast weekly on National Public Radio. He is also featured on the SPCO’s 50th Anniversary Chamber Orchestra Festival recording. Since his departure to pursue a solo and teaching career, Bernhard has returned to play guest principal horn under the acclaimed director, Pinchas Zuchermann. He has collaborated with many great North American Orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra as guest principal horn, Pittsburgh Symphony as guest principal horn, and as principal horn of the Violon du Roy in Quebec City.
As a soloist Bernhard is featured on numerous recordings. His solo album, “Dialogue en Francais: French Masterpieces for Horn and Piano” was featured on Minnesota Public Radio. His recording “The G. Schirmer Horn Collection Volumes One, Two, and Three“ (Hal Leonard Publishing) includes much of the standard repertoire for horn and piano. The Instrumentalist describes these three volumes: “Scully offers musical, intuitive performances that provide a fine example for hornists of all levels. These carefully thought out publications are a good investment for future growth and belong in every horn teacher and players library.” Bernhard can be heard as a featured performer on numerous Canadian Brass CD’s. His latest CD, “Windows in Time” that features the premiere recording of Gunther Schuller’s “Quintet for Horn and Strings (2009)” in collaboration with the acclaimed Jupiter String Quartet. The album also includes W.A. Mozart’s “Quintet for Horn and Strings, K. 407”. Gunther Schuller produced this recording himself, and this was one of the last projects he took part in before his unfortunate passing in 2015. He is featured on a new album featuring new works for horn by composer and horn virtuoso, Andrew Lewinter. His newest album is being released in 2024, featuring all new and unrecorded works by Douglas Hill.
As a pedagogue Bernhard has given lectures and master classes around the world and is a regular featured artist at international music conventions and festivals. He has been on the faculties and featured at the Chautauqua Festival, Rafael Mendez Brass Institute as a member of the Summit Brass, Music Academy of the West, Brevard Music Festival, Eastman School of Music, in residence at the University of Toronto with the Canadian Brass, Isla Verde Bronces International Brass Festival in Córdoba Argentina, Chilean Brass Festival, Jeju International Music Competition, Saint Bart’s Music Festival and many others. His students now occupy positions all over the globe as performers, educators, and scholars.
His degrees are from Northwestern University (with honors), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he attended on a Paul Collins Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. In 2010 the University of Wisconsin awarded him a Distinguished Alumni Award for excellence in artistry. His teachers include Herman Baumann, Kendall Betts, Douglas Hill, Roland Pandolfi, Frøydis Ree Werkre, and Gail Williams. He resides with his wife, Sarah, who is a music therapist and photographer; their three daughters, Ellie, Abby, Maddie; their Springer Spaniel, Gustav Mahler; and their two cats, Kenny and Lucy.
Charles "Skip" Snead
Charles “Skip” Snead serves as the Director of the Music School and Professor of Horn at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He has performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, with appearances in Egypt, Romania, the United Kingdom, and Cuba, in addition to regional horn workshops and International Horn Society Summer Symposia. He has been a featured artist with ensembles including the Alexandria Symphony in Alexandria, Egypt; the State Orchestra of Romania; the British Horn Society; the Monroe Symphony; the Macon Symphony; the Tuscaloosa Symphony; and Shreveport Summer Music Festival Orchestras. As an orchestral performer, Skip has played six seasons with the Jacksonville Symphony, and a wide range of other orchestras through out the Southeastern United States.
In addition to the above, Skip was a founding member of the internationally recognized ensemble, the TransAtlantic Horn Quartet (TAHQ) with colleagues, Michael Thompson, Richard Watkins, and David Ohanian. The TAHQ has performed throughout the United States and Europe and has been a featured ensemble at events and venues including the Britten-Pears Festival in Aldeborough, England, the Royal Wigmore Hall in London, the British Horn Society Festival, and the International Horn Society Summer Symposium. He has recorded with the TransAtlantic Horn Quartet, the Classic Brass, the Kentuckiana Brass and Percussion Ensemble, and has solo recordings issued by Centaur Records, Albany Records and MSR Classics.
In addition to his work as a performer, Skip is internationally recognized as a teacher and clinician. He has given master classes throughout the United States and Europe, serves on the executive board of the International Horn Competition of America, and has served a five-year term on the Center for the International Exchange of Scholars for the Fulbright Senior Specialists Peer Review Committee. He was given the “Regents’ Award for Excellence in Teaching” by Murray State University (1988), and the “Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award” by the University of Alabama (2005).
His principal teachers include Merwin Crisman, William Capps, Karen Thornton, and John Dressler, He was also heavily influenced by additional studies with Phillip Farkas and Dale Clevenger.
In addition to the above, Skip was a founding member of the internationally recognized ensemble, the TransAtlantic Horn Quartet (TAHQ) with colleagues, Michael Thompson, Richard Watkins, and David Ohanian. The TAHQ has performed throughout the United States and Europe and has been a featured ensemble at events and venues including the Britten-Pears Festival in Aldeborough, England, the Royal Wigmore Hall in London, the British Horn Society Festival, and the International Horn Society Summer Symposium. He has recorded with the TransAtlantic Horn Quartet, the Classic Brass, the Kentuckiana Brass and Percussion Ensemble, and has solo recordings issued by Centaur Records, Albany Records and MSR Classics.
In addition to his work as a performer, Skip is internationally recognized as a teacher and clinician. He has given master classes throughout the United States and Europe, serves on the executive board of the International Horn Competition of America, and has served a five-year term on the Center for the International Exchange of Scholars for the Fulbright Senior Specialists Peer Review Committee. He was given the “Regents’ Award for Excellence in Teaching” by Murray State University (1988), and the “Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award” by the University of Alabama (2005).
His principal teachers include Merwin Crisman, William Capps, Karen Thornton, and John Dressler, He was also heavily influenced by additional studies with Phillip Farkas and Dale Clevenger.