Saturday’s festival will feature horn players of all ages, skill levels
By Tom Ganser
Correspondent
On Saturday, a crowd of French horn players – young and old, newbies and skilled – will gather together for a day of fun and learning at the 16th Annual University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Fall Horn Festival and is open to horn players of all ages, abilities and experience, including fifth and sixth grade beginners to adult amateurs.
Breber Music Company of Elkhorn is the major sponsor of the annual festival.
This year’s theme is “Horns Go Halloween – so much fun, it’s scary!” and will include “Creepy Classics” including: Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” Gounod’s “Funeral March of a Marionette,” Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” and “O Fortuna” from Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”
Linda Kimball, a faculty member in the Department of Music at UW-Whitewater and an accomplished horn player, began the festival to increase interest in the horn and to provide an opportunity for other enthusiasts to share their common interest.
During the festival the musicians will work in smaller ensembles that are appropriate for their age and experience, and also rehearse and perform in a mass choir that includes all the players – often more than 100.
The Finale Concert will take place at 4:15 p.m. in the Light Recital Hall in the Greenhill Center of the Arts and is free and open to the public.
This year’s festival will feature an appearance by the Chicago-based Über Horn Quartet.
Whitewater resident Anne Coburn will be participating in this year’s festival, as she has in the past. She said she enjoys the opportunity to have lots of fun and to make connections “with real people that share a common interest. The festival shows that music is meaningful and important in our lives.”
Caty Strait, a freshman at Whitewater High School, said, “I look forward to Horn Fest every year. There are so many good things it brings me. Every year I most look forward to seeing my friends from band camp again. Besides Band Camp, it is the only time of the year I get to see them, and if they can’t make Band Camp, it’s the only time!”
Strait said she enjoys seeing the progress she’s made in playing the horn since the last festival: “I always look back to my music from year to year to see how much more challenging music I’m playing. I love seeing my instructors and our leaders of the Festival. “
“I also love the fact that you play with around 100 other horns,” Strait added. “They just all sound beautiful together. I can’t wait till this year and the years to follow to go to Horn Fest.”
For more information visit www.uww.edu/ce/camps/other-camps-events/horn-festival.
