16th annual festival celebrates the French horn in all its splendor
By Tom Ganser
Correspondent
Whitewater was well represented at the 16th Annual University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Fall Horn Festival Nov. 1 by three Whitewater High School students – Michael Hilliger and Caty Strait – along with local resident Anne Coburn.
The festival included 97 French horn players from throughout southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, along with two faculty; the Chicago-based Über Horn Quartet who offered a master class, gave performances and led four small ensembles; and the 12 member UW-Whitewater Horn Ensemble.
Linda Kimball, a UW-Whitewater faculty member and accomplished hornist, began the festival to increase interest in the instrument and to provide an opportunity for hornists to share their common interest in a day both educational and enjoyable.
This year’s Festival theme was “Horns Go Halloween – So Much Fun, It’s Scary!” and included “Creepy Classics” including Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” and “O Fortuna” from Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”
Hilliger and Strait joined members of “The Skeletons,” a small ensemble for upper middle and young high school players, in rehearsing and performing Chopin’s “Funeral March” arranged specifically for horns by Kimball. Liz Deitemyer, a member of the Über Horn Quartet, led the group.
Coburn joined other adult horn players in the small ensemble, “Monsters and Mummies” in preparing and performing “This is Halloween” from the motion picture “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Mary Jo Neher, also a member of the Über Horn Quartet, directed this group.
The six small ensembles ranged in ability from beginning horn players (“The Zombies”) to adults (“Monsters and Mummies.”)
All three Whitewater participants – Coburn, Hilliger and Strait – joined the entire slew of other festival participants in a Full Horn Choir performing Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and in a “Monstrous Medley” of themes from “The Munsters,” “The Twilight Zone” and “The Addams Family” that also included faculty/guest artists and the UW-Whitewater student Horn Ensemble.
The one-day event also included a “Festival Fun Time” featuring a horn, music and equipment display; raffle prizes courtesy of the Breber Music Company in Elkhorn – the event’s major sponsor; snacks, and; photos of the participants wearing their orange (of course) festival t-shirts.
Although the date for the 2015 Fall Horn Festival has not yet been set, information can be obtained by sending an email to Kimball at kimballL@uww.edu.
