by Inman Hebert

At this time of year, as horn students finish the fall semester, we must look ahead to summer opportunities. Music festivals serve as training programs for young professionals. These programs provide intensive experiences to learn orchestral repertoire and to gain professional performance experience in an immersive setting. The link below lists summer music festivals open to students in 2026.

In the early stages, to narrow your list of potential options, identify the cost of transportation, tuition, housing, and food, in combination with any potential scholarships which may be offered. Check your calendar for any conflicts, and understand that music festivals often require you to arrive earlier and stay later than the festival dates listed on the main website.

Audition lists typically include one or two concerto expositions along with selected orchestral excerpts. Some require that the video be played in a single take, while others allow submissions through multiple takes. Consider whether you already have these pieces prepared or if you have sufficient time to create a competitive presentation.

Explore the resources offered by the festival. What combination of rehearsals, performances, masterclasses, sectionals, private instruction, and competitions does the festival offer? Can you find the repertoire for summer 2026? Are biographies of musicians they accepted ‌the previous year included? Learn about the faculty. Once you have completed your research, rely on your own teachers to help you focus your choices and prepare the auditions.

Understand the cost of the opportunity. Your limited resources may best be placed in a few well-crafted applications, and some of these may require recommendations, resumes, essays, and headshots—in addition to the audition video. No matter the outcome, investing time in preparing the audition repertoire will make you that much more well prepared for the next opportunity that comes your way.

Here are major offerings for summer 2026.

by Layne Anspach

Jan Ladislav Dussek’s Notturno Concertante for violin, horn, and piano, Op. 68 (1809) is the subject of this month’s Chamber Music Corner. Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812) was a Bohemian pianist and composer whose career took him all over Europe. Born in what is now Czechia, he spent his formative years learning piano, organ, and singing. In the 1780s, Dussek spent time in St. Petersburg and Lithuania as well as in several cities in Germany before he finally arrived in Paris. During the French Revolution, his association with the French aristocracy forced him to flee to England where he spent the next 11 years. Upon leaving England (due to a failed business endeavor with his father-in-law), Dussek worked for various nobility before returning to France in 1807. The bulk of his compositional output includes piano: concertos, piano sonatas, violin sonatas, and chamber pieces.

Dussek’s Notturno Concertante, Op. 68 (1809) was written near the end of his life after he had returned to Paris. The trio was first published as “A Notturno Concertante for the Piano Forte & Violin, With a French Horn Accompaniment ad Libitum.” As no record of a public performance has been found, the premiere was possibly at a soirée, featuring Dussek at the piano with violinist Pierre Rode; it is not known if horn was included. It is speculated that the horn part may have been written for Frédéric Duvernoy as the two men were known collaborators.

The work consists of only two movements. Andantino is in sonata-rondo form. The A theme is presented without introduction by the violin with piano support. After various iterations of the initial tune, a second melody is presented by the piano with violin and horn as textural support. Triplet figures characterize the B theme, performed again by violin and piano. A descending run sets up the return of A, this time including horn, with a very active piano accompaniment.

An syncopated motif begins a transition into A-flat major and a new melody in violin and piano. The A theme returns in the original E-flat major. We then hear the B theme which is interrupted by an upward horn arpeggio. This leads to a cadenza of brief motivic statements before a quiet conclusion.

The second movement is Tempo di menuetto in which all voices start together—but like the first movement, violin and piano dominate the texture. The trio is marked by dotted rhythms, and the work concludes with the standard da capo. This movement is pleasant, if not unique.

The refence recording is from the album Dussek: Concerto for Two Pianos & Chamber Works (Alpha Classics). The hornist is Tommi Hyytinen.

by Christoph Ess

Dear horn players, I am excited to announce a special project for the season. Starting on November 15, I began releasing one play-along video each day until Christmas, featuring exercises from my book Hornbasics and Daily Warm-ups. Each video offers a guided warm-up for play-along, designed to build consistency, sound, and musical focus. Join me on YouTube for daily premieres, and make these holiday weeks a time of musical growth and inspiration!

During covid, I began to write down my daily warm-up; it became a book of exercises and explanations. I released the book last year, together with play-along videos on my YouTube channel. The series includes numerous exercises assembled for maintenance and development. You will see much of what I have learned from my own teachers as well as exercises from masterclasses in which I have been inspired by colleagues. The exercises provide ways to deal with the different challenges of playing horn, to remain fit, and to improve by regular application.

This system can be changed/adapted depending on daily mood and how much time is available for practice. There are seven sections which cover the most important playing parameters. I believe it is very important to deal with all seven parameters daily; it enables me to be completely and fully warmed up, even if I have just a little time to practice, and to proceed with a rehearsal, a concert, or another practice session. To that end, each section provides exercises which you can vary based on your ability and needs. Normally, I try not to start with extreme registers or dynamics since the muscles need to be warmed up—relaxed, comparable to athletic preparation. Only then can we expand downwards, especially upwards, and finally to advance to more extreme dynamics. Another basic principal of the system is to combine opposing parameters in one exercise—slow/fast, tongued/slurred, or forte/piano—in immediate succession so that our lips and the airflow can prepare for these real-world challenges.

Join the YouTube series, and happy practicing!

Ein Waldhorn Lustig

by Caiti Beth McKinney

Hello horn friends!

In my line of work, I frequently hear people say that they believe there are very few historical women composers of note (pun intended) and that of those who did write music, even less wrote substantial works for the orchestra or for the horn. If you have been following this column since its inception, you may now have been enlightened as to the inaccuracy of that belief; but just in case you have not, I want to introduce you to an incredibly prolific composer whose work was held in the highest regard during her lifetime, but who unfortunately has faded out of public knowledge (at least in the United States).

Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) was a Polish composer of Lithuanian ancestry active during the mid-20th century. During her lifetime, Bacewicz composed well over 100 pieces of music ranging from string quartets and songs to wind quintets, but my absolute favorites are those she wrote for symphony orchestra. As the concertmaster of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1936-1938, Bacewicz was intimately acquainted with the intricacies of large ensemble composition, and it was during this time that she composed and premiered both her first violin concerto and a work for tenor voice and orchestra. After the outbreak of World War II, Bacewicz lived in Warsaw where she gave secret, underground concerts, but moved to Łódź after the war ended. After a car accident in 1954 abruptly ended her performance career, she switched her focus primarily to composing.

Of her many outstanding compositions, the piece I wish to highlight for you is one of Bacewicz’s war-years works, her 1943 Overture for orchestra. From the very beginning, rolling timpani interspersed with frantic strings begin the work with excitement and momentum; the brass sections enter soon after, enhancing the frenetic nature of the allegro. Almost in answer, the piece moves into a lilting, tranquil andante featuring some beautiful and exposed octave slurs in the horn (these never fail to make me feel like I should go practice). The peaceful moment is short-lived, and the energy of the previous section returns once more. Horn and other brass instrument fanfares abound before culminating in one last exciting crescendo. Despite the piece lasting only about six minutes, Bacewicz’s Overture is guaranteed to start an orchestral concert off with a bang!