Advisory Council

Peter Luff is an Associate Professor at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University where he lectures in horn and brass performance.

As a professional Horn player he has performed with many Orchestras and ensembles, including the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Australian World Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Southern Cross Soloists and Ensemble Q. He has performed as a solo recitalist in the USA, Japan, China, Korea, Canada and Europe. Peter has conducted ensembles including the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Opera Queensland Chorus, Queensland Youth Symphony, Brisbane Symphony Orchestra and the Brisbane Philharmonic, and in March 2022 he will debut with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Peter is in great demand as a Horn teacher, with many of his Horn graduates securing permanent playing positions in national and international professional symphony orchestras. Peter has served as vice president of the International Horn Society(IHS), is a member of the IHS Advisory Council, and a recipient of the society’s prestigious “Punto Award” for his contributions to the Australian horn playing community.

Bernardo was born in Oporto, Portugal. Graduated from Lisbon’s Escola Superior, studying with Jonathan Luxton. He also studied at Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg with Prof. Ab Koster. He attended classes and masterclasses with Radovan Vlatkovic, Hermann Baumann, Javier Bonet, Bruno Schneider, Stefan Dohr, Froydis Ree Wekre, Philip Myers, Fergus McWilliam, Hervé Joulain, Will Sanders, Jasper de Waal, Zdenek Tylsar, among others. With Ab Koster he started the study of natural horn. He has received a scholarship from the Gulbenkian Fundation and a scholarship merit award from the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute.

He is a member of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música. As a guest musician he performed with all the major Portuguese orchestras and several Spanish too. He is a horn professor at the University of Aveiro and at Espinho’s Professional Music School. He frequently guides masterclasses in Portugal and abroad. He is regularly invited to jury of national and international competitions, has been in conpetitions in Portugal, Spain and Finland.

He has performed as a soloist, in recital, chamber music and orchestra in many countries in Europe, Brazil and Mexico. He has played as a soloist with several Portuguese and Spanish orchestras, performing works of Weber, R.Schumann, W.A.Mozart, Britten, Cherubini, Alex Poelman, Anders Emilsson and Aparicio Barberán. He was awarded the First Prize in the Philip Farkas Competition organized by the International Horn Society in Lahti, Finland in 2002.

His discography includes several solo works, chamber music and as a member of OSP Cdm. His both solo albums ‘Lunar Songs’ and ‘Solo’ have received excellent reviews. He performed the first world recording of the work ‘Jeanne d’Arc’ for solo horn and wind band of the composer Alex Poelman for the Dutch label Molenaar. He has been a very active chamber music musician. He is a founding member of the quartet Trompas Lusas. The group is frequently present in concerts in Portugal and abroad.

Bernardo has maintained a close relationship with several composers to extend the original repertoire for the instrument, having premiered many works. Such composers as Sergio Azevedo, Telmo Marques, Luís Carvalho and Liduino Pitombeira have dedicated works to him.

Dr. Monica C. Martinez is Assistant Professor of Horn at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She currently holds the third Horn position with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra (TX) and is also a member of the Hill Country Brass, 956 Brass Trio, and Chromatic Brass Collective. Recently, Dr. Martinez presented as a soloist, adjudicator, and chamber performer with the Southeast Horn Workshop, Mid-South Horn Workshop, and the International Women's Brass Conference. She has been a contributing artist with the Chromatic Brass Collective, Texas All-Star Horn Professors Horn Choir, and the PHAT Big Band. The UTRGV Horn Choir has also been featured as a music showcase at the 2022 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention and again at the International Horn Society's 53rd, 54th and 55th Horn Symposiums.

She achieved a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in Horn Performance from The University of Texas at Austin. She also earned dual Bachelor's degrees in Horn Performance and Music Education from Texas A&M University at Kingsville. Her mentors have included Patrick Hughes from The University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Jennifer Ratchford-Sholtis from Texas A&M University at Kingsville, and Robert Ward, Principal Horn of the San Francisco Symphony and Horn instructor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Known as both a teacher and performer, Dr. Jennifer Ratchford Sholtis has devoted her career to the horn.  Born into a music-loving family, she thrived on the affection and support of her parents and grandmother as she cultivated her early musical interests.  Sholtis explored those interests further in college (University of Arkansas-BM and University of Iowa-MFA, DMA) and through study abroad (Musik Hochschule in Detmold Germany), all the while exposing her to new ideas and experiences.  Her greatest inspirations came from Tim Thompson, Michael Höltzel, Kristin Thelander, and Frøydis Ree Wekre.

Sholtis joined the music faculty at Texas A&M University-Kingsville in 1996.  She has influenced the horn pedagogy of Texas through the numerous Javelina Horn Studio graduates, school clinics, and TMEA presentations.  From her first student over 30 years ago to now, she has established herself as a teachers’ teacher.  The idea of one being a mere link in a very long chain of teachers is poetic.  She thrives on sharing her knowledge with her students, inspiring and encouraging them to prepare the next generation of horn players. 

Prior to her appointment at Texas A&M Kingsville, Sholtis taught applied horn at Wartburg College and Truman State University.  She performed as principal horn with the Cedar Rapids Symphony and frequently performed children’s concerts in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City schools and libraries with the Cedar Rapids Symphony woodwind and brass quintets.  More recently, Sholtis held principal horn positions with the Victoria Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony, Laredo Philharmonic and utility horn position with the San Antonio Symphony. 

Besides teaching, Sholtis is a frequently requested adjudicator, serving on judging panels for state, regional, and international competitions.  She is currently a freelancer, performing solos in recitals at yearly regional horn workshops and faculty recitals.  She also performs with the Kingsville Brass Quintet and the Kleberg Quintet throughout South Texas.

Lisa O. Bontrager has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, South America, Central America and Japan, including tours with the Millennium Brass Quintet and MirrorImage, a horn duo with Michelle Stebleton, as well as the Pennsylvania Quintet.  Bontrager served as featured artist at the Southeast Horn Workshop, symposia of the International Women’s Brass Conference, the Western United States Horn Symposium (Las Vegas, Nevada), the Western Illinois Horn Workshop, Oficinate Musica De Curitiba (Brazil), and has been a concerto soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Paraguay, among others and contributing artist at many symposia of the International Horn Society.

Recognized for her teaching, Bontrager has presented masterclasses throughout the world, teaching in Greece, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Germany, Japan, among others. She is a Distinguished Professor of Music at Penn State where she received the 2008 Faculty Scholar Medal for the Arts and Humanities. For six summers, she taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp. She serves as principal horn of the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, the Altoona Symphony, Penn’s Woods Music Festival, as tenor hornist of the Brass Band of Battle Creek, and has performed with the Baltimore, Rochester, Chautauqua, and Harrisburg and Binghamton symphonies.

Emma Brown is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Orchestral Studies from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. In 2023, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Horn Performance and a minor in Spanish from Michigan State University. Her major teachers include David Griffin, Greg Flint, Mark Almond, Corbin Wagner, Dr. Denise Root-Pierce, Janine Gaboury, and Dr. Caroline Steiger.

Emma was a charter member of the International Horn Society’s Student Advisory Council, serving from 2020 to 2023. She now serves on the Advisory Council. Emma has contributed multiple articles to the Horn Call, which have mainly focused on navigating musicianship as a student. She is passionate about providing resources, mentorship and connection to a musical community for young players.

Randy C. Gardner is currently Artist-In-Residence at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance. Following a distinguished tenure as Professor of Horn and Chair of the Winds, Brass, and Percussion Department at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus. During his CCM tenure, Professor Gardner received CCM’s Ernest N. Glover Outstanding Teacher Award and the University of Cincinnati Award for Faculty Excellence. A successful and dedicated teacher, his students occupy performing and teaching positions throughout the US and abroad.

Prior to joining the CCM faculty, Gardner was Second Hornist of The Philadelphia Orchestra for 22 years, under the music directorships of Wolfgang Sawallisch, Riccardo Muti, and Eugene Ormandy.

Professor Gardner presents innovative and popular Modular Music Masterclasses, is the author of the acclaimed International Opus publication Mastering the Horn’s Low Register and self-published Good Vibrations: Masterclasses for Brass Players, and composed WHY?! for unaccompanied horn, published by Thompson Edition. Gardner has fostered the composition of new works for horn by commissioning compositions and by serving as Chair of the International Horn Society’s Meir Rimon Commissioning Assistance Fund..

Randy Gardner was a Featured Artist at International Symposia of the International Horn Society in Beijing, China (2000), Lahti, Finland (2002) and Denver, CO (2008). In 2012, he had the distinct honor of performing Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra at IHS Symposium 44 with conductor Barry Tuckwell and fellow hornists Gregory Hustis, Joseph Ognibene, and John Ericson. Gardner also had the great pleasure of performing Kenneth Fuchs’ Canticle to the Sun with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra at the 2008 IHS Symposium. He has been a Contributing Artist at many international and regional horn workshops and he serves as an adjudicator at solo and chamber music competitions.

In his free time, Randy enjoys spending time with his family, fishing, hiking, reading, sports, and church/community activism. He is an avid Chicago Cubs fan who was thrilled to witness his team win the 2016 World Series after a “drought” of 108 years. Randy believes that Cubs fans model two important personal character traits – optimism and perseverance.

Randy Gardner was honored to receive an IHS Punto Award in 2018. An enthusiastic member of the International Horn Society, Gardner served on the IHS Advisory Council from 1999-2005 before his current term. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Kendall Betts Horn Camp.

Website: randygardnerhorn.com

Tommi Hyytinen is Finnish horn soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. He is one of the most versatile horn players of his generation. He is specialized both in modern music and in period instrument playing. Hyytinen works at the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra as a horn player and at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki as a horn and natural horn teacher. He is also a member of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra. Hyytinen graduated as Doctor of Music from Sibelius Academy in 2009. The topic of his artistic doctorate was the horn music of the Romantic period. He has released three critically-acclaimed solo albums. Hyytinen is an active chamber musician and is a founding member of Arktinen Hysteria Quintet, The Golden Horns quartet, Helsinki Brass Quintet, period wind quintet Zetes and period brass quintet Raiku. Composing and arranging are an important part of his musicianship. Hyytinen is also active in the contemporary music scene and has premiered several pieces for horn, such as the horn concertos by Atso Almila, Tomi Räisänen, Olli Virtaperko, Uljas Pulkkis, Kai Nieminen and Matthew Whittall. Recent soloist performances include the premiere of the newly reconstructed horn concerto by Bernhard Crusell (1775-1838) with Finnish Baroque Orchestra at the Mozart Festival Würzburg and Crusell Music Festival Uusikaupunki in 2024. In addition to his work as a musician Hyytinen is also a certified Pilates instructor and is specialized in the musicians' use of the body. Hyytinen's comprehensive horn method "Playing from the Core" was published in 2021.

Venezuelan horn player with a wide experience performing in symphonic orchestra, chamber orchestra, band, opera, Latin American music. Gabriella Ibarra was raised in the recognized program El Sistema but also she has developed a career as horn, brass and music teacher with emphasis on children education. In 2010 she got her MsD. as a Musicologist with a concentration in Latin American music. Over the last years, her enthusiasm and passion drove her to be a Latin American horn promoter. Currently Ms. Ibarra plays as assistant horn at Dominican Republic National Symphony Orchestra, Miami Symphony Orchestra, substitute horn at Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal horn at St. Paul Presbyterian church and brass teacher at The Nucleus Orchestral program in Orlando, FL and as a Substitute teacher for the Orange County Schools department. She is also part of the editorial staff with the Horn and More newsletter as Latin American representative and coordinator in the Latin American horns horn community.

Marilyn Bone Kloss is a Founding and Lifetime Member of the IHS and has served two previous terms on the Advisory Council (1996-2002). She is assistant editor of The Horn Call, editor of the IHS website, and publisher of the Cornucopia newsletter. She has been the IHS Area Representative for Massachusetts (1992-2018) and started the Northeast Horn Workshop in 1998 and led it through 2021.

Marilyn earned BME and MM degrees at Indiana University, where she studied horn with Philip Farkas and Abe Kniaz, and a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree and Graduate Certificate in Technical Writing at Northeastern University in Boston. After working as a public school music teacher, horn freelancer, and engineer and computer programmer, she retired in 2006 from her position as a technical writer at a computer software company.

Marilyn played in the community orchestra in Concord, Massachusetts for over thirty years and is still its music librarian. She is chair of the Music Committee at the Concord Public Library and a member of the Concord Chamber Music Society Board of Directors.

As a hornist Ken has performed throughout the world with a diverse number of ensembles - from the Boston and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras to touring with Andrew Lloyd Webber.  Some of his more curious achievements have been: playing for the opening of the 2007 World Series, playing under the Eiffel Tower for the Millennium Concert (with the combined forces of the Boston Symphony, Paris Conservatory Orchestra, Andrea Boccelli, and a large assortment of choruses). He also has had the unusual experience of performing at Carnegie Hall with 3 different orchestras in under 10 days! (Boston Symphony - Mahler 2, Pittsburgh Symphony - Rite of Spring, and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra - Mahler 8). Two of his favorite ensembles were Grammy nominated: Orchestrotica (peforming the music of Juan Garcia Esquivel, and Boston Modern Orchestra Project). In 1983 he started learning horn repair and customization and never stopped.  Pope Horns was started in 1988 and has grown to be the largest (smallest) horn shop in the world.

A native of Queens, NY, Jeff Scott started the French horn at age 14, receiving an anonymous gift scholarship to begin his private study and formal introduction to music theory with the Brooklyn College Preparatory Division. An even greater gift came from his first private teacher Carolyn Clark, who taught the young Jeff. Scott for free during his high school years, giving him the opportunity to study music when resources were not available.

Since receiving degrees from Manhattan School of Music, class of ’90 and SUNY at Stony Brook, class of ’92, Jeff. Scott has enjoyed a performance career as an orchestral, chamber and studio musician, also performing with Ballet and Opera companies, Broadway shows as well as touring and recording with various artists for film, classical music, pop music and jazz.

Jeff Scott's composing credits include published works for symphonic and chamber orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles and solo works for winds, brass, strings and voice.

In 2021, as a founding member of the internationally acclaimed “Imani Winds”, Jeff retired after 24 groundbreaking years of performing, recording and community. public school, collegiate outreach. The ensemble toured internationally multiple times, and Jeff composed and arranged many works of music for the ensemble. The quintet was honored with a permanent installation at the Smithsonian Museum of African American History in 2017.

After nine years of courtship between the USA and Brazil, the love of his life Joyce Assis finally said “I do” in 2019. They now live in Oberlin, Ohio with their son Davi.

Mr. Scott was recently appointed Associate Professor of Horn at Oberlin College and Conservatory.

Dr. Margaret Tung is the Visiting Assistant Professor of Horn at University of Kentucky. Hailed as “masterly” in the Chicago Classical Review, she has performed with the famed Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Zurich Opera Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. As a chamber musician Dr. Tung has shared the stage with Yo-Yo Ma in a Chicago Symphony Orchestra chamber project, Once Upon a Symphony. Additionally, she currently performs in the UK Faculty Brass Quintet. Dr. Tung has presented at several clinics including The Midwest Clinic in Chicago, OMEA in Cleveland, and KMEA in Louisville. She has also performed at several International and Regional Horn Symposiums throughout the years including the 2016 International Horn Symposium in Muncie, IN where she commissioned and performed the world premiere performance of John Cheetham’s Sonata for Horn and Piano. As a soloist, she can be heard as a featured soloist with Anima on their CD release, An Anima Christmas. Her most recent recording release was Grammy nominated with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra entitled Concertos for Orchestra. Dr. Tung is an education enthusiast and recently published an article in the journal for the International Horn Society, The Horn Call: The Benefits of Adding a Horn Choir to Your Program. Dr. Tung is honored to be serving on the International Horn Society’s Advisory Council and also as the Kentucky Area Representative. She has been on faculty at The University of Akron, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, and Olivet Nazarene University. She completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts at The Ohio State University and holds a Master of Music from Rice University and a Bachelor of Music from DePaul University. Her teachers include world renowned Dale Clevenger, William VerMeulen, Oto Carrillo, Jon Boen, David Griffin, and Bruce Henniss.

Concert Artist, Recording Artist, Orchestral Artist, Chamber Music Artist, Jazz Artist, Studio Artist, Composer, Arranger, Master Teacher, Published Author – Professor Richard Todd’s career can best be described as unparalleled. He has been soloist at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Sydney Opera House, and Walt Disney Concert Hall, among his many appearances A graduate of USC as a student of Waldemar Linder and the legendary Vincent DeRosa, Professor Todd was also a student at the Music Academy of The West and at Tanglewood, where he met the great Gunther Schuller, who was later to become his mentor and record producer.

Todd's professional career began at age 21 as a member of the Utah Symphony. At age 22 he became principal horn of the New Orleans Symphony, and at age 24 he won the Medaille d’Or at the Toulon International Competition. Todd then moved back to Los Angeles and began working in the famous LA film studios. 

"To study music is to study one’s self. It is an art form that demands one’s best each and every day. I ask of my students that they adhere to the four R’s of success – Research, Repetition, Retention, and Result – thereby being accountable for their progress and aware of how it was achieved. I believe a great teacher is someone who makes themselves unnecessary as quickly as possible. A great student makes sure that happens. Making music is one of the greatest gifts to be given, and also to be shared."

Appointed in 2010 as Associate Principal Horn of the Campinas Symphony Orchestra - São Paulo, Dr. Lucca Zambonini also served as Horn Professor at FAAM/SP and Cantareira`s College, both in São Paulo, Brazil.

Lucca has served as Horn Solo and invited horn player in major orchestras throughout his career, such Badisches Staatstheater, Baden-Baden Philharmonic, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Brazilian Symphony Orchestras.

Lucca is Director of Marketing of the Brazilian French Horn Association and teaches and play among several music festivals, competitions and workshops around the world, he also has founded two online music projects called: “Inteligencia Musical” - to teach music appreciation and music basics to families who don't have access to music education with more than 700 students; “Horn Academy” - an on-line horn lessons project with more than 300 students.

In addition to music, Lucca loves reading and studying about technology, sports, theology and education. Together with his beautiful wife, the violist Erica, they have 3 children, Elena, Eduardo and Estevan. If he’s not working, you will most likely find him having fun with his family.