Special Guests

Michelle Perry enjoys an international reputation as a versatile musician who is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. She was the horn soloist of the internationally acclaimed Empire Brass Quintet for six years, touring throughout Asia, Europe, Australasia, Scandinavia, North America, and South America.

Michelle has held principal horn positions with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra in the Sydney Opera House, the New World Symphony, and the Malaysian Philharmonic, as well as guest principal horn positions with the Boston Pops and the Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester. Her many other orchestral engagements include regular appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Milwaukee Symphony, and the Honolulu Symphony, among others. Michelle Perry has toured Greece with the new music ensemble Alea III and performed with the Ensemble Intercontemporain with Pierre Boulez in Carnegie Hall.

A J. William Fulbright scholar, Michelle has performed as a guest artist and soloist at the Tanglewood Music Festival, St. Barths Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Sunflower Music Festival, and Sydney-Hamden Music Festival as well as at several international horn workshops and brass festivals. She has presented numerous solo recitals around the world.

Highlights of Michelle’s solo engagements have included performances with the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, recorded live and broadcast by National Public Radio, solo performances at the 9th International Music Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia, and solo appearances as the featured guest horn artist at the Melbourne International Festival of Brass in Australia, where she gave the Australian premiere of the Oliver Knussen Concerto for Horn and Orchestra with the New Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Michelle has been a featured guest artist on "Good Morning America", "St. Paul Sunday" radio, and National Public Radio's "Performance Today".

Michelle’s principal teachers included Frøydis Ree Wekre, Thomas Bacon, and Bruce Heim. Enthusiastic about music from a broad range of genres both inside and outside the concert hall, she has been involved in several group commissions and world premieres of new works.

Michelle serves actively as a clinician, presents masterclasses internationally, and has taken part in various artist-in-residence programs in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

Michelle can be heard on several albums with Telarc, Chandos, Summit Records, BMG, and RCA Victor. She is currently based in Berlin.

Jaehyung Kim is an exclusive artist with Cornford Horn.

Jaehyung Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea. Mr. Kim comes from a family of musicians; his mother is an organist, his father plays flute and guitar as a hobby, and his brother became an oboist. Mr. Kim began playing the horn at the age of 12 at Yewon Art Middle School and Seoul Arts High School with teachers Hicheol Lee, Kyungil Choi and Sunghho Yun. His passion for the horn eventually led him to Düsseldorf, Germany, where he began his undergraduate studies at the Robert Schumann Musikhochschule Düsseldorf under the tutelage of Joachim Pöltl. He concluded his undergraduate studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin under the tutelage of Prof. Christian-Friedrich Dallmann. He completed both his Master’s degree and the Meisterklasse degree at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München under the guidance of Johannes Hinterholzer.

During his studies, he took part in numerous renowned festival orchestras such as the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, the Santander Music Festival in Spain, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Bayreuth Easter Festival Orchestra in Germany, the Festival Ensemble Stuttgart (Bachakademie), and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. In 2013, Mr. Kim won a position as an academist at the Munich Radio Orchestra for one year.

Mr. Kim frequently performs not only as a section player but also on numerous occasions as principal horn with orchestras such as the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Camerata Salzburg, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Frankfurt Opera, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne. He has had the opportunity to work as principal horn with conductors of great renown such as Christoph Eschenbach, Helmuth Rilling, Alain Altinoglu, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev, and Michail Jurowski. His musical career has led him to perform extensively not only throughout Europe but also across Asia, including South Korea, China, and Japan.

Not only is Mr. Kim an avid orchestral musician, but he is also heavily involved in contemporary music, baroque music, and chamber music. He has performed and recorded with diverse ensembles such as Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Klangforum Wien, the Ensemble für Neue Musik in Salzburg, and the baroque ensemble “Concerto de Bassus.”  

He won First Prize at the Korea National Competition, as well as Third Prize and the Youngest Prize at the Jeju International Brass Competition at the age of 16. He reached the semi-finals of the ARD International Music Competition in the chamber music category with a wind quintet. He received a diploma from the International Instrumental Competition Markneukirchen in 2016, in addition to giving solo recitals in South Korea, Japan, and other countries.

Most recently, he performed Richard Strauss’s Horn Concerto in the Großer Saal of the Berliner Philharmonie with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, receiving excellent reviews and deeply moving many listeners. In addition, he has appeared as a soloist in works such as Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, the Mozart horn concertos, and Schumann’s Konzertstück For Four Horns and Orchestra. In 2023, he was appointed Artist in Residence with the Gunma Symphony Orchestra in Japan, appearing as soloist, principal horn, and chamber musician throughout the season.

Mr. Kim has a strong passion for pedagogy and teaching and has regularly given masterclasses and workshops in Germany, Japan, and South Korea since 2013. In 2020, he joined the Mainz Philharmonic Orchestra (Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz) as Associate Principal Horn.

Gu Cong was born in 1987 in Shanghai, China. He studied at the conservatory of his home city under Xian Han and Guang Ming, and later studied in Germany under Erich Penzel and Xiao Ming Han in Saarbrücken and in Karlsruhe under Will Sanders.

He has been highly appraised by German magazines, newspapers, and other media during his time in Germany.

Gu Cong has participated in numerous competitions, winning Second Prize at the Horn Competition in Bremen, Germany in 2006. In the same year, he won the competition in China and was awarded Third Prize at the International French Horn Competition, "Frederick II di Svevia," in Sannicandro di Bari, Italy. In 2008, he won the fifth edition of the Jeju International Competition in South Korea. In 2009 he won Third Prize at the 20th International French Horn Competition in Porcia, Italy. He was semi-finalist of the ARD Munich Competition in 2010.

Since returning to China, he has been invited as faculty to many major art festivals, such as the Beijing Horn Art Festival, Sichuan Horn Art Festival, Shenzhen Horn Art Festival, and the Japan Asian Horn Art Festival.

He has been invited to perform as a soloist with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, and Qingdao Symphony Orchestra.

His 60 Kopprasch Etudes and 34 Muller Etudes were published on multiple music platforms, making him the first horn player in China to record a complete set of etudes, which established a profound influence on horn teaching.

Xiao-Ming Han studied with Xianguang Han in China and Richard Mackey at the New England Conservatory, USA. He went on to study in Germany with Ifor James at the Freiburg University of Music, and with Otto Schmitz at the Munich University of Music. In 1983, Han won first prize in the International Horn Competition, organized by the International Horn Society.

At age 22, Han was appointed principal horn of the Würzburg Philharmonic Orchestra and later that year, principal horn of the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, where he served until 2024.

Han has performed with many celebrated conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons, and Christoph Eschenbach. He has been invited to various music festivals such as the Salzburg Music Festival, Würzburg Mozart Music Festival, Saito Kinen Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Lucerne Festival, London Proms, and the famous Marlboro Music Festival where he performed chamber music with Midori Goto, Mitsuko Uchida, Hilary Hahn, and many others. 

Additionally, he has been invited to perform as guest principal with the Berlin Philharmonic; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; the Bavarian, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestras; the Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, and Düsseldorf Opera House Orchestras; as well as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

In 1993, Han became the youngest, and up to present time, the only Asian professor of horn and chamber music in Germany at age 30. He was professor at the University of Music Saarland until 2011. In all those years, Han has shown great commitment to further horn education worldwide. He has received invitations to teach masterclasses in the USA, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and various countries in Europe. He has also been invited as a regular guest professor at the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) in Beijing and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He is regularly invited to the jury of Horn competitions, including the ARD Munich Competition in 2016.

Han has shown great organizational skills to promote international collaboration in classical music, mainly in Europe and China. In 2024, he returned to Shanghai where he serves as professor of horn at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

FERGUS McWILLIAM was born on the shores of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. He studied in Toronto with Eugene Rittich, John Simonelli, Frederick Rizner and Barbara Bloomer, and debuted at the age of 15 with the Toronto Symphony under Seiji Ozawa. He also studied in Amsterdam with Adriaan van Woudenberg and with Wilhelm Lanzky-Otto in Stockholm.

He was a member of Orchestra London (Canada) 1975-79, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra 1979-82, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bayerischer Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester) 1982-85, and the Berliner Philharmoniker 1985-2019.

Fergus McWilliam has performed for conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Kleiber, Raphael Kubelik, Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Günter Wand, Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink, Eugen Jochum, Klaus Tennstedt, Sergiu Celibidache, Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti, Pierre Boulez, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt and Aaron Copland.

In 1988 he was a founding member of the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. In 1998 he founded The Horns of the Berlin Philharmonic. His solo and chamber music activities took him throughout Europe, the Americas and the Far East.

McWilliam has taught at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Academy and the Hanns- Eisler-Musikhochschule in Berlin, the Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Royal College of Music and Guildhall School in England, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Paris Conservatoire, Tokyo’s University of Fine Arts, Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute and many others. A significant number of his students have gone on to join major world orchestras.

McWilliam is the author of the acclaimed book “blow your OWN horn!” and has designed a popular series of horn mouthpieces for the firm Bruno Tilz.

Frøydis Ree Wekre

Horn soloist and teacher Frøydis Ree Wekre was studying piano and violin before turning to horn at the age of 17. Outside of her native Oslo, Norway, her studies have taken place in Sweden, Russia and USA.

After a year working in the Norwegian Opera, she joined the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra 1961 and played as co-principal until 1991. She has performed under such conductors as Herbert Blomstedt, Bernhard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Kirill Kondrashin, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Monteux, Esa Pekka Salonen and many others. In addition to her orchestral activities, she has been an active soloist and chamber musician, mainly in Europe and North America.

As a teacher Ms. Wekre was Professor of Horn and Chamber Music at the Norwegian Academy of Music until 2011. Nowadays she is travelling worldwide, lecturing and giving master classes. 

Her first book, “Thoughts on Playing the Horn well” has been translated into several languages. Her last book, COLLECTED WRITINGS, was released in 2020. More than 40 compositions are written for her, some of which have been recorded on the labels of SIMAX, CRYSTAL and 2L.no

For many years Frøydis Ree Wekre has been associated with Musica Riva in Italy, Sarasota Music Festival in USA, Banff Festival of the Arts and Domaine Forget, both in Canada. She is an Honorary Member of the International Horn Society, where she also was the president during a period. In 2023 the Norwegian King Harald appointed her to become “Ridder av St. Olavs Orden, 1. Klasse.”

Kazimierz (Kaz) W. Machala, a native of Poland, is a performer, teacher, and composer. He is a truly international musician, having played and taught in Europe, Australia, and the US, and back to Poland as Visiting Professor of Horn at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, retiring in 2019. His compositions and arrangements have become staples of the horn literature.

Kaz grew up on a farm in central Poland, riding his bicycle through snow and mud with his accordion strapped to his back to get to music lessons. He also played drum, mandolin, two-string bass, and accordion in the village band. When he was in high school, an ethnomusicology professor heard him play accordion at a folklore competition and described the horn to him as the most noble instrument in the entire orchestra. Kaz took the advice seriously, but also played piano, guitar, and banjo to support himself while studying horn. He played banjo and piano in a Dixieland band – daring during the cold war – where he made his first attempts at composing. Acquaintance with Kirk Douglas at a film school in Lodz motivated Kaz to learn English.

Kaz studied at the Janáček Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Brno, Czech Republic (1968-1973), attracted by its long tradition of fine horn playing and unique warm horn sound. After graduation, he played in the Cracow Radio Symphony for one year, but he wanted to learn more about orchestral playing and in 1974 was accepted at Juilliard, where he was the first horn player in the school’s history to receive a DMA degree. He won Third Prize at the 1974 International Music Competition for Woodwinds and Brass in Prague.

Kaz was principal horn in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (1979-1986) and played in several chamber ensembles. He returned to the US to be closer to family and taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1989-2009), now Professor Emeritus. Kaz has performed as a soloist, in various wind and brass ensembles, and with major orchestras. and has taught and performed at festivals in New Zealand, Europe, Canada, and the US. In teaching, he stresses good habits, a well-balanced playing efficiency.

Writing started with transcribing and arranging for chamber ensembles at his first teaching job. He first transcribed music of composers who didn’t write solo works for horn. He wrote for the Dixieland band, songs for a rock band, a film score for a student project in Sydney, and exercises for his students. He wrote a horn quartet for his students, which the American Horn Quartet included in their concert repertoire. His arrangement of the American Folk Suite for wind quintet has been performed and recorded by the Berlin Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet. Transcribing and arranging has led to Kaz writing original compositions. He premiered his own Concerto for Horn, Winds, and Percussion with the Wind Symphony at the University of Illinois; it has received numerous performances on five continents. He received the Excellence in Composition Award at the International Brass Chamber Music Festival in Louisville, Kentucky for his Brass Quintet No. 1.

Since his retirement, Kaz has been composing and giving masterclasses. He was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 2020.

Stephen Nicholls is a horn player and app developer, and the creator of the Farkas 2.0, Farkas Jr and The Horn Player’s Toolkit practice apps.

He holds the positions of Associate Principal Horn with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Horn of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Stephen spent over a decade freelancing in London, working with many of the UK and Ireland’s leading orchestras before moving to Liverpool.

A self-taught programmer, Stephen’s work is driven by a desire to harness technology to support horn players of all levels and backgrounds in tackling the instrument’s unique challenges. Farkas 2.0 and Farkas Jr focus on developing core skills such as sight-reading, pitching and transposition, while his latest project, The Horn Player’s Toolkit (available on iOS and Android), aims to expand these ideas into a broader, more flexible set of tools. The app is developed in close dialogue with teachers and players and is designed to help horn players practise more effectively, creatively and confidently.

Outside music, Stephen is a keen runner, with several marathons to his name, and has a slightly unusual enthusiasm for mountain unicycling.

Stephen is looking forward to meeting and collaborating with players and teachers from around the world during the festival, and to gaining insights that will help shape the future development of his apps — and horn practice more broadly.

(photo by Gareth Jones)

Man Yi studied under Prof. Chen Genmin and Prof. Han Xiaoming in Beijing, China and Saarbrücken, Germany.

In 2007, Man Yi won first place at the National Horn Competition. At 23, he became the youngest Chinese principal horn in a professional German orchestra, performing with the Pforzheim State Opera. He was later appointed principal horn of the Mecklenburg State Opera, Busan Philharmonic Orchestra in South Korea, and the Asian Philharmonic Orchestra. He joined the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010.

Man Yi is one of the most sought-after horn players in China and has performed worldwide with prestigious orchestras including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO), the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (SR), the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra, the Lautten Compagney Berlin, the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra, and the Munich Chamber Orchestra.

Domestically, Man Yi regularly performs with leading orchestras such as the China Philharmonic Orchestra, National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

Man Yi has collaborated with world-renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Myung-Whun Chung, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Jaap van Zweden, Yu Feng, Yu Long, Shui Lan, Zhang Guoyong, Lu Jia, Li Xincao, Zhang Yi, Yang, Lin Daye, Jing Huan, Huang Yi, Hong Yin, and Yuan Ding. In 2014, he recorded the Mozart Horn Concertos with the Hangzhou Philharmonic under the baton of celebrated conductor Yang, winning the prestigious "Top Ten Gold Record Award" in China.

He has conducted masterclasses at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, Alicante Brass Festival in Spain, Alexander Horn Camp in Germany, and the Busan Music Festival in South Korea. He has also served as a juror for prestigious competitions such as the Japan International Horn Competition and the Jeju International Brass Competition. Man Yi is the mastermind behind several music projects including the Beijing International Horn Festival, the Alexander China Horn Competition, and the China Horn Ensemble, which have set benchmarks in the field.

Since returning to teach at his alma mater, the Central Conservatory of Music, in 2012, Man Yi has dedicated himself to horn education. His students have gone on to join premier orchestras such as the China Philharmonic, the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra, the Central Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. His students have also won top prizes at national and international competitions including the National Horn Competition, Alexander China Horn Competition, Prokofiev International Music Competition, Asia-Pacific Youth International Instrumental Championship, Xinghai National Wind Solo and Ensemble Competition, and the Jeju International Brass Competition. Among his students, Jin Zhicheng achieved second place in the brass category at the 17th Tchaikovsky International Competition in 2023, and in 2024, won first prize at the 75th Prague Spring International Competition in the horn category.