Monday, November 26, 2012
How this Jamaica Plain classical player recently won a spot with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
When Michael Winter won the spot as third horn with the Boston Symphony Orchestra earlier this year, the 28-year-old Jamaica Plain resident marked the day as a dream come true. A California native, and part of a family of musicians, he came to Boston to study at New England Conservatory, and afterward landed jobs with the Syracuse Symphony and the Buffalo Philharmonic orchestras. But the pianist-turned-horn player knew all along that he wanted to play with the BSO. We recently spoke over coffee at Caffé Aromi. Jamaica Plain Patch: Before we discuss the BSO, how did you happen to switch from piano to French horn? Michael Winter: I started playing piano when I was 8 because my mom said it would be the best way to learn the basics of notes …
Friday, May 20, 2011
Ken Pope fixes French horns by day, and plays them at night.
When Ken Pope turned 10 it was time for him to pick an instrument to play. His choice was trumpet. But his mom, at one time an accordion teacher, said, “No, everybody needs a French horn or an oboe or a bassoon.” He went for the horn because, as he now says, “It was closest to the trumpet.” But Pope, 50, who went on to be a horn performance major at Oberlin, doesn’t only play the beautiful and stately member of the brass family, he also fixes them. The basement space beneath his home in the Forest Hills area of Jamaica Plain, is also the home of Pope Instrument Repair, which he opened in 1989. Why is it called a French horn? The actual term is just the horn. Nobody really knows why it’s called French horn. Was it always classical music…
Friday, February 25, 2011
James Sommerville started out on piano but went for the ringed brass. He is, among many other things, principal horn at the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Jamaica Plain resident James Sommerville lives a rather busy musical life. Locally he’s principal horn with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and teaches individual horn lessons through New England Conservatory. In his native Canada, he’s conductor and musical director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. He also appears as guest soloist around the world and works with the chamber ensemble the Andalucian Dogs. Is it called the French horn or just the horn? We usually just call it the horn. It’s just one of those odd nomenclature things. No one really knows where it came from, but it was only in England that they called it the French horn. Has the horn always been your instrument? I started out on piano when I was 7 or 8 years old, then…
