Douglas Hill, Professor of Horn at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 1974, Emily Mead Baldwin Bell-Bascom Professor of the Creative Arts, recipient of a Wisconsin Arts Council Artist Fellowship, and past President of the International Horn Society, has played first horn with the Rochester Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Co., the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble of New York (European tour and recording), the "Mass" of Leonard Bernstein (Lincoln Center, and at the Metropolitan Opera House), "Mostly Mozart ’at Carnegie Hall, the Wingra Woodwind Quintet and presently with the Wisconsin Brass Quintet and the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Hill was the original hornist in the Spoleto Festival Brass Quintet and has soloed with orchestras in the U.S., Germany, and China, and as a recitalist and clinician at numerous International, National, and Regional Horn and Brass Workshops. His interest in modern performance practices is fully demonstrated in his book Extended Techniques for the Horn - A Handbook for Students, Composers and Performers (including sound demonstrations on CD.) Hill is the author of Introducing the French Horn and has recently finished a comprehensive book entitled: Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity and Horn Performance.
Douglas Hill was included as one of only 20 hornists in the book of biographical sketches; Twentieth Century Brass Soloists by Michael Meckna, based primarily on the success of his recordings and solo appearances.
Professor Hill has recently released (Musicians Showcase Recordings, MS1060) a double CD (145 minutes of music), featuring 14 of his compositions performed by alumni, faculty, students, and staff of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. He has recorded two solo albums with pianist Karen Zaczek Hill for Crystal Records (re-released on CD in 1999), "A Solo Voice" on GunMar Records (modern unaccompanied works), and has recorded with the St. Louis Symphony, Contemporary Chamber Ensembles of Chicago and New York, Wingra Woodwind Quintet, Dick Shory at Carnegie Hall, and the Wisconsin Brass Quintet on Summit and Mark Records. Hill has produced a full-length educational video "HILL ON HORN." and frequently contributes articles to leading journals. He has served on the faculties of the Oberlin Conservatory, Aspen Music School, Asian Youth Orchestra Rehearsal Camp in Hong Kong, the Conservatories of Bejing and Shanghai, the Sarasota Music Festival, Hartt College and Yale Summer Schools, the University of South Florida, Wilkes College, and the University of Connecticut.
As a frequent recipient of research grants, he has studied unrecorded horn and piano repertoire, extended techniques, hand horn, extemporization and compositional techniques and applications. Mr. Hill is also a published and recorded composer including such works as; "Abstraction for Solo and Eight Horns," "Jazz Soliloquies for Horn," "Jazz Set for Solo Horn," "Shared Reflections for Four Horns," "Intrada for Brass Quintet," "The Spirit World...Massacre," for Wisconsin Public Television, and "Ceremonial Images" for tribal drum and large ensemble, (commissioned by the Omaha Symphony) and produced in full for broadcast by Nebraska Educational Television and in part for a CBS feature on "Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt." More recent compositions and publications include "Song Suite in Jazz Style" for Horn and Piano, "Reflections" for Solo Horn, "Intrada" for Brass Choir, "Timepieces" for Brass Quintet, "A Place for Hawks" for Mezzo Soprano, Horn and Strings, "Elegy" for Violin and Horn, "Americana Variations" for Horn Quartet, "Homage to ’Thoreau" for Chorus, Flute and Drum, and "If I Were the Wind" for Narrator, Wind Quintet and Strings.
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