UGA School of Music students sweep horn society awards, attend symposium

Three students from the UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s horn studio received numerous honors from the International Horn Society (IHS) in mid-June.

Duncan Robertson, Andrew Sehmann and Addison Whitney won all of the organization’s student awards, and at the 2016 IHS Symposium at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y., they competed and placed in several competitions, received a private lesson from a featured artist and played in two master classes. The symposium was held from June 13-18.

“The International Horn Society conference is the premier gathering in our field,” said Jean Martin-Williams, professor of horn and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor. “To see our students successful on this global level is a tribute to all the faculty and staff at the School of Music.  Andrew, Addison and Duncan showed great initiative and dedication throughout this process.”

Sehmann received the Jon Hawkins Memorial Award, which offers support for “deserving, highly motivated horn students” to attend annual IHS symposiums, and the Barry Tuckwell Award—supporting the advancement of horn students “attending and participating in master classes and workshops throughout the world.” 

“[The Tuckwell award] is named for horn soloist Barry Tuckwell, one of the most important soloists of the horn in the past century,” said Sehmann. “I found out after I won it that Tuckwell was the main judge for the panel, which I was shocked to learn.”

Sehmann also competed in the Frizelle Orchestral Excerpt Competition and Premier Solo Competition (in the “age 25 and younger” division of both), reaching the finals in both and placing second in the solo competition.

The Paul Mansur Award went to Whitney, granting him a lesson at the symposium with Gail Williams, who Martin-Williams says is “regarded as one of the greatest horn players and teachers of the generation.”

“It was amazing to work with her and get her point of view on different excerpts,” said Whitney. “IHS was a great experience and Ithaca was a beautiful location.”

Robertson submitted to be a performer participating in several of the symposium’s master classes, and he was selected to take part in master classes from British horn soloist Frank Lloyd and William VerMeulen of Rice University and the Houston Symphony.

“I was very lucky to have been paired with such prominent and well-regarded pedagogic figures,” said Robertson. “I was nervous about the master classes at first, but everyone was very supportive. They were capable of easily identifying weak points in your playing, as well as providing instantly applicable techniques to improve them.”

The UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music is a rising national leader in musical education and performance. With over 300 undergraduate and 200 graduate students, the School of Music trains the music performers, educators, scholars, composers and therapists of tomorrow with world-class facilities, unparalleled instruction and hundreds of performance opportunities each year.