Hey everybody, check out Kristina`s blog page. She writes beautifully! And she has just posted a blog about the recent AHQ European Tour. There is also a recent post about the art of lip trilling. So go to:
www.onemoreindulgence.blogspot.com and enjoy it.

Well, that was it then. The last, almost holy notes of Bach`s "Air-on-the-G-String" rang for nearly 5 seconds in the old, Gothic, pilgrimage church of Bleidenberg-Oberfell, high up overlooking the Mosel river valley. It was a sold-out audience that demanded three encores. We only had two in the folders on the stands. And we really had no lips left. But we tagged on our new encore, "Sabre Dance" to bring the listeners to their feet. Walking out of the church, we beheld a spectacular sunset in the direction of the German city of Koblenz. This was concert number ten on a long and drawn out 20th Anniversary European Tour with the American Horn Quartet.

Twelve years ago, during an AHQ trip to Hong Kong, I met up with the Mr. Phil Brink, who was at that time, the bass-trombonist in the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Phil wanted to commission me to compose a concerto for his instrument. It was a strange time for me in my life. I was going through some serious changes. And I was suffering badly from writer`s block. I told Phil as much. But he remained confident and patient, encouraging me to take my time and wait until the muse inspires. We put no dead-line on the commission.

About two years later, I personally handed the score over to Phil during another visit to the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. I really was not terribly sure that I was presenting him with a work that was consistent with the high quality of my other pieces. Phil took the score with gratitude, and I didn`t hear a lot about it after that. I knew that there was some activity concerning the rearranging of the first movement for band and there was even a performance of this in Paris quite a few years ago. But the work, as far as I know, remained unplayed.

Back in May of 1987, I found myself in the finals of the horn division of the Prague Spring International Music Competition. It had been a grueling week up until then. I did not have the option of bringing my own pianist, so I was obligated to use the staff accompanist. I had a one-hour rehearsal with Mrs. Ludmilla Cermakova on the Telemann Concerto and the mandatory Czech piece. And then we went into the room and played our tails off. To my sincere surprise I was advanced to the next round. I found out later I had placed first in this round! Mrs. Cermakova and I then had two days to prepare for the next round. I had chosen to play the Weber Concertino and another Czech work, the name of which I have unfortunately forgotten. I seem to remember that I played the Bujonovsky Sonata as my work in the unaccompanied work category. Once again, we were advanced to the next and final round. Ludmilla (I now called her Lida) had about one day to learn the Glière Concerto. And we put in the appropriate hours necessary to accomplish this. I was also obligated to play the Strauss 2nd Horn Concerto in the final round. Both concerti one after the other! The great horn class pianist Iva Navratova was appointed official expert on this challenging part and so I was granted all of about 30 minutes to have a run through with her. But no matter, as all parties concerned came through with flying colors and I won the 3rd Prize and Bronze Medal.

I have always loved Italy! I get there as often as I can. And if I can combine it with a performance either with the Luxembourg Philharmonic or the AHQ, all the better. This time it was the OPL (Lux Phil). I was scheduled to play only the Dvorak Symphony Nr. 2 (or 7) on 3 concerts- Brescia, Bergamo and Pavia. It`s a rather strange job to do. I sit around all day long, checking and rechecking my chops, board the bus to the hall, participate in a very short acoustic rehearsal, locate a practice and changing room for myself, go get a coffee, walk around the city a bit, enjoy a light dinner, back to the hall while the orchestra is already playing, warm up and then, at 10:30 at night, dive into 38 minutes of intense orchestral playing. After the concert, we bus it back to the hotel, enjoy a bottle of wine or beer, depending on which country you are in, sleep it off and get up the next day to exactly the same routine. Kristina, who has been holding down the 3rd horn chair all season was playing the Rachmaninoff 3rd Piano Concerto as well.

Very often, the members of the AHQ are asked how we coordinate our horn quartet schedules with our busy orchestral schedules. Our answers usually revolve around the praising of a system which allows us to purchase, at our own costs, the necessary replacement in the orchestra. We also point out the fact that European orchestras very often employ up to 8 or 9 horn players. The latter is not the case with the Luxembourg Philharmonic which has 6, nor the Beethoven Orchestra in Bonn which has 7. And it does regularly happen that the events line up so that there is a direct conflict between our orchestras and the AHQ. Two weeks ago, for example, Kristina (who is substituting for Dave Johnson at the moment) and I played a Brahms 4th Symphony concert in Luxembourg, raced to Bonn, spent the short night, and met Charles and Geoffrey at the "Gästehaus Petersberg Königswinter", performed for the National Association of Criminal Lawyers and raced back to Luxembourg to repeat the OPL concert from the previous evening.

There has been some considerable interest lately in my "Concerto for Low Horn and Orchestra". Interestingly enough, we have just recorded this work on CD; it along with the "Introduction and Main Event" for horn quartet and orchestra, the "Concerto for Tuba" and the orchestral tone poem "Karankawa". This project was recently completed and I am hoping to have the CD released by Christmas 2009.

Mostly the questions have been about various performances of the piece with the piano reduction. As a matter of fact, over the past year, I have coached many students on the "Concerto for Low Horn". And every time I have to alert them to the two major misprints in the horn part. I also have a few tips for the pianist. So I have therefore decided to list the misprints and suggestions on this blog as follows:

As I mentioned in the earlier blogs, there is a grand European tour for the American Horn Quartet approaching with great rapidity. I have been working on all of the hundreds details around the clock. Yet STILL there is always the unexpected which pops up when you least desire it to. In this case, it was the sudden illness of AHQ colleague David Johnson. I won`t provide any details in this blog, but it is a serious enough problem to cause him to cancel his participation in the aforementioned tour.

My first thought, of course, was of Kristina, with whom I have been concertizing at a very high level these past few years. In the past we have been quite successful with using Karl Pitoch of the Detroit Symphony as a replacement, once for Geof Winter and one time for Charles Putnam. Mr. Larry Johnson in Oregon has also stepped in and played my part on the Schumann Konzertstück, as has OPL colleague Nagy Myklos.

The next big project on the books is the 2009 American Horn Quartet European Tour. This tour was organized to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the AHQ (in its present formation). There are actually a few other concerts which we are considering to be part of this tour, but which are in fact a week or so on either side of it. This is the itinerary. Where possible, I have included contact information:

Das nächste grosse Projekt auf dem Terminkalender ist die 2009 American Horn Quartet Europa-Tournee. Dieses Ereignis wurde, im Anlass des 20. Jubiläums des AHQ (in der jetztingen Besetzung), organisiert. Es gibt allerdings ein Paar zusätzliche Konzerte ausserhalb der Tournee, die wir als Teil der Tournee betrachhten. Sie sind jedoch eine Woche oder mehr, entweder vorher oder im Anschluss. Unten ist der Spielplan. Ich habe, wo möglich, die Kontaktinformation beigeschlossen:

Here it is, the 7th of April, and I am only now sitting down to write about the AHQ U.S. tour which officially ended over two weeks ago. It was a very successful tour, there is no doubt about that. But I had made the journey to the States several days prior to the first concert of the tour. I flew to San Antonio, Texas to visit my mother and her husband as well as my brother Ken. Meeting up with the lads of the AHQ in Dallas, we were driven by Mark and Ute Miller, the organizers of the Mount Vernon, Texas Music Festival. This is a delightful little chamber music festival which takes place about an hour and a half east of Dallas. The hall was full and the audience was extremely enthusiastic. Here is a link which leads you to a review of the concert: http://www.winnsborotoday.com/articles/2009/American%20Horn%20Quartet.html

From March 7th until March 22nd, I will be on the road with those grumpy old men from the American Horn Quartet. We shall be performing and coaching in five different locations in the US: Commerce and Mt. Vernon, Texas, U. T. at Austin, the IHS Northwest Horn Workshop in Ithaca, NY, Columbia, South Carolina and the IHS Mid-South Regional Workshop in Memphis. For more information about this tour, you can check out David Johnson`s website at www.davidjohnsonhorn.com. I have decided to list here the repertoire for this tour:

Quartet for 4 Horns by James Langely
Fugue in c-minor by J. S. Bach

Plausible Interest
Chamber music by
Kerry Turner -
reviewed by
PATRIC STANDFORD
'... accessible, neatly made, technically challenging ...'

Kerry Turner is a Texan by birth, a native of San Antonio, but for the last twenty years has been resident in Luxembourg where he is a member of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, a notable French horn soloist and a member of the American Horn Quartet.
As a composer he certainly knows what he is doing, and does it extremely well. His work is accessible, neatly made, technically challenging -- yet like all the best competent writing it doesn't make any severe demands on the listener, even though the players might find it a tough test. Horn playing is a tough test, and the horn quartet, so rarely appealing to composers because they don't know how to make a success of it, is one of the toughest to make sound warm and untroubled. Turner creates the sort of music that leaves the listener comfortably unaware of technical problems, either in its making or playing.

The American Horn Quartet is preparing to embark on its 2009 tour of the United States. The dates for the tour are March 3rd through March 22nd and they will be playing and coaching at five locations on this tour:
Commerce, Texas
Austin, Texas
Ithaca, New York
Columbia, South Carolina
Memphis, Tennessee

For information about where and when the AHQ will be performing, go to www.davidjohnsonhorn.com and then click on the "links" page. About half way down that page, you will find other links which take you directly to the hosts website or e-mail address. Hope to see you at one of the concerts!

For those of you who are interested in a larger ensemble work of mine, I would like to suggest you take a look at “Rhapsody” for nine Instruments which was composed in 2001. The instrumentation for this 13- minute fantasy piece is flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello and contrabass. There is a spectacular recording of “Rhapsody” on the CD entitled “Rotterdam Philharmonic Chamber Players- CHAMBER MUSIC OF KERRY TURNER” which was recorded in 2006 and features the great Dutch horn player, Martin van de Merwe. This CD is available on the MSR label (MS1186) for which there is a link on this website. You can also listen to excerpts from it on the “Discography” page of this website. If you would like to read more about “Rhapsody”, please go to “Catalogue of Works” and then to “woodwind”.

I would like to make an advertisement for two of my best works, "Six Lives of Jack McBride" for horn, tenor, violin and piano and "Quarter-After-Four" for horn, violin and piano.

"SIX LIVES OF JACK MCBRIDE" was commissioned by Charles Putnam and the IHS Meir Rimon Foundation. It was premiered in 1994 at a recital hosted by the American Ambassador to Luxembourg at his residence. I sang the solo tenor role of Jack McBride, Charles Putnam played horn, Attila Keresztesi on violin and Beatrice Rauchs performed the piano part. The work's main theme is based on an old Gaelic theme from the Orkney Islands. I wrote the following about "Jack McBride":

I would like to take this opportunity to promote the Kenneth W. Turner Scholarship Fund. This noteworthy scholarship was set up by generations of past student of my father, Kenneth W. Turner. My father was an extremely successful band director at several high schools in Texas- Bishop High School in Bishop, Texas, Pasadena High School in Houston, and Highlands, Roosevelt and Burbank, all in San Antonio. After he passed away five years ago, the family received a plethora of mail from students who had been in his bands all the way back to the Bishop years (1957-61). There were many- over 300- people even at the funeral! Kenneth Turner made a huge impact on generations of music students. His bands were invariably award-winning, precise, elegant and musical. The two years that I was a member of his band at Roosevelt High School, we performed the Kalinnikov Symphony Nr. 1, Polka and Fugue from "Schwanda", John Barnes Chance Symphony Nr. 1 for band and Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. On the marching field, his bands (particularly Highlands and Roosevelt) were well known powerhouses who always scored the highest points at contests.At the Six Flags Band Festival, where we performed Till Eulenspiegel.

In my cellar, where I have set up my own personal work-out gym, there hangs a large map of the world. On this map, Kristina and I have placed colored pins on the cities around the world where we have performed. I am not sure why we originally took the initiative to do such a thing, but there it is. And as I was working out today, I thought it might be interesting to make a list of the many countries in which the two of us have performed with our various ensembles.

Kerry- either with the American Horn Quartet, the Luxembourg Philharmonic or the Virtuoso Horn Duo:

Australia
Austria
Belgium

It has taken me some time to get around to it, but I am finally free from other
obligations enough to write a little bit about the trip to Beijing that Kristina and I
recently underwent. The occasion was the 2nd Beijing Horn Festival, organized by
Professor Han Xiao Ming. The venue was the Beijing National Conservatory, and the event
took place the first week of October, right in the middle of the largest folk festival in
China, something they call "The Golden Days". Because of this huge and very popular
festival, there were hundreds of thousands of people from all over China visiting

This picture shows Kristina and me rehearsing my "Twas a Dark and Stormy Night" with the Lower Silesian Philharmonic in Jelenia Gora, Poland, under the direction of Dariusz Wisniewski.
Many of you may have never heard of Jelenia Gora. And if I told you that it is called Hirschberg or Deer Mountain in German and English, that probably wouldn`t help you much. The fact is, it is a small and quite delightful little city in western Poland, only about a 45-minute drive from the German border. And it was here that Kristina Mascher and I traveled to perform with the Lower Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra with Mr. Dariusz Wisniewski conducting. On the program for us to perform were the Haydn Concerto for 2 Horns in Eb as well as my own "Twas a Dark and Storm Night", 2 works which we had recorded with Mr. Wisniewski in Cracow a couple of years ago (CD- Virtuoso Horn Duo, works by Haydn, Rosetti, Vivaldi and Turner, MSR Classics MS 1181).

I have just returned from an very long and difficult journey. I was on the road with the Luxembourg Philharmonic, whose run-out concerts to other countries and cites is usually carried out in style. This particular run-out however looked a bit dodgy even from the outset. First of all, it`s a long long way to Weimar from Luxembourg, some 550 kilometers. Second of all, we were suppose to take the bus! Whereas we almost alway fly to cites that far away, the administration had decided, for some reason, that we should take the bus. The third oddity about my particular situation in this scenario was that I was booked to play only on the Berlioz "Harold in Italy".

Yesterday evening (August 30, 2008), in the small Luxembourgisch townn of Bettange-sur-Mess, five members of the vocal ensemble "Intermedii" interpreted the very soulful and historically interesting Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei from the Mass for Five Voices by William Byrd. They were accompanied by 5 Viol players- the Melusina Consort- who lent the performance a beautiful authenticity. The singing of the work was properly integrated into the mass itself there at the Catholic Church in Bettange.

The following morning, the two groups moved chairs and stands to the Anglican Church of Luxembourg, where we wove the five movements into the 11:00 o`clock service.

The members of the horn jury along with the AHQ and significant others enjoying a Korean feast in JejuIt was certainly an interesting place to hold a brass festival and an international competition. If you are not sure where the devil Jeju Island is, don`t feel bad. Most of us had never heard of it either, until recently that is. In fact, Jeju is a special self-governing province of South Korea, and indeed, that is how it is officially called. Apparently, this was the 13th such brass festival to have taken place here. Not only were bands from around the globe invited to perform at the various concert venues around the island, but several prestigious brass ensembles as well, including the American Horn Quartet. And that is how I wound up spending over a week on this obscure little island, playing horn quartets to clapping audiences. Oh, there was also an international competition going on at the same time. The categories were for trumpet, horn, trombone, euphonium, tuba and brass quintet. I have to say, the standard was pretty high. Those most curious lads of the AHQ along with my eccentric self were designated jurors for the horn competition. Please go to the website of the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival (www.jiwef.org) to learn more about it as well as to read about the winners of the competition.

Well, here I am, back home in Luxembourg. It has been kind of a hectic tour. I left for Amsterdam on July 9th where Kristina and I performed with the Luxembourg Philharmonic in one of Europe's most famous concert halls, the Concertgebouw. Immediately following these 2 concerts, we boarded a plane for New York, where we spent a week or so on vacation. The IHS International Horn Symposium in Denver, Colorado was the next port of call. The AHQ was to perform my own "Introduction and Main Event" for 4 horns and concert band with the Hong Kong Academy Wind Ensemble.The AHQ performed my "Introduction and Main Event" with the Hong Kong Academy Wind Ensemble at the IHS symposium in Denver, conducted by Joe Kirtley. This concert went off splendidly and we all continued on to Daytona Beach, Florida for the 2nd Annual AHQ Horn Camp. Although the turn-out was a bit on the small side, it was nevertheless a very enjoyable week and we played with and taught some fine highschool and college age horn players (and one or two more mature ones as well). Popping back up to New York, we hung out three more days where we met up with Heather and Leon Ni (of the "Ni Ensemble") in China Town, and attended a thrilling performance of the Hubbard Street Dance Company at the Joyce Theater. This is an absolutely inspiring and world class modern dance troop.

The Virtuoso Horn Duo (Kristina Mascher and Kerry Turner) will be performing several concerts in Poland as well as performing and teaching at the Beijing Horn Festival. The former will be from September 24th- 29th, and the latter from September 30th - October 5th. On the agenda in Poland are the following concerts:

A recital with 2 horns and piano at a castle outside of Jelena Gorza, a performance of "Twas a Dark and Stormy Night" and the Haydn Concerto for Two Horns in Eb with the Filharmonia Dolnoslaska in Jelena Gorza, Dariusz Wisniewski conducting (www.filharmonia-dolnoslaska.art.pl/repertuar/2008/2009), and a masterclass and concert at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw.

There is a frenzy of AHQ activity on the horizon. I will soon be meeting up with those curious lads at the IHS International Horn Symposium in Denver. We will be performing my work for horn quartet and orchestra (version for wind band) entitled "Introduction and Main Event". The AHQ will be guest soloists with the Hong Kong Academy of Music Wind Symphony with Mr. Joe Kirtley conducting. Immediately following this event, we are all flying down to Daytona Beach for the 2nd Annual AHQ Summer Horn Workshop which will take place from July 28 to August 3rd (see www.hornquartet.com for details). Then on August 11th, we once again board the plane and fly to South Korea and then on to Jeju Island for the Jeju Music Festival.

It`s Sunday morning. I rolled out of bed to get a big cup of java and get ready for church, when I noticed something on my lip. Splashing hot water on my face, I came to realize that it was not so much something "on" my lip, but rather something "wrong" with my lip. It appeared to be sticking straight up. And it was stiff as an over-starched shirt. Just behind these nasty feeling and not much better looking lips lurked a few aching teeth. Did I go a few rounds with Mike Tyson last night or what?

Then I remembered. Last night was the "Fete de la Musique" (Festival of Music) in the city of Luxembourg. And my colleagues in the Luxembourg Philharmonic and I had been booked to excitedly interpret (read: blast through) 2 solid hours of soundtracks from Hollywood blockbuster movies. Gast Waltzing was at the helm, and we had been granted three rehearsals for this hyperactive concert which was to be performed outdoors on the Place Guillaume. Each instrument received it`s own microphone in order to further amplify the bombastic spectacle. On the program were some of the most famous horn pieces from the recent movie soundtrack repertoire:

I just wanted to make it known that I finished my symphony today. It has been a huge endeavor that has taken me 2 years to complete. It is called "The Grail Symphony" and has the traditional 4 movements:
1. The Sword of St. Michael
2. The Tears of Charlemagne
3. Candles in the Darkness
4. Knight of Pentacles

It is by far the most complex thing I have ever written. The next incredibly tedious part of the project involves setting it onto computer, proofreading the score and organizing a CD-recording of the work.

Stay tuned!

Ich wollte nur mitteilen, dass ich heute, meine Sinfonie, fertig geschrieben habe. Es ist eine riesige Unternehmung gewesen, die über 2 Jahre gedauert hat. Es trägt den Titel "Sinfonie des Heiligen Graals" und beträgt, traditionsgemäss, 4 Sätze:

I would like to remind horn players around the world about the Second American Horn Quartet Workshop in Daytona Beach, Florida. Last year's event was highly successful, and I like to think that the participants went away feeling inspired. The dates are July 28 through August 3rd and the cost is around 800 US Dollars. Please check out the write-up about it on the AHQ website (www.hornquartet.com).

NOTE: There is now a reduction offered to anyone who signs up and brings a friend. Contact Heather Johnson at hephorn@yahoo.com.

Ich möchte Hornisten weltweit darauf aufmerksam machen, dass das "Second American Horn Quartet Workshop in Daytona Beach, Florida", vom 28 Juli bis 3 August, stattfinden wird. Letztes Jahr war das Workshop ein grosser Erfolg, und ich möchte meinen, dass die Teilnehmer, am Ende der Woche, ganz begeistert waren. Die Woche kostet so ungefähr 500 euro. Interessierten werden darum gebeten, das Website vom AHQ anzuschauen und den Anhang darüber zu lesen.

This past Thursday evening, May 8th, I had the pleasure of hearing the jazz vocal quartet called New York Voices. As a matter of fact, I was in the orchestra for this concert, and I must say, due to a pretty heavy first horn part, I was more than usually preoccupied with my own part in the production. I did however find time to ponder an interesting point. You see, the New York Voices are in every way a brilliantly professional, well organized, sophisticated ensemble. The arrangements of their a cappella vocal repertoire are superb to say the least. And the way I understand it (from the conductor of this particular program, Mr. Gast Waltzing), when asked what they could possibly do with orchestra, they offered us, the OPL, a plethora of songs for vocal quartet, their own combo and symphony orchestra. So their repertoire for this genre is quite on the cutting edge as well. I was informed by a friend who knew them well, that they had just come from Germany, where they had sung a concert of totally different songs accompanied only by their combo. And the day after our gig with them, they were off to perform with the well-known WDR Big Band in Cologne, presenting once again, a totally different program.