MSU Music
PRESENTS:
Guest Artist Recital
Bruce Bonnell, Natural Horn
Faculty Artist
Zhihua Tang, Piano
Wednesday, December 3, 2014, at 7:30 pm
Cook Recital Hall, Music Building
Program
Elegia for Natural Horn (1984)
Hermann Baumann
(b. 1934)
Concerto for Horn in E-Flat, K. 495
I Allegro Moderato
II Romanza - Andante
IlI Rondo - Allegro Vivace
W.A. Mozart
(1756-1791)
Intermission
Romance op. 36
Sonata for Horn and Klavier, op. 17
I Allegro Moderato
II Poco Adagio, quasi Andante
Ill Rondo - Allegro Moderato
Camille Saint-Saens
(1835-1921)
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
Artist Bio
A chamber music specialist, Dr. Bruce Bonnell has enjoyed a successful
career as orchestral performer, soloist, clinician and pedagogue on the
horn and natural horn throughout North America and Southeast Asia.
Born and raised in Newfoundland, Dr. Bonnell received his
undergraduate degrees in Music Education and Performance from
Memorial University and The Guildhall School of Music (London,
England), his Master of Music from Northwestern University (Pi Kappa
Lambda) in 1991 and a Doctor of Music at Indiana University in 2003.
From 1997-98 he was Assistant Professor of horn and theory at Indiana
State University and has been professor of horn at Central Michigan
University since 2000.
In May of 2008, Dr. Bonnell released Souvenirs: Chamber Music for
Horn, Flute and Piano with Italian flute virtuoso Vieri Bottazzini and
acclaimed Canadian pianist Dr. Peter Green on Centaur Records. The
recording garnered rave critical reviews and was nominated for the
2009 “Classical Recording of the Year” award by the East Coast Music
Association. Dr. Bonnell is featured on Double Star - the Music of David
Gillingham performing the Concerto for Horn and Symphonic Band with
the CMU Symphonic Wind Ensemble, released in 2010 on the White
Pine Record Label.
Dr. Bonnell’s orchestral experiences include Second Horn in the Hong
Kong Philharmonic from 1991-1994, and Principal Horn in the Malaysian
Philharmonic from 1998-2000 where he earned high praise for his
playing from such notable maestros as Kurt Masur, Sir Neville Marriner,
Kenneth Jean, David Atherton, Jan Pascal Tortelier and Hans Graf. He
has performed with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, Ottawa
Symphony, Hull Chamber Orchestra, Bloomington Camerata, and is
presently Principal Horn with the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra.
Solo and chamber music highlights include the finals of the 1989
Canadian Music Competition, the 1998 Fischoff Chamber Music
competition and recitals throughout North America and Southeast Asia.
An enthusiastic performer of new works for horn, Dr. Bonnell premiered
David Gillingham’s Baker’s Dozen at the 2001 International Horn
Symposium, Danzas Breves for Horn and Percussion by José-Luis
Maúrtua at the 2004 Sound Symposium in St. John?s, Newfoundland,
and gave the world premiere of David Gillingham’s Concerto for Horn
and Symphonic Band in St. John’s, Newfoundland in May of 2007 and at
the 41st International Horn Symposium in June of 2009. In 2013, he
premiered Supernatural: Music for Natural Horn with Live Electronics by
Jay Batzner at the 45th International Horn Symposium in Memphis,
Tennessee.
As a member of the Powers Woodwind Quintet, he has toured and
performed throughout the Midwestern states and has worked with the
group on several recording projects including Brementown Musicians
released in 2006 on Centaur Records, Clarinet Chamber Music of Alvin
Etler, also on the Centaur label, in 2008, and Gems of the Woodwind
Quintet Repertoire on the White Pine label in 2011. His teachers include
William Costin, Kjellrun Hestekin, Michael Hatfield, Paul Tervelt, Richard
Seraphinoff and Richard Bissill.