RM Williams Publishing

Featuring music for Horn and Horn in chamber music

Composers’ Biographies

Bruce Atwell

Bruce Atwell serves as an Assistant Professor of Horn at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Dr. Atwell is currently Principal Horn for the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra and performs with many other orchestras in Wisconsin. He was acting Fourth Horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra during the 1997 season and has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony, and the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra. He has held positions with the Florida Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the University of Florida.

Paul Basler

Paul Basler (b. 1963, Milwaukee), 1993–94 Fulbright Senior Lecturer in Music at Kenyatta University (Nairobi, Kenya), 1995–96 University of Florida Teacher of the Year and the 2001–03 College of Fine Arts University of Florida Research Foundation Professor is currently an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Florida. He taught at Western Carolina University for four years and, prior to coming to WCU, was the North Carolina Visiting Artist in Residence at Caldwell Community College. He received his BM degree magna cum laude from the Florida State University, MM, MA, and DMA degrees from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and has received teaching awards and citations from the University of Florida College of Fine Arts, SUNY-Stony Brook, Western Carolina University, Kenyatta University and the Kenya Office of the President/Permanent Music Commission.

Basler is resident hornist for the annual Composers Conference in Boston and has performed as guest artist at numerous International Horn Society Workshops and the St. Petersburg International Chamber Music Festival in Russia. Basler has been a member of the Charleston, Greenville, Asheville, Tallahassee and Gainesville Symphonies, and continues to maintain a busy performing schedule throughout the United States and abroad, having premiered over 120 works written for him in the past seven years. He also has received 2 American Cultural Affairs Specialist Grants from the U.S. Department of State and is currently a Visiting Artist in Residence with the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Culture and the National Conservatory of Music. Basler’s horn teachers have included William Purvis, William Capps and Barry Benjamin and his composition teachers have been John Boda, John Downey, Bülent Arel, John Lessard and Billy Jim Layton.

Marc Bouchard

Born in Quebec, Canada. Studied with Joseph Masella at the Quebec Music Conservatory, then at the Juilliard School, finishing his studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Liège, Belgium.

Ex-member of the Montreal Brass Quintet, Marc Bouchard has held the post of Principal Horn with the Radio and Television Orchestra of Luxembourg since 1980 (from January 1996, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra), and the chamber orchestra “Les Musiciens.” Marc also teaches horn at the Luxembourg Conservatory of Music.

Matthew Fossa

Matthew Fossa, a native of Schenectady, New York, began studying music at the age of 5. He studied the piano and the saxophone and then, at age 13, switched to oboe. He has served as soloist with the Crane Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Fossa has performed as a member several orchestras including the SUNY Albany Orchestra, The Music Company Orchestra, the Saint Lawrence University Chorus Orchestra, the Potsdam Chamber Players, and the Orchestra of Northern New York.

Mr. Fossa recieved his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance and the Performer’s Certificate from the Crane School of Music in May of 1998. He is currently studying for a Master’s Degree in Oboe Performance at the Florida State University. His composition has, to this day, remained strictly a hobby, though he has studied with composers David Heinich and Paul Steinberg. He has composed numerous works, including pieces for oboe, English horn, trumpet, horn and violin.

Richard Goldfaden

Richard Goldfaden currently is a member of the Horn section of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Previously, he held positions in the Toledo Symphony Orchestra as well as several orchestras in Mexico City. For several years, he taught horn at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan in 1978. He studied horn with Louis Stout and Eugene Wade.

Mr. Goldfaden is also a natural horn enthusiast. In this capacity, he was awarded Second Prize in the 1979 Heldenleben Horn Competition, Hand Horn division, and received the Award for Outstanding Musicianship from the Detroit Waldhorn Society. His instructor in the art of natural horn playing was Lowell Greer.

While in junior high school, Richard Goldfaden began composing brass quartets he could play with his friends. He continued writing numerous compositions and arrangements for various gatherings of musicians. Understandably, most of his works feature the horn. His music is often light hearted and usually traditional in its harmonies. His goal is to make every part interesting and fun to play, though this often makes them challenging. He has transcribed numerous orchestral masterpieces for large horn ensembles.

Michael Kallstrom

Michael Kallstrom is an active composer and performer, and the creator of Electric Opera, a series of solo musical theater works with electronic tape, puppets and videos that have been performed over 120 times in the U.S. and Canada. His other works have also been performed in Russia, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Italy, England, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Kenya. He has received a Meet-the-Composer grant, two Kentucky Arts Council Fellowships, A Ragdale Foundation Residency, a Ucross Foundation Residency, an Interarts Colony Residency, a University Award for Outstanding Faculty Achievement in Research/Creative Activity, and has been the Kentucky Music Teachers Association Commissioned Composer of the Year. His music is available on compact discs from Capstone Recordings, Editioni della Foundazione, and will soon be released on the Open Loop and Forte labels. The TransAtlantic Horn Quartet recently commissioned and premiered Starflame in London, England and also performed it for the Tanglewood Summer Music Festival. The Macon Symphony premiered Jeepers, for horn quartet and string orchestra, in September 1999.

Dr. Kallstrom is currently Professor of Music and Coordinator of Composition and Theory at Western Kentucky University (Bowling Green), and has taught previously at Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ) and Florida A&M University (Tallahassee). He holds degrees in Composition from the Florida State University (DM), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (MM), and the University of Miami, Florida (BM). He has studied composition with Roger Hannay and John Boda.

Carlyle Manous

Dr. Manous is Professor of Horn and Director of Bands at Walla Walla College in College Place, Washington.

Nico De Marchi

Born in Dudelange, Luxembourg. Started his studies with Mr. Francois Tommasini at the Dudelange Music School, then at the Regional Conservatory of Metz, France. He continued at the Luxembourg Music Conservatory with Professor Francis Orval and finished his studies with Mr. Orval at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Liège, Belgium.

Between 1979 and 1981 Nico was third horn with the Belgian National Orchestra, and since 1981 has been Co-principal Horn with the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. De Marchi is also currently teaching chamber music at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Liège and is Professor of horn at the Libramont International Academy.

Bruce Richards

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Studied horn with Neill Sanders and Johnny Pherigo at Western Michigan University and with Francis Orval at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Between 1988 and 1991 played with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and the Reading Symphony Orchestra. Since 1991 he has been Co-principal Horn with the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Richards is also Pricipal Horn with the Ictus Modern Music Ensemble in Brussels.

Marty Robinson

Marty Robinson is an Assistant Professor of Music at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida. He holds degrees from Lawrence University and the Eastman School of Music and is currently completing his dissertation toward a doctorate in composition from Florida State University. Robinson has taught courses in composition, jazz arranging, film scoring, counterpoint, and jazz piano. In addition, he has also served as trumpet professor and jazz ensemble director.

In addition to his teaching, Robinson remains active as a jazz trumpeter and pianist, a composer, arranger, and clinician. His research paper, “Don Redman, the Beginnings of Jazz Arranging,” is published by the IAJE Research Press. He also serves on the resource team board of advisors for IAJE, the International Association of Jazz Educators. He annually serves as judge for the Great American Jazz Piano Competition.

Robinson has arranged jazz music for saxophonist Gary Bartz, trumpeter Claudio Roditi, pianist Steve Kuhn, guitarist Gene Bertoncini, and the German Radio Big Band. These and other award-winning compositions and arrangements are published by the UNC Jazz Press. His first etude book, 20 Flow Studies for Trumpet, is published by the Schmerse Press. His music for television and film has been heard internationally on such shows as ABC’s 20/20, CBS’s U.S. Open tennis coverage, Fox’s NFL Films, as well as for commercials for NBC’s ER, ADT Security, and Hershey’s Chocolate.

His concert works include orchestral music, wind ensemble music, choral music, brass quintets, a string quartet, and several chamber works. Recent commissions include a piece for twelve trombones, a fantasy for solo marimba, and a sonata for saxophone and piano.

Kurt Stallmann

Kurt Stallmann is the director of REMLABS – Rice Electronic Music Labs at Rice University. From 1999–2002, he was the associate director of HUSEAC – Harvard University Studio for Electroacoustic Composition and Assistant Professor of Music in the Department of Music at Harvard University. He also was the founder/director of the Computer Music Studio at the Longy School of Music and served on the faculty at the Boston Conservatory of Music in the Dance Division where he designed a multi-disciplinary course on music and choreography.

Kurt’s compositions have been performed in the United States and Europe by the New Millennium Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, Mendelssohn String Quartet, and the Cleveland New Music Associates. His works have appeared on the Boston Conservatory Performance Series, NuClassix concert series, the Composer in Red Sneaker Series (member from 2001–2003), the Platform Series in London, and a Berio Festival in Milan. He has been a participant at the Aspen Music Festival, the Wellesley Composers Conference, IRCAM, and UPIC. His music is published by Trigon Music Press, RM Williams, and BMG Ricordi.

John White

Professor Emeritus from the University of Florida, Dr. White held the position of Fulbright Research Scholar in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1996.

The Liège Horn Quartet

It is not by accident that the name of the quartet is associated with the charming city in the east of Belgium at the beginning of the Ardenne forest. For many years, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Liège has been the birthplace of many professional horn players.

In the early 1980s, Marc Bouchard, Nico De Marchi and Carlo Pettinger ended their studies at virtually the same time in the class of Francis Orval. In 1985, Professor Orval left for the United States. In 1989, Bruce Richards obtained his Master of Music degree at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia…in the class of Francis Orval.

There are three nationalities represented in the Liège Horn Quartet. Marc is Canadian, Bruce is American, and Carlo and Nico are Luxembourgish. Even so, the influence of the Liège school is omnipresent.

The Liège Horn Quartet was formed in 1992 by four professional horn players with the desire to promote their instrument, the Horn. Since then, the group has given many concerts, in each case performing a different program. Open to all influences, from Baroque to the music of today, the Liège Horn Quartet places a special emphasis on the repertoire of the 20th century. In addition to traditional repertoire, arrangements and personal compositions by the members of the quartet have a predominant place in their programs.

The Liège Horn Quartet may be contacted by emailing Bruce Richards.