John Kowalchuk, Mutes etc.

Mon, May 17

After two days of driving I finally arrive on the grounds of the University of Georgia. I find my way to the Performing Arts buildings but I am uncertain which one is the Music building. Not being in any particular hurry as I am 5 hours early, I make my way to the Visitors' Center.

I renew acquaintances with several people I met last year in Banff including Jack Blackerby from TN and George Napuda and his wife from NJ. We all wait until 4:00 when registration finally begins.

I meet up with Carlberg Jones and we check in to our dormatory. We return to the Music building to await the arrival of the rest of the "Rat Pack" from last year. We are joined by fellow list member Donna Riley, and Bruce Kelley is the first rat to arrive. We decide to head downtown to forage for our supper since none of us has signed up for the meal plan (if indeed available) for the first evening.

Shortly after we return, Leigh Alexander arrives with new rats Karl Kemm and John Baumgart. As we are helping Leigh into her room we discover our last rat, Catherine Roche-Wallace is right next door. Hugs all around.

Tues, May 18

Things officially get under way today. It is a short ten minute walk to the dining hall for breakfast. I am joined by Bruce for our first event, a lecture on natural horns given by R.J. Kelley. After that I check out the exhibits. Not everyone is here yet but it looks like most of the familiar crowd will eventually be around in one way or another.

I pass on the 10:30 recital of twentieth century works for horn though Bruce is very interested.

There is limited parking available near the dining hall so I drive back to the dorm and walk to lunch. A couple of us go to the afternoon reading session at 2:30. We decide to cut it short to hear the Broadway horns at 4:00.

The Broadway Horns: Freelancing in New York
Fanfare	from Sunday in the Park with George
Nocturne	Stewart Schuele
Ghost Riders	arr. Stewart Schuele
Ballade, Op.73	Bernhard Krol
Broadway Medley	arr. Stewart Schuele

The evening recital features Andrei Gloukhov and Jennifer Montone. This is also an opportunity for the hosts to officially welcome all the participants.

Roman Carnival	Berlioz arr. B. Robinson	Hans Pizka Johnny Pherigo Paul Meng Jean Martin	Randy Gardner Froydis Ree Wekre Nancy Cochran Block Virginia Thompson
Welcoming Remarks	Dr. Jean Martin, Dr. Richard Graham
Sonata	Beethoven	Mr. Gloukhov
Légende	Robert Planel	Ms. Montone
Parable, Op.120	Persichetti	Ms. Montone
Andante	R. Strauss	Mr. Gloukhov
Elegie	Poulenc	Ms. Montone
Elegy	Rachmaninoff	Mr. Gloukhov
Sonata No.2	Cherubini	Ms. Montone

After the concert we investigate the Athens Brew Pub. We have to find out where it is so we can attend Jeff Snedeker's appearance tomorrow night.

Wed, May 19

Once again I walk to breakfast and find some friendly though bleary faces to sit with. While others opt for Hans Pizka's lecture, I choose to leisurely browse through the exhibits.

10:30 Recital in Ramsey Hall. Celebrate the Winners

Concerto in D, K.412	W.A.Mozart	John Pherigo
Japan	Buyanovsky	Froydis Ree Wekre
Fantasy	Arnold	Froydis Ree Wekre
En Forét	Bozza	Julien Meriglier
Swamp Music	Ledger	Jean Martin
Hawkins Winners

The entire crew goes out to support the USL Horn Quartet in the Ecology Garden with our bagged lunches.

Ifor James has been unable to attend the conference so Frank Lloyd will carry most of the 2:30 recital. He is an awesome player with great facility and a beautiful sound. He also has a wit like Michael Pallin. (Maybe it's the accent) While trying to fill the extra time, he dashes off stage and returns with what turns out to be a telescoping carbon-fibre alphorn!

The price puts it in the same league as a Schmit but the waiting list appears to be shorter.

Featured Artist recital: Frank Lloyd
Horn Bluff	Alan Civil	UGA Horn Choir
Concerto	J.J. Quantz	Mr. Lloyd
Three Miniatures	Anthony Plog	Mr. Lloyd
Duo for Horn and Piano	Jiri Dvoracek	Mr. Lloyd

None of the rats wants to spend the extra $12 to attend the Atlanta Symphony rehearsal so we have our own reading session in the basement after supper. I was able to complete several arrangements just in time for the conference. One of the favourites appears to be 5x7, a medley of Take 5 and Unsquare Dance. Others include Anitra's Dance, Whiter Shade of Pale, Jamaican Rumba and a bossa nova medley a friend of mine wrote for my brass quintet that I adapted for five horns. We join the regularly scheduled reading session shortly afterward.

Later at the Brew Pub, I'm able to make a reasonable bootleg recording of Jeff Snedeker playing jazz favourites. (I got his okay first.)

Thurs, May 20

Walk to breakfast, walk back to dorm, drive to music building, find recital hall.

The morning recital is given by Young-Yul Kim and Alejandro Nuñez. One thing that stands out about this concert is the performance of the Villanelle by Alejandro Nuñez on natural and valved horn. Though one section is marked "sans ventiles", I think Dukas meant for it to be played on the same horn without using the valves. The use of a hand horn is interesting.

10:30 Recital: Young-Yul Kim and Alejandro Nuñez

Fanfare	Winteregg	NMSU Horn Choir
Prelude, Theme and Variations in F	Rossini	Mr. Nuñez
Fantasy for Horn	Arnold	Mr. Nuñez
Cornucopia	Dunhill	Mr. Kim
Villanelle	Dukas	Mr. Nuñez
Adagio and Allegro	Schumann	Mr. Nuñez
Trio in Bb for Horn, Clarinet and Piano	Reinecke	Mr. Kim

The lunchtime "Chat 'n' Chew" is called Frankly Frank (Lloyd), moderated by John Wates.

The afternoon concert features the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra horns.

Casbah of Tetouan	Kerry Turner
3 Dance Questions	Matthew McConnell
Brass Kickin'	Jame Oliverio
Fantasy for Horn Quintet	Ronald LoPresti
Selections from Mikrokosmos	Bela Bartok
Cinq Miniatures, Op.64	Jan Koestier
Bird of the Forest, Op.21	Franz Doppler
Rhythm Method	Lee Johnson

Somehow with getting my horn and trying to find the orchestra room, I just barely make it to the rehearsal in time for my horn choir with Randall Faust. Catherine is already seated next to an empty chair in the first row. I go up to her and ask her to move up but she is reluctant so I sit in the first chair. Not only am I sitting in the first chair first, I am sitting to the left of my former future boss. No pressure.

After horn choir we have time to clean up and change for cocktails before the banquet downtown. Leigh, John B, Bruce, Catherine and her boys and I occupy a table together after visiting the buffet.

The All College All Star Horn Ensemble performs for our dining pleasure. They play the first movement of Eric Ewazen's Grand Canyon Octet. Then for an encore, they play the other two movements. (inside joke)

It's open mic at the Athens Brew Pub tonight. Some good, some not so good, but the more we drink the better they sound.

Fri, May 21

Lecture: Exploring music for two horns.

Morning Recital: Bruce Andrus / Susan Welty

Calls	Verne Reynolds	Ms. Welty, Mr. Andrus
The Framing of this Circle	Charles Knox	Mr. Andrus, Dr. Lewis, Ms. Wiedman Yancich
En Forét	Eugene Bozza	Ms. Welty, Dr. Lewis
Aubade for Horn and Strings	Humphrey Searle	Mr. Andrus, Dr. Lewis
Trio, Op.11	Werner Wehrli	Ms. Welty, Dr. Lewis, Ms. Weidman Yancich
Fanfare, Aria and Echo	Daniel Pinkham	Mr. Andrus, Ms. Welty, Mr. Yancich

We have our second rehearsal with the horn choir. It seems the rest of the Canadian contingent is sitting in the back of the first section. At the end of the rehearsal, Dr. Faust asks each of us to introduce ourselves to the group. When that is done, he recalls reading my Canadian folk medley late one evening in Banff last year and asks if ice worms really do exist.

Recital: Kristin Thelander, Jamie Sommerville

Karl, John B and Leigh leave for the Atlanta airport. John is heading for Europe and Leigh is attending her daughter's graduation from college in Massachusetts.

I decide that neither "Chat 'n' Chew" session applies to me today since I'm too old for a career in the military (besides, I've already served in Canada) and I've already been recruited by a university.

First rehearsal of the natural horn choir. The problem with arriving late again is having to fill in the holes. I wind up playing horn just to the right of Dr. John Q. Ericson, an authority on natural horn.

Recital, NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC HORN SECTION. WOW!!!! This is the one we've all been waiting for. At the end of a very exciting and demanding concert, four horns led by Phil Myers played the Schumann Konzertstück. A well-deserved standing ovation follows.

An incredible stroke of irony, all five horns return to the stage with their piano accompanist to perform Take Five by Dave Brubek as an encore. We just read my arrangement of this piece last night! Totally weird, totally cool!

Sat, May 22

Lecture: Use of Crooks with John Q. Ericson. This explains the modified valve horn he has been using in the natural horn choir. (He promised not to use the valves)

Master Class Phil Myers.

Jeff Snedeker hams it up during his performance in the afternoon concert. There is also a nice performance of Strauss' Alphorn by Jia Hui with soprano Fang-tao Jiang in a stunning hoop skirt.

The Charleston Conical Brass are cut from the long programme.

Prelude, Theme and Variations in E	G. Rossini	Jeffrey Snedeker
Concerto in D	Leopold Mozart	Jeffrey Snedeker
Introduction, Theme and Variation	Franz Strauss	Jia Hui
Concertino	Lars-Erik Larsson	Ridhard Deane
Alphorn	Richard Strauss	Jia Hui, Fang-tao Jiang
The Distance	Xiao-Gang Ye	Jia Hui

General meeting There is a presentation on the IHS 2000 in Beijing, China. It is also announced that IHS 2001 will be hosted by Johnny Pherigo at Western Michigan University. IHS 2002 will take place in Finland.

Rehearsal, Natural Horn choir.

The Horn choir rehearses on stage and we do just a run-through to save lip. Before everyone arrives, I play the opening phrase of the Kozertstück just for fun which catches a few ears.

The concert goes off without any surprises. The professor is conspicuous by his absence.

Karl, Catherine and I spend the first part of the concert backstage so we can make our entrance with the natural horn choir and return later with the other horn choir. Everyone does a fine job.

Cantos VII Three Songs, Op.141 Cantos V	Felix Mendelssohn Robert Schumann Franz Schubert	Michael Hatfield
Fanfare de Chasse	G. Rossini	Natural Horn Choir Richard Seraphinoff
Cantos XI	Franz Joseph Haydn	High School Hornfest Ens. Peter Kurau
Selections from Vaclac Forster		Geyer Choir Paul Mansur
Der Wegweiser Romanza for Horn Quartet	Franz Schubert Randall Faust	Randall Faust
Andante and Allegro	Lowell Shaw	Froydis Ree Wekre
Wagneriana	Wagner, arr. Pizka	William Capps
Prelude and Fugue in a O Rest in the Lord, from Elijah Achieved is the Glorious Work	J.S.Bach Felix Mendelssohn Franz Joseph Haydn	ACASHE Clarendon Van Norman

Karl has to leave before the end of the concert to fetch Leigh from the airport in Atlanta.

The rest of us head for the Brew Pub to hear Tom Varner.

Sun, May 23

I join the USL Horn Quartet at Holy Cross Lutheran Church. I experience being preached to by a Southern minister.

All the vendors and exhibits packed up yesterday so there is little else to do besides packing and checking out of the dorm. Karl has returned with Leigh and we all mill about trying not to think about parting company. Eventually, everyone is packed, except for Bruce who is staying another day (maybe) and we head for the Grand Finale Concert.

The concert begins with the UGA Horn Choir backing up Frank Lloyd in "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" followed by a Gallay quartet for natural horns which results in a bit more hamming. A world premier quartet follows with more hamming.

Arrival of the Queen of Sheba		Handel	Frank Lloyd UGA Horn Ensemble
Grand Quartet: Allegro con brio e risoluto Finale: Vivace		J.F.Gallay	Richard Seraphinoff John Pherigo Jeffrey Snedeker Kristen Thelander
Divertimento - Allegro - Moderato - Allegretto	Frank Stewart		Adrei Gloukhov Joy Hodges Peter Kurau Virginia Thompson
Cornucopia - Invention - Aria - Waltz of the Venus Flytraps	Roger Vogel		Richard Deane Andrei Gloukhov Jia Hui Bruce Kenney
Tall Tales	Joshua Rosenblum		Alejandro Nuñez Allen Spanjer Richard Deane Tom Witte
Alligator Alley	Mark Schultz		Brice Andrus Susan Welty Cary Lewis
Georgia On My Mind	Carmichael, arr. Nestico		Featured Artists and Hosts

After the concert, I say good-bye to as many people as are left. Bruce decides to spend the night in Atlanta and save the drive through morning rush-hour. I prepare for another two days of driving home.

Photographs from "Celebration 99" courtesy of Bruce Kelley
	Randall Faust discusses Canadian ice worms with John Kowalchuk while Catherine Roche-Wallace looks on, incredulous.
	Richard Seraphinoff conducting half of the natural horn choir in Fanfare de Chasse by G. Rossini.
	The Rat Pack prior to the Grand Finale concert (left to right): Bruce Kelley, Leigh Alexander, Karl Kemm, Catherine Roche-Wallace and John Kowalchuk. John Baumgart had left earlier in the week. Froydis Ree Wekre is in the background discussing alphorns!