LINCOLN CENTER

David Geffen Hall
New York Philharmonic

Mozart - Divertimento in D major, K. 136/125a
Mozart - Horn Concerto No. 2
Mozart - Serenade for 13 Winds, Gran Partida

Alan Gilbert - Conductor
Philip Myers - Horn

"It’s every Mozart lover’s dream come true: an all-Mozart program performed by the Philharmonic. The evening opens with a beloved work written expressly for enjoyment. Then Principal Horn Philip Myers takes the stage for the Second Horn Concerto, showing off the horn’s nobility and lyricism (listen for hunting horns in the finale), and the acclaimed Philharmonic woodwinds perform the magisterial Gran partita."

Philip Myers, The Ruth F. and Alan J. Broder Chair, joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Horn in January 1980. He made his solo debut during his first month with the Orchestra in the premiere of William Schuman’s Three Colloquies for French Horn and Orchestra, and he has appeared as a Philharmonic soloist on numerous occasions. In October 2012 he performed Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 3, conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and in November 2013 he performed Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, led by Alan Gilbert. Other highlights include Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns, with Lorin Maazel in February 2007 and Kurt Masur in May 2001; Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings led by André Previn in October 2001; and Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major for Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon in March 2010, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert. 

Mr. Myers began his orchestral career in 1971 with a three-year term as principal horn of the Atlantic Symphony in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was third horn with the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1974 until 1977. As principal horn of the Minnesota Orchestra for a season and a half, he made his solo debut with that ensemble in 1979, performing Richard Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 1 with Sir Neville Marriner conducting. A native of Elkhart, Indiana, Philip Myers holds two degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He plays Engelbert Schmid French horns.

Transcription of an interview with Philip Myers after the opening concert in 2005:

I met him [Engelbert Schmid] first in Illinois, and then one year later in France. And when I met him in France, I played one of his horns. I wanted it very much. But you know, always his horns have been very expensive. And they should be; they're that good. But it was new for me. But I liked this horn too much; I said, “I'm going to get this.”  So I said, “I want to buy this horn.”

He said, “No, I'm sorry. You cannot have it. I have sold it to a man already. He has gone home. He is coming back tomorrow with his wife.” I said, “Does his wife know that he is spending this money?”

He said, “I don't think so.”

I said, “Well, maybe she will change his mind. Maybe I will get this horn.”

So she came in the next day [and said], “You have made me so happy.”

Then I knew. So I ordered a horn from him, and it took six months. And when I got it, it was so much more money than I had ever spent for a horn, that I was afraid to play it. So I put it on the couch and left it there for two months. And then one night, I decided, “This is crazy, I must play it.” And that was it. I never went back.

The thing that makes it different is two or three things. One is, when you go to begin a note, it is absolutely solid from the first instant. And this is unusual. Usually with a horn, you're having to be careful a little bit at the beginning of a note. But with his, no. You just, pssshhh, and it gets there. You have to adjust to the horn, but with his horn, you don't have to make the adjustments.

The second thing is, in many horns, when you go to play loud, they get more forceful towards you, this way [points forward], but they don't get bigger this way [gestures broadly to the sides]. His horn gets bigger this way. You can hear this. Anybody can hear this. When you play his horns, you get wider and wider and wider. This is very unique.

And I would say the third thing is, it's very hard on a horn when you play loud to have it not be too intense, but when you play soft, to have it ring and be very lively. Again, his horns do this. They're lively when you play soft, but they don't get ugly when you play loud. This is very unusual. So I tell you something: This guy figured out something that other people do not know.

[Q:Do you think you ever will change again?]

[Laughs] Me? Not me. I just keep buying more of them. Really. That's right, they are like babies. I've got two of the same horn now, but I'm about to get a third, so, you know...

-Philip Meyers

Principal Horn, New York Philharmonic