Lee Bracegirdle,
a brief biography:
Lee Bracegirdle began his early musical training
in Philadelphia, where he studied keyboard
and various wind instruments, settling with
the French Horn at age 14. He began his tertiary
studies at the Philadelphia Musical Academy
(1970-1971) specialising in horn and organ.
He was then accepted into the Juilliard School
in New York as a horn student in the class
of James Chambers, earning a BM (1975) and
MM (1976). In New York he also studied privately
with John Cerminaro, Carmine Caruso and Roy
Stevens. Concurrent with his studies there
he embarked on a multi-faceted free-lance
career which included performances as principal
horn with the New York City Symphony Orchestra,
the Brooklyn Philharmonia, and performances
and recordings with many prominent jazz musicians,
including Dave Brubeck, Clark Terry, Ornette
Coleman, Stanley Clark and Teo Macera.
In 1976 he won the positions of Co-Principal
Horn with the Orquesta Filarmónica de la
Unam (México) and Principal Horn with the
Chamber Orchestra of México City. In 1977
he moved to Germany, where he performed as
1st horn with the International Youth Festival
Orchestra in Bayreuth. In the same year he
became Solo-Horn with the Hof Symphony Orchestra
in Bavaria, where he also co-founded Germany’s
premier brass quintet, Rekkenze Brass. During
his tenure there his solo performances included
the horn concertos of Mozart and Strauss.
In 1980 he was appointed Associate Principal
Horn with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
He has made numerous recordings for the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation as a soloist, chamber
musician and principal horn. In 2000 he toured
with Barbra Streisand as Principal Horn of
the Australian International Orchestra.
He has edited horn studies for the I.M.C. in New York, and published his own original horn studies
and chamber music through 3-C Musikverlag in Bochum, Germany. He has given Horn master
classes at the Salzburg Mozarteum, Juilliard
School, Curtis Institute and the University
of Illinois. His private students hold positions
in professional orchestras in various countries,
and since 2006 he has been horn tutor at
St. Andrew's Cathedral School in Sydney.
Mr. Bracegirdle studied conducting with Michael Gielen at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and took part in master classes with Sergiu Celibidache in Mainz. He received further conducting tutelage in Sydney with Sir Charles Mackerras, Carlo Felice Cillario, Vernon Handley, and Eduardo Mata. He made his conducting debut in 1991 with the Orchestra of the Mozarteum. In the same year he won the position of Solo-Repetitor and Assistant Conductor at the opera house of the city of Plauen, Germany. He returned to his post with the S.S.O. in 1992. Since 1996 he has been Musical Director of the Australian Chamber Ballet, where he is also Composer-in-Residence.
In 1998 Mr. Bracegirdle was awarded First
Prize in the Zoltan Kodaly International Composers’ Competition for
his first orchestral work, "Divertimento
for Orchestra". He was subsequently
awarded an honorary diploma from the Kodaly Academy and Institute
in Chicago.
In 2003 he was Composer-in-Residence at Bundanon,
the NSW South Coast property of the renowned
Australian artist Arthur Boyd. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra have premiered
his compositions Variations for Orchestra (2002), Ammerseelieder (2005), and Concerto for Euphonium and Orchestra (2008). These works are published by C.F. Peters.
