Australian horn player Hector McDonald has been granted Honorary Membership of the International Horn Society, the society’s highest honour, recognising living hornists who have made a major contribution at the international level to the art of horn playing. The Toowoomba-born hornist, who is only the second Australian to receive the honour (the first was Barry Tuckwell) has had decades-long careers with both the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Concentus Musicus Wien, and was awarded the IHS’s Punto Award (for regional or national impact) in 2010.
“The award means recognition of a lifetime in music,” McDonald told Limelight. “Since I began on the horn at the age of 18 I have had a very intense involvement with the instrument, now almost 50 years.”
Australian horn player Hector McDonald. Photo © Keith Saunders
McDonald has held positions in Australia, working with the Elizabethan Trust Orchestra in the 1970s, as well as in Europe, including Solo Horn with the Berlin Radio Orchestra in the 1970s and Solo Horn with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra from 1989 to 2018.
“I have also been Principal Horn with the esteemed period music group Concentus Musicus Wien for the last 30 years,”...
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