FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is pleased to announce the appointment of Denise Tryon as associate professor of music in horn, effective Aug. 1, 2023, pending approval of the IU Board of Trustees.
Tryon has been professor of horn at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music since 2018. She joined the famed American Horn Quartet as fourth horn in 2019.
She was previously fourth horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra and held positions with the Detroit, Baltimore, Columbus and New World Symphonies. She also served as horn professor at the Peabody Institute from 2007 to 2019. Since 2017, she’s been a faculty member at Rafael Mendez Brass Institute in Denver and is frequently on faculty with Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra.
“Denise Tryon is widely known as a brilliant performer and masterful teacher,” said Abra Bush, David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean. “Her commitment to new works, passion for teaching and gift for creating a unique synergy with students place her at the pinnacle of horn pedagogy, and we heartily welcome her to our already outstanding brass faculty.”
Tryon is also sought after for her master classes and has taught extensively in the United States, Scandinavia, Europe, Asia and South America.
In 2009, she founded annual horn seminar Audition Mode with Karl Pituch, principal horn of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The seminar focuses on the skills horn players need to be successful in orchestral auditions.
She has been a featured artist at many International Horn Society Symposiums and Regional Workshops as well as other venues.
“Denise Tryon is one of the most exciting and dynamic hornists in the world,” said Demondrae Thurman, chair of the Brass Department. “She brings to the Jacobs School of Music a wealth of experience as a high-level performer, having played with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the American Horn Quartet, in addition to her dedication to teaching, as represented through the Audition Mode workshop. The whole department will benefit immensely from Denise’s added expertise.”
In 2015, Tryon released her debut solo album, “SO-LOW,” for which she commissioned four new pieces for low horn and piano. The American Prize awarded her with the Special Judges Citation for Important Commitment to the Music of Our Time.
“A Pair of Aces,” a duo horn album featuring Tryon and Pituch, was released in 2017 and won a silver medal from the Global Music Awards.
Tryon commissioned six new pieces for low horn for her second solo album, “Hope Springs Eternal,” released in 2020, for which she won The American Prize in Instrumental Performance in 2022.
She graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 1989 and earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1993.