Faculty

Carolyn Hove has been the solo English horn player with the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1988. She is one of the foremost authorities on the English horn in the U.S.

Following graduation from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, she pursued a free-lance career playing for operas, ballets, and symphonies in the Chicago area and taught at Elmhurst College and Northern Illinois University. Beginning in 1986 she held the position of English horn and assistant principal oboist for the San Antonio Symphony.

Between 1993 and 2003 she performed in two U.S. premieres and two world premieres of works such as Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Second Meeting for oboe and piano, Salonen’s Mimo II for oboe and orchestra with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, William Kraft’s Encounters XI: The Demise of Siryhodhaya for English horn and percussion, and the world premiere of Kraft’s English horn concerto, The Grand Encounter. In addition, she has given premiere performances of works by Gerhard Samuel, Paul Turok, and many others.

She has recorded two solo CDs, 20th-Century Music for English Horn and Oboe and “Ascending to Superlatives” with Crystal Records.  Hove is currently on the faculty at California State University––Long Beach and gives guest lectures at American Oboist seminars throughout the U.S. and Canada. She also serves on the executive committee of the International Double Reed Society.

Mark Chudnow, special guest-in-residence, will teach daily classes in oboe and English horn repair and maintenance and will be available to work on instruments by appointment. Chudnow has been a leading innovator in the design and development of double-reed products––oboes, oboe d’amores, and English horns––since 1984. He owns and operates Mark Chudnow Woodwinds in Napa Valley, California. Beginning as a repairman in 1980, he is one of only a handful of Americans trained at the F. Lorée factory in France. He has made innovative improvements in his instruments and accessories, including the CA and Sierra line of staples, English horn and oboe d’amore bocals, MCW hollow ground knives, and colorful swabs to brighten the otherwise black or brown world of double-reed accessories. His handcrafted instruments are extremely popular among reedmakers throughout the world, and he has recently been awarded a U.S. patent on the design of a new oboe staple that is quickly becoming the standard for oboists worldwide.