the
expansive melodic nature of [Ryelandt’s Sonata] is ideally paired with Mr.
Powers’ artistic approach and Dr. DeVries’ masterful pianistic textures..."
Robert Myers, Classical Voice of
New England ~ May 2009
*
* *
"During
my 16-year tenure as Co-Principal Horn with the Royal Philharmonic of Flanders,
I came to greatly appreciate the beautiful lyrical writing for the horn that
characterizes the works by the Flemish masters recorded here.”
—
Jeffrey
Powers
American
hornist Jeffrey Powers has
been playing in symphony orchestras for 23 years. Having begun his career as
second horn in the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Mr. Powers then served as second horn
in the New Jersey Symphony, fourth horn in the Philharmonic of Caracas,
Venezuela, and fourth horn andWagner tuba in the Cleveland Orchestra under Lorin
Maazel and Christoph von Dohnanyi. He subsequently joined the Royal Philharmonic
of Flanders, Antwerp, Belgium where he served as principal horn for 16 years.
During his tenure in Belgium, he also performed as guest principal horn with
most of the major orchestras of the Benelux region (Belgium, Holland, and
Luxembourg), including the Philharmonic Orchestra of Luxembourg, Flemish Radio
Orchestra, Brabants Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Chamber Orchestra ofWallonia.
Presently Mr. Powers is principal horn with theWaco Symphony Orchestra and The
Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra, and a member of the Baylor Woodwind Quintet and
the Baylor Brass. Mr. Powers also performs regularly with the Dallas Symphony
Orchestra, East Texas Symphony Orchestra, and Plano Symphony Orchestra.
Before
coming to Baylor, Mr. Powers taught students of all ages and he served on the
faculties of the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, Belgium, Cleveland Institute of
Music Preparatory Department, Summer Music Experience in Hudson, Ohio, and Hong
Kong Government Music Administrators Office. Mr. Powers is also on the faculty
of the MasterWorks Festival, sponsored by the Christian Performing Artists
Fellowship, held each summer at Winona Lake in Indiana.Well known for his
clinics and master classes, Mr. Powers has given clinics on a variety of topics.
Mr.
Powers has recorded extensively in ensemble and has two solo CD. Let
All ThatHath Breath Praise the Lord: Music of Praise is
Mr. Power’s first solo CD, which includes works by Basler, Chandler, Gryc,
Hindemith, Krol and Marc. His
second solo CD Into the 21st Century [MSR Classics MS1212] features music
by Bentzon, Pilss and Vignery and the Appalachian Suite, written for Mr. Powers
by Daniel Baldwin. Mr. Powers has premiered numerous other works, including
those written for him by Hugh Chandler and David Uber.His own transcription of 5
Psalms by Dvorak for horn and piano has been published by Imagine Music
Publishers.
Jeffrey
Powers, a native of San Antonio, Texas, is currently Associate Professor of Horn
at the Baylor University School of Music. He holds a Master of Music in Horn
from the Cleveland Institute of Music. His major instructors were James London
of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Albert Schmitter and Myron Bloom of the
Cleveland Orchestra, and RoyWaas of the Buffalo Philharmonic.
Pianist
Vincent de Vries
is an active performer,
presenting recitals as a soloist, duo pianist, accompanist and organist. Dr. de
Vries received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Texas at
Austin, and holds a Performer’s Diploma from The Royal Conservatory in The
Hague and a Master’s degree from Bowling Green State University. His principal
teachers have included Nancy Garrett, Edward Auer, Jerome Rose and Theo Bruins
and he has performed in the master classes of such pianists as Earl Wild, Claude
Frank and Jerome Rose. He has won awards in several competitions, among them
first prize in the National Young Artist Competition in The Netherlands and
first prize in the SydneyWright Accompanying Competition at The University of
Texas at Austin. In addition to his piano performances, Dr. de Vries is a highly
regarded concert organist, with more than three hundred solo recitals and seven
solo CD releases to his credit. In 2003 he received the silver medal from the Arts,
Sciences et Lettres in Paris for his contributions to the French organ
literature.
Vincent
de Vries is currently Assistant Professor of Piano and Director of Collaborative
Piano at Baylor University. Prior to his appointment at Baylor University he was
serving as an Assistant Instructor at The University of Texas at Austin-teaching
instrumental accompanying to undergraduate and graduate students.
