Lee Bracegirdle

Lee Bracegirdle's musical training began in Philadelphia where he studied keyboard and various wind instruments, choosing the French Horn at age 14. He began tertiary horn studies at the Philadelphia Musical Academy with Joseph DeAngelis, then at the Juilliard School with James Chambers, John Cerminaro and Ranier Deintinis earning BM and MM degrees. In New York he also studied privately with Carmine Caruso and Roy Stevens.
During his studies he performed as principal horn with the New York City Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonia, and recorded with jazz musicians including Dave Brubeck, Clark Terry, Ornette Coleman, Stanley Clark and Teo Macero.
From 1976-77 he was Principal Horn with the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM (México) and with the Chamber Orchestra of México City. In 1977 he joined the International Youth Orchestra in Bayreuth and was appointed Solo-Horn with the Hof Symphony, where he co-founded Germany’s premier brass quintet, Rekkenze Brass.
In 1980 he was appointed Associate Principal Horn with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra where he served until retirement in 2012. He has made numerous recordings as soloist, chamber musician and principal horn and in 1981 co-founded the Australian Brass Quintet. He has edited études for the IMC in New York and published his own Practical Exercises for Horn and chamber music through 3-C Musikverlag. He has given master classes at Juilliard, Curtis, the Salzburg Mozarteum, Chopin University of Music, University of Illinois, and in Cuba at the conservatoria in Santiago, Matanzas and Camagüey. He now free-lances in Sydney and is horn professor at St Andrews Cathedral School. Many of his students hold positions in orchestras in North and South America, Australia, New Zealand and Germany.
He studied conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum and now guest conducts in Australia and Latin America. His compositions are published by CF Peters and are performed by orchestras in Europe, Australia, the US and South America.