Lee Bracegirdle

Lee Bracegirdle began his early musical training 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 Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. In New York he also studied privately with Carmine Caruso and Roy Stevens.

During his studies he embarked on a multi-faceted free-lance career which included performances as principal horn with the New York City Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonia, and recordings with many prominent jazz musicians, including Clark Terry, Ornette Coleman, Stanley Clark and Teo Macera. In 1976 he performed as Principal Horn in the New York premiere of Dave Brubeck's The Gates of Justice under the direction of Mr. Brubeck.

From 1976-1977 he was Co-Principal Horn with the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM (México) and Principal Horn with the Chamber Orchestra of México City. In 1977 he moved to Germany, where he joined the International Youth Festival Orchestra in Bayreuth. In the same year he was appointed Solo-Horn with the Hof Symphony Orchestra in Bavaria, where he subsequently 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 his retirement in 2012. He has made numerous recordings for the ABC as a soloist, chamber musician and principal horn, and in 1981 he co-founded the Australian Brass Quintet. He has edited horn études for the I.M.C. in New York, and published his own Practical Exercises for Horn and chamber music through 3-C Musikverlag in Germany. He has given master classes at Juilliard, the Curtis Institute, the Mozarteum (Salzburg), the Chopin University of Music (Warsaw), the University of Illinois, and the Conservatorio Esteban Salas in Cuba. He presently free-lances in Sydney and is horn professor at St Andrew's Cathedral School and The King's School. Many of his students hold positions in professional orchestras in North and South America, Australia, New Zealand and Germany.

He studied conducting at Salzburg's Mozarteum and presently guest conducts in Australia and Latin America. His compositions are published by C.F. Peters and are performed by orchestras in Europe, Australia, the US and South America.