Jennifer Montone

Jennifer Montone began playing the French horn at the age of ten,[1] as a part of her grade school band in northern Virginia.[2] She later attended the Juilliard School, training for a career playing the French horn.[3] While still a student at Juilliard, she became the third horn with the New Jersey Symphony.[4]

Early in her career Montone joined the Dallas Symphony Orchestra[5] as the associate French horn in 2001.[4] She joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as the principal horn in 2003, where she was awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant. She remained in that position until 2006, when she joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as principal horn. At the time she was the first woman to be named principal horn in one of the US's "Big Five" orchestras in nearly fifty years.[6] Her work as a soloist has been highlighted in the orchestra's live radio concerts, including those on WRTI in Philadelphia,[7] and in touring shows at venues including Carnegie Hall.[8] She has also led the effort to host charity concerts through the orchestra, including those for refugees of the Syrian Civil War.[9]

In 2013 Montone received the Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium for the Naxos Records album Fonogrammi; Horn Concerto; The Awakening of Jacob; Anaklasis, with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.[10] Her first solo record was Jennifer Montone Performs Schumann, Saint-Saëns, Strauss, Etc., which was released by Albany Records in 2016.[11] In 2017, composer Kile Smith composed Exsultet for Montone to perform, which she premiered with the Philadelphia Classical Symphony.[12]

Montone has taught at the Aspen Music Festival and School,[6] and served as an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University.[13] She is now a faculty member of Temple University,[14] the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Juilliard School.[15]

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