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Biography
James
Decker was Professor of Horn at the University
of Southern California for 35 years. He also
taught horn at the California Institute of the
Arts, California State University Los Angeles,
University of California Long Beach, University of
California Santa Barbara, and was the horn
instructor at the Music Academy of the West for
more than 25 years. He was the horn teacher and
chamber music instructor at the Bowdoin Summer
Music Festival for 4 years and recently served on
the faculty at the Kendall Betts Horn Camp. He was
a member of the board for the National
Association of the Recording Arts and Sciences for
talent scholarships and grants in classical music.
Most recently, James Decker was principal horn
of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for over 20
years. Previous experience includes principal horn
of Kansas City, assistant principal horn of the
National Symphony, guest principal horn of the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, principal horn of the
Columbia Orchestra, including the CBS recordings
with Bruno Walter and Igor Stravinsky, and
principal horn for over 2,000 major motion
pictures and television series.
He was a founding member of the Los Angeles
Horn Club, which commissioned over 100 new works
for various horn ensembles, and was one of the
founders of the International Horn Society,
serving as host for two Workshops. He created the
IVASI practice system, aiding young players in
orchestral audition preparation with virtual
conductors and entire horn parts. Finally, Jim has
been involved with the testing of various horn
metals, designs, and bell flares and has been a
supporter and financial backer of Mark
Veneklasen's revolutionary research into horn
design and manufacture.
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