Mark Almond
Contact
Departments
Horn
Courses Taught
Applied Lessons
Ensembles
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (Associate Principal)
Philharmonia Orchestra (3rd Horn)
Education
PhD - Imperial College London
MA - Cambridge University
BM BCh - Oxford University
Q&A
What is your hometown?
Bolton, UK
What is your favorite recording? Why?
“Now Playing” by James Thatcher; the recording of the Bach Partita for horn and piano is simply inspirational
What are you passionate about outside of music?
Looking after my 9-year old son! Cooking, Bouldering, Medicine!
Who were your major teachers?
Christopher Wormald, Hugh Seenan, Jeffrey Bryant
What is a favorite quote that you repeatedly tell students?
“If it isn’t easy, you’re doing something wrong” - I believe this was originally attributed to Barry Tuckwell
What question do you wish students would ask sooner rather than later?
What is your concept of sound?
What was the defining moment when you decided to pursue music as a career?
Playing my first BBC Promenade concert with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, aged 14
What was a turning point in your career?
Playing as a substitute with the London Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly aged 19, sitting amongst my musical heroes
If you weren't a musician or teacher, what do you think you would be doing now?
I’d be a hospital doctor
What is your daily practice routine?
Cup of tea, warm up, cup of tea, scales and arpeggios, cup of tea, etudes/pieces, cup of tea
If you could play only three composers for the rest of your life, who would they be?
Strauss, Mahler, Haydn
What is your unrealized project?
I’d really like to record a CD sometime
What recordings can we hear you on?
Movie Soundtracks: West Side Story, Chicago, Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code, Avengers, Renfield
Biography
Mark Almond has worked as the Associate Principal Horn of the San Francisco Symphony, Co-Principal Horn of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and third horn of the Philharmonia Orchestra, London. He has appeared as a guest principal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras amongst others and has performed as a soloist with the London Symphony and Hallé Orchestras. Mark studied medicine at Cambridge and Oxford Universities and has a PhD in pandemic virology from Imperial College. He worked as a respiratory physician in a number of London teaching hospitals before becoming a full time horn player.