Kerry Turner

Kerry Turner (born October 16, 1960) is an American composer and horn player. Turner is a recognized name in the horn and brass industry. Turner’s major ensembles with whom he performs include the American Horn Quartet, the Virtuoso Horn Duo, and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. Turner has performed internationally as a soloist and clinician. Turner also sings tenor in a semi-professional octet.
Life
At age 11, Kerry Turner won the San Antonio Music Society Composition Competition. At 17, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Baylor University after winning the Baylor composition contest. Turner transferred to the Manhattan School of Music and received a Fulbright scholarship to study with Hermann Baumann at the Stuttgart College of Music and Performing Arts upon graduation. He placed fifth at the Geneva International Horn Competition and won the Bronze Medal at the 39th Prague Spring International Music Competition. In 1983, Turner assumed the position of principal horn of the Gürzenich Orchester, Cologne. In 1985, Turner joined the Radio-Tele-Luxembourg Symphony Orchestra and the American Horn Quartet.
Turner's compositions have been commissioned by many organizations, including the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Japanese Horn Ensemble, and the Richmond, Virginia Chamber Music Society. His works have been awarded top prizes at the International Horn Society Composition Contest and the IBLA Foundation.
Turner received the Meir Rimon Commissioning Assistance Fund from the International Horn Society in 1993 to compose Six Lives of Jack McBride for horn, violin, tenor voice, and piano and again in 2004 to compose Scorpion in the Sand for horn, cello, and piano.
Turner's Quartet Nr. 1 won first prize in the International Horn Society's composition contest. Quartet Nr. 3 was awarded a prize in the International Horn Society composition contest in 1996. The Freden International Music Festival in Germany commissioned Turner to compose a brass quintet titled Ricochet, which become one of Turner's most successful works.
Several notable commissions include the U.S. Air Force "Heritage of America" band (Postcards from Lucca), the Alexander Horn Ensemble Japan (Ghosts of Dublin), the Brass Ensemble of the Symphony Orchestra of Lyon (The Heros), the Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra (The Celestials of Sago Lane), Palisades Virtuosi (Vathek), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (Concerto for Horn and Orchestra "The Gothic"), and the horn sections of the Houston and Dallas symphonies (The Bronze Triptych).
Turner's music, which contains elements of folk music from the British Isles, a Mexican influence combined with his own western American style, and the sounds of North Africa and the Arab world, has been performed and recorded by chamber ensembles from the New York Philharmonic, The Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony, among others.
Turner has been a guest lecturer in composition at several institutions of music, including the Royal Academy of Oslo, the Academy of Fine Arts in Hong Kong, the Nero House of Music in Osaka, Japan, West Virginia University and the Winterthur Hochschule für Musik in Switzerland.
Works
Large ensembles
Karankawa - Symphony orchestra
Concerto for Low Horn & Chamber Orchestra - Horn, chamber orchestra
Les Heroes - Large brass ensemble, percussion
Concerto for Brass Trombone (or Tuba) & Orchestra - Brass trombone (or tuba), orchestra
The Labyrinth - Brass ensemble, percussion
Postcards from Lucca - Wind ensemble
Sonata for Horn & Strings - Horn, string quartet or string orchestra
Symphony Nr. 1 - Symphony orchestra with chorus
Symphony Nr. 2 - Chamber orchestra
Celestials of Sago Lane - Chamber orchestra, 2 percussion soloists
Karankawa - Symphony orchestra, or symphonic band, or wind ensemble
Concerto for Brass Trombone - Brass trombone or bass tuba, orchestra
Introduction & Main Event - Horn quartet, symphony orchestra, wind ensemble
’Twas a Dark and Stormy Night - Version for 2 horns, string orchestra
Chamber works
Ricochet - Brass quintet
Quartet Nr. 3 for Horns - Horn quartet
Casbah of Tetouan - Brass quintet
Fiesta Fanfare - 4 trumpets or 4 horns
Sonata for Horn & Piano - Horn, piano
’Twas a Dark and Stormy Night - Horn, organ (piano)
Quartet Nr. 2 for Horns - Horn quartet
Bandera - Trumpet, horn, trombone, piano
Variations on a Luxembourgish Folk Song - Horn quartet
Fanfare for Barcs - Horn quartet
Quartet Nr. 1 for Horns - Horn quartet
The Black Knight - Brass quintet, organ
Soundings on the Erie Canal - Brass quintet
Sonatina for Tuba & Piano - Tuba, piano
Casbah of Tetouan - 5 horns
Six Lives of Jack McBride - Tenor voice, horn, violin, piano
Unlikely Fusion: Prologue & Epilogue for Four Horns, Tuba, Harpsichord, & Fiddle - 4 horns, tuba, harpsichord, fiddle
Ghost Riders - 2 trumpets, 2 horns, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, (optional tenor voice)
The Pocono Menagerie - trumpet, horn, tuba/euphonium, piano
Chaconne for Three Horns - 3 horns
Song of Mary for Eight Voices - 8 voices (SSAATTBB)
Quarter-After-Four - Horn, violin, piano
The Seduction - String quartet
Vathek - Flute, clarinet, piano
The Ballad to Annabel Lee - Trumpet, piano
Wedding Music - 4 horns, narrator
Fandango - 4 horns
Quartet Nr. 4 for Horns - 4 horns
Improvisation - Brass quintet
Sonatina for Violoncello or tuba, piano - Violoncello (or tuba), piano
Suite for Solo Tuba & Horn Quartet - 4 horns, tuba
Barbara Allen - 4 horns or 8 horns
The Ghosts of Dublin - 8 horns
Rhapsody - Woodwind quintet, violin, viola, violoncello, double bass
The New-Found Journal - 4 tubas or woodwind quartet (flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon)
Four Duets - 2 horns or 2 tubas
Rule Britannia! - 4 horns
Take 9 Fanfare - 9 horns
Three Movements for Hour Horns - 4 horns
Symphony for Carols - 8 horns, including 2 alphorns (optional)
Farewell to Red Castle - 8 horns
The New-Found Journal - Flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon
’Twas a Dark and Stromy Night - Version for 2 horns, organ or piano
Cortejo - Brass quintet
Kaitsenko - Brass quintet
The Scorpion in the Sand - Violoncello, horn, piano
Bronze Triptych - 12 horns, timpani, percussion
Scorpion in the Sand - Violoncello, horn, piano
Berceuse for the Mary Rose - Woodwind Quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon)
Navajo Mandala - Combined woodwind, brass quintet with percussion
Solo works
Three Portraits - Solo horn
Characters - Solo horn
Come Thou Font of Every Blessing - Solo piano
The Testament of Saladin - Solo horn
Echoes of Glastonbury - Solo horn
La Entrada de los Caballeros - Solo horn
La Viuda de Salamanca - Solo horn
Phantom Shanties - Solo horn
Nine Pieces for Solo Horn - Solo horn
Caprice - Solo horn
The Twelve-Tone Waltz - Solo horn
Crossing Union Square - Solo horn
The Hunt of the Cheetah - Solo horn
References
External links
1960 births
Living people
American male composers
21st-century American composers
American horn players
21st-century American male musicians