Kansas City Horn Club event will feature performance at White Recital Hall
The Kansas City Horn Club, which promotes the French horn to amateurs and students in the region, will hold JazzFest, its fourth music education event, on Sept. 27 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Martin Hackleman, who serves on the horn club board, said the all-day event will include workshops and performances. It is expected to draw between 30 and 40 horn players from throughout the region, said Hackleman, an Associate Teaching Professor at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance.
JazzFest will feature a performance by guest artist John McGuire, a horn professor at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. There will also be a mass performance by all the horn players in attendance. While the French horn by itself isn’t terribly loud, 30 or 40 together will be a different story, Hackleman said.
“It can get pretty rowdy,” he said. “You won’t be going to sleep!”
JazzFest is the Kansas City Horn Club’s fourth event since the club was founded two years ago. Each event incorporates education and music around a specific theme. This event will feature jazz music, including workshops on adlibbing and on the history of the French horn in jazz. In the past, events have had western and Hollywood themes.
In addition to giving many amateur players a chance to learn and perform, the event is also a good recruiting tool for the Conservatory, Hackleman said. Some people who come to the event may even decide to seek professional training on the French horn, he said. But, significantly, others will simply gain a deeper appreciation for the instrument.
“It makes the horn world stronger,” Hackleman said.
The event also brings Conservatory faculty and students into the community, Hackleman said. He noted that most of his 17 horn students will take part.
“It’s really important that we don’t do things only by ourselves,” he said.
The public is invited to a 4 p.m. concert, which will conclude JazzFest. The concert will be held on the UMKC Volker Campus at White Recital Hall, 4949 Cherry St. Donations accepted for the event will benefit the club’s effort to achieve nonprofit status and support educational outreach.