× Bard College Conservatory of Music presents

Degree Recital: James Haber, horn

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 | | Bitó Conservatory Building James Haber, horn, began his musical studies under the loving encouragement of his mother, Mezzo-Soprano Caroline Chanin.  At the age of five he started studying violin, but after three unsuccessful years of Suzuki book 1 switched to trumpet.  For the next eight years he studied with Jazz musician Bucky Milam, attending the Litchfield Jazz Festival in 2006 and 2007. 

Around this time James picked up the French horn, suggested by his father, and began studying with Ankush Kumar Bahl and later Marjorie Callaghan of Western Connecticut State University.  During these years, James played with the Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra under the direction of Maestro’s Anush Kumar Bahl and Petko Dimitrov, in addition to playing in the Norwalk Youth Symphony under Maestro Tara Simoncic.  He also performed with the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, where he narrated “Peter and the Wolf” in 2008.

Later that year James was accepted to the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division, studying horn with Julia Pilant and composition with Manuel Sosa.  In 2009 James enrolled at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he studied with Roland Pandolfi.  The summer after his freshman year, James caught a fly ball at a Cleveland Indian’s game, a good omen for the years ahead.  After one year at Oberlin, James transferred to the Bard College Conservatory of Music where he now studies with Julia Pilant, Julie Landsman, Jeffery Lang, and Barbara Jöstlein.  He is also pursuing a joint-degree in History and Asian Studies at Bard College. 

Since transferring to Bard, James has played with the new music group, Contemporaneous; where he also serves as Out-reach Coordinator.  He has participated in a variety of summer festivals, including the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, and the Atlantic Brass Quintet Seminar.  In 2012, he accompanied both the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony and the Bard College Conservatory Orchestra on tours of China and Taiwan.  James is expected to graduate in 2014.

Contact: Trica Reed
Phone: 845-752-2380
E-mail: [email protected]