Barbara Currie
Lesson Feesfrom $90.00 / 30 Minutes
Promotions Available
About
Barbara Jöstlein Currie has been a Horn player with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for the past 23 years, after having won the position at the age of 22. Prior to that she was a student of Julie Landsman and received a full scholarship to attend the Juilliard School. She spent one year playing Associate Principal Horn with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in Israel after being runner-up in the Third Horn audition for the San Diego Symphony at the age of 19.
Barbara is currently a full time Horn faculty member of the Bard Conservatory, a position she has held for the past 10 years and is also a Horn Teacher with the Mannes Prep Pre-College High School program. Prior to this she taught at the Manhattan School of mUsic PreCillege program for 6 years. Barbara has had enjoyed teaching beginner students and has had great success with those students as well. She teaches via zoom all around the world. Aside from opera, she is a frequent artist in commercial recordings in both NYC and LA and has spent a year as Second Horn of the San Diego Symphony and many summers with the LA Philharmonic playing in the Hollywood Bowl. Barbara and her husband have three children who love to go to the beach and explore national parks together!
I have worked mostly with young professionals seeking help with auditions, and very advanced college and high school students. Recently, I have taught a few beginners which has given me great joy because of their rapid progress and enthusiasm. I like to start with fundamentals so that tone production and intonation are solid, as well as other technical areas. As soon as some basic technique has been achieved, I find it crucial to play music, and to learn how to phrase and sing through the Horn.
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
Bard Conservatory of Music,
Mannes Prep,
Masterclasses in Japan, all over the US, IHS LA artist and author of several articles for the Juilliard Journal and “The Horn Call Magazine”, on Solo competition and Orchestral Excerpt jury for Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music
For advanced students, I cover fundamentals with studies from the Caruso method and mindful warmups focusing on tone, intonation and smooth slurs. Examples of method books which I use regularly are: Pares Scales, Kopprasch, Gallay (and Non-measures Gallay), Maxine-Alphonse, Solo Repertoire for phrasing and musicality, and of course, excerpts.
For beginners it starts very much the same with an attention to tone production. Because I have worked with beginners often, I have developed my own method of teaching the beginner level which has been quite successful. Slow and steady at first!