Musician Profile - Gabriel Kovach, Principal Horn

TPS -What is your favorite orchestral piece to play, and why?
GK - That's a hard question. Any one favorite piece would get tiresome after playing it over and over. Revisiting my favorites after some time away is a great approach for me, just to come back to square one. Any piece by Richard Strauss does it for me. He uses the horn in a way to show off the characteristics of the instrument. You get all of your highs and lows, the big horn calls and the most romantic solos. The way he composes for the horn is just organic.

TPS - What do you like most about performing in music festivals?
GK - There is a feeling at festivals that you are sort of on a musical vacation. Yes, we are still working on our craft. However, the feeling behind many of the festivals is a relaxed atmosphere, geared towards discovering new ways to think of the music. I generally enjoy getting away from the orchestral repertoire and doing opera and chamber music in the summers.

TPS - What are some of the most memorable ones you have performed with?
GK - By far it was the Marlboro festival and school in Vermont. I was a participant for three summers in 2001, 2002 and 2003. The idea at Marlboro is that everyone is an equal. The youth add new ideas to the seasoned veterans and the season veterans give wisdom to the youth. One theme was, “To share new perspectives and learn from one another, to inspire and be inspired.” It’s a very humbling place to be a part of. The musical history there is a catalog of the “who’s who” of music. Started by Rudolf Serkin. Adolf Busch, Marcel, Blanche and Louis Moyse. It’s been a home to artists like Pablo Casals, Felix Galimir and Isidore Cohen. Guarneri quartet was formed there. The list goes on and on! And, here I am, fresh out of receiving my Masters degree and a part of this rich history. It allowed me to find my musical voice and to learn more about what I wanted to sound like a musician, not just a horn player. Personally, it was an honor to go there and leave there with a feeling of musical responsibility. That I am a part of massive musical family tree and carrying on the traditions from this place.

TPS - What piece(s) have you yet to perform that is still on your wish list?
GK - This one took me a while to come up, but I still haven’t performed Brahms 2nd Symphony, well not as a Principal Horn. With such beautiful solos in it, you really want to play it. Also, Mahler 9th Symphony. It is such a giant of a piece. You always want to go after the big fish and tackle it!

TPS - Give us a glimpse into what it was like to receive your Masters degree from Juilliard.
GK - Going to Juilliard has to answered by previously going to Curtis. The Curtis Institute has a total enrollment of 165 students. Enough room for a full size orchestra, opera department, composition students, pianists and conducting students. A really amazing place to have been fortunate enough to attend. Juilliard is much, much larger. Also, being born in Philadelphia and Curtis being right in downtown Philadelphia, I was very close to home. So my undergraduate experience was one where I was really allowed to feel comfortable in a great environment to focus on my musical education with very little distractions. Going to Juilliard was my first time leaving Philadelphia and living in a new city. Curtis had 6 total horn students and Juilliard had 25. I would say the biggest benefit to Juilliard was being able to explore life and music on a much larger scale. There were so many options available to you in the city. You had the MET, the Philharmonic, NY city opera, Orpheus Chamber orchestra, and just about every traveling orchestra coming to the city. So the simple fact that this was at the students finger tips was an education that going to Juilliard provided by proxy

TPS - If you were to create a 10-song playlist of your favorite pieces (classical or non-classical), what would they be and why did you choose them?
GK - Top Ten in no particular order, aside from the first:
1) Peter Maxwell Davies - An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise (Its not the best piece ever composed, but it is the piece that allowed me to find classical music again. I fell out of enjoying classical music in high school.)
2) Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 2
3) Ben Folds (Haven’t found a piece of his yet that I don’t like)
4) Ray LaMontagne (A great singer/songwriter)
5) Giordano: Andrea Chenier - La Mamma Morta (It breaks me down every time)
6) System of a Down (I like my non-classical music heavy)
7) Strauss - Tone poems
8) Dvořák - Serenade for winds
9) Janacek - Jenufa (It's just an amazing opera)
10) Paul Simon (Another great singer/songwriter and always puts me in a good mood)