He is a French horn player and professor born in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia who started playing brass instruments when he was 8 and concentrated on the French horn from the time he was 18.
He had played in the RAAF and the ABC Training Orchestra and became a member of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1976 and remained there until 1980 when he returned to Australia and started teaching at the Canberra School of Music.
In 1989 he became a member of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Concentus Musicus Wien where he played as Principal Horn. He retired in 2018 after having performed as a soloist with several leading international orchestras and was later Principal Horn with the Australian World Orchestra.
In the field of musical education he was Professor of Horn at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria from 1997 until his retirement in 2018.
He was awarded a Punto Award in Brisbane, Australia in 2010 and made an Honorary Member in 2018 in Muncie, Indiana at the IHS symposium on both occasions.
He retired in 2018 after having performed as a soloist with several leading international orchestras after 45 years of playing brass instruments that include the French horn, tenor horn, euphonium and trombone.
Sources:
- https://www.hornsociety.org/ihs-people/honoraries/26-people/honorary/1302-hector-mcdonald
- https://www.wienersymphoniker.at/de/orchester/die-wiener-symphoniker#114643
- https://www.australianworldorchestra.com.au/artists/hector-mcdonald
- https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/news/australian-honoured-by-the-international-horn-society/
- https://www.ayo.com.au/content/ayo-chamber-players/gjl4eh?permcode=gjl4eh
- https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/mc-donald-hector
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/1476042-Hector-McDonald