Wadenpfuhl, Jay (7 June 1950

Composer and French horn player from Kirbyville, Texas, whose father was a band director and trumpeter and whose mother was a choir director and piano teacher.

Jay’s professional career started when he was just fifteen years old and performed with the Beaumont Civic Opera and Beaumont Symphony Orchestra.

He attended North Texas State University and the University of Wisconsin in Madison, from whence he acquired degrees in horn and composition.

In 1981, he became a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Other groups with whom he worked include the Boston Pops, the Florida Philharmonic, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Lamar University Band, the Michel Legrand Jazz Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the NFB Quartet, and the U.S. Army Band.

He joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music in 1987. On 13^th March 1988, he participated in a faculty recital with Charles Kavalovski which has been immortalized on cassette tape. A link is listed below.

Other recordings on which he has appeared include: America, American Visions, The Celtic Album, Holiday Pops, The Latin Album and A Splash of Pops by the Boston Pops; Chardonnay Classics and Seasons Remembered with Judith Lynn Stillman; A Evening of Magic: Chuck Mangione Live at the Hollywood Bowl and Tarantella with Chuck Mangione; Hornithology and a self-titled album by the NFB Quartet; and, the soundtrack from Odyssey of Life.

Jay gave the world premiere of the “Huntington Horn Concerto” by William Thomas McKinley with the Boston Pops and John Williams in 1989.

In 1996, the NFB Quartet participated at the International Horn Society workshop. The BSO horn section did the same at the Northeast Horn Workshop on 16^th March 2002.

On 15^th April 2007, members of the BSO appeared in a community concert at the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury where they interpreted “Aires Tropicales” by Paquito D’Rivera, “Bagatelles” by Gyorgy Ligeti, and “Wind Quintet” by Heitor Villa-Lobos.

The CCM “Esprit de Cor” Horn Choir performed Jay’s “Tectonica” at Corbett Auditorium in Cincinnati on 21^st May 2007. The composition also appears on the aforementioned eponymous recording by the NFB Quartet.

In March 2010, he played his last concerto with the BSO, Stabat Mater by Gioachino Rossini.

After that, he became ill and was diagnosed with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. He passed away on 19^th June 2010 at Cambridge Hospital.

His life was celebrated during a pre-concert tribute on 14^th July 2010 at Seranak in Lenox, Massachusetts. The NEC dedicated their Brass Bash to his memory, as well.

Jay’s musical legacy will live on through his recordings and his students, who included Eric D. Moore, James Mosher, Mollie Pate, Dan Shaud, Nancy Thornton, and his second cousin, Lee Wadenpfuhl.

He performs here….

Sources:

Wadenpfuhl, Jay (7 June 1950–14 July 2010)

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