International horn soloist, Bernhard Scully, is currently the Associate Professor of Horn at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a member of the University of Illinois Global STEAM and is Artistic Director of the non-profit 501(c)(3) Cormont Music. He spends most of his summer in the White Mountains of New Hampshire as both the Artistic Director of Kendall Betts Horn Camp and as the horn player of the North Country Chamber Players. His solo career has spanned across many genres from classical to jazz and beyond, including being the former long-time horn player of the Canadian Brass and former principal horn of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Among his many awards are top honors at numerous competitions, most notably being the first classical brass player to win a McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians.

His most recent honor was being made a member of the University of Illinois College of Agricultural Consumer Environmental Sciences (ACES) “Global Academy.” His Global Academy Project is a partnership with a faculty colleague from the UI School of Engineering. The project combines music and engineering in a long-range cross-disciplinary research study focusing on the relationship between the cultural and technological epistemologies of rural/indigenous regions around the world. The long-term aspiration of the project is to establish meaningful and deep relationships with the people in each region (currently Aymara communities in Andean Bolivia, and Mende communities in Sierre Leone), learning about their music, culture, and technological practices, and ultimately helping them in the face of climate change. Rural/indigenous regions around the world are some of the most profoundly affected by climate change, so, taking into account the wishes of each community, this work will allow for facilitation in the form of community training. Coming from the standpoint of high respect and deference, this work will thereby empower the communities in ways that are acceptable to them and that easily integrate into their unique technological contexts. On the musical end, this cross-cultural interdisciplinary exchange allows the horn to enter into areas of which it has likely never been a part, expanding its musical scope by integrating into diverse cultural contexts. 

As the horn player of Canadian Brass, Bernhard annually toured the world over, is featured on many CDs and videos, and performed in front of orchestras that included the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony. The Canadian Brass have been featured guest artists at prestigious music events and festivals including Music Academy of the West, Oregon Bach Festival, Banff Centre For the Arts, Texas Music Educators Convention, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, Chautauqua Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, NAMM Convention, and numerous others.

As Principal Horn of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Bernhard was often featured as a soloist, performing notable works by Mozart, Strauss, and Britten. He toured with the SPCO both nationally and internationally, most notably performing at Carnegie Hall. His concerts with the SPCO were broadcast weekly on National Public Radio. He is also featured on the SPCO’s 50th Anniversary Chamber Orchestra Festival recording. Since his departure to pursue a solo and teaching career, Bernhard has returned to play guest principal horn under the acclaimed director, Pinchas Zuchermann. He has collaborated with many great North American Orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra as guest principal horn, Pittsburgh Symphony as guest principal horn, and as principal horn of the Violon du Roy in Quebec City.

As a soloist, Bernhard is featured on numerous recordings. His solo album, “Dialogue en Francais: French Masterpieces for Horn and Piano,” was featured on Minnesota Public Radio. His recording “The G. Schirmer Horn Collection Volumes One, Two, and Three“ (Hal Leonard Publishing) includes much of the standard repertoire for horn and piano. The Instrumentalist describes these three volumes: “Scully offers musical, intuitive performances that provide a fine example for hornists of all levels. These carefully thought-out publications are a good investment for future growth and belong in every horn teacher and player’s library.” Bernhard can be heard as a featured performer on numerous Canadian Brass CD’s. His latest CD, “Windows in Time,” that features the premiere recording of Gunther Schuller’s “Quintet for Horn and Strings (2009)” in collaboration with the acclaimed Jupiter String Quartet. The album also includes W.A. Mozart’s “Quintet for Horn and Strings, K. 407”. Gunther Schuller produced this recording himself, and this was one of the last projects he took part in before his unfortunate passing in 2015.

As a pedagogue Bernhard has given lectures and master classes around the world and is a regular featured artist at international music conventions and festivals. He has been on the faculties at the Chautauqua Festival, Rafael Mendez Brass Institute as a member of the Summit Brass, Music Academy of the West, Brevard Music Festival, Eastman School of Music, in residence at the University of Toronto with the Canadian Brass, Madeline Island Music Camp as a member of the Prairie Winds, The North Country Chamber Players, and the Illinois Summer Youth Music Horn Week. His students now occupy positions all over the globe as performers, educators, and scholars.

His degrees are from Northwestern University (with honors), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he attended on a Paul Collins Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. In 2010 the University of Wisconsin awarded him a Distinguished Alumni Award for excellence in artistry. He resides with his wife, Sarah, who is a music therapist and photographer; their three daughters, Ellie, Abby, and Maddie; their springer spaniel, Gustav Mahler; and their two cats, Kenny and Lucy.