Solo Coaching

Each day, your study group will meet for class with our faculty solo coach and faculty accompanist. Please prepare a solo to work on during your camp week. (Or two solos if you will be a two-week participant!) 

This opportunity is available to you regardless of whether you wish to perform a solo on the participant concerts.

Prior to camp, you must fill out the online Solo Repertoire Form and submit a high-quality PDF of your piano accompaniment by the deadline. You may submit the PDF of your piano part to our Operations Director, Julie Gerhardt, at julie@horncamp.org. If your file size is too large to send via email, create a free Google Drive account (www.drive.google.com), upload the part to Google Drive, and use Google Drive to share the PDF with julie@horncamp.org.

Please be aware that you will only have time to work on one piece of solo repertoire per camp week.

Piano parts should have minimal pencil markings and be clear and easy to read. You will be asked to resubmit any part that is blurry or distorted due to poor scanning. If you use your phone to scan, please use a scanning app such as CamScanner or TurboScan.

Photographs of piano parts will not be accepted.

Links to IMSLP will not be accepted.

In addition to sending a scan in advance, please bring the original, complete score with you to camp, and be prepared to provide it to the pianist upon arrival. Please label your score with your name so that you may collect it at the end of your camp week.

Participants wishing to perform a solo that does not require piano accompaniment must also use the Online Repertoire Form to submit repertoire information by the deadline.

Participant concerts at Kendall Betts Horn Camp include participant soloists from all backgrounds and ability levels in a supportive and enthusiastic environment.

We strive to be as inclusive as possible in selecting soloists for the participant concerts; however, due to time constraints, duplicate selections, and other considerations, we cannot always accept everyone who wishes to play.

If you wish to perform a solo on a participant concert, we ask that you adhere to the following guidelines:

  • Arrive at KBHC with your solo well-prepared. It is recommended that by the time you arrive at KBHC, that you will have been practicing your selection for at least a month. Your chosen repertoire should be well-rehearsed and performance-ready when you arrive at camp. Please choose repertoire that is well within your performance abilities. A well-executed performance will be much more rewarding than an overly-ambitious one.
  • If your solo requires a cadenza, please prepare a cadenza well in advance in order to incorporate it seamlessly into your performance.
  • Often, multiple soloists will choose the same solo. For multi-movement works, we may compromise by having multiple participants “share” the solo, each playing different movements. If you would like to perform a multi-movement work, please indicate clearly which movement(s) you are prepared to play.
  • Occasionally, multiple soloists will choose the same single-movement work. If you are one such soloist in this situation, we may ask you to change your selection. If you wish to solo on a participant concert, please prepare multiple selections.

 

Many solos are popular choices among horn players, and are therefore often chosen by multiple performers. If your first-choice selection is from the following list, please have an additional solo prepared as only one performance of any given piece will be allowed per recital:

  • Mozart, Concerto No. 2, first movement
  • Mozart, Concerto No. 3, first movement
  • Mozart, Concerto No. 4, first movement
  • Neuling, Bagatelle
  • Saint-Saëns, Morceau de Concert
  • F. Strauss, Nocturno
  • R. Strauss, Concerto No. 1


Failure to adhere to any of these guidelines may result in your ineligibility to perform at KBHC. Last minute substitutions of difficult pieces cannot be accommodated.

The decisions of the artistic director and associate artistic director regarding participant solo selection for the participant concerts are final.

Deadline for online repertoire form and piano parts: May 1

Not sure which solo repertoire to choose?

At Kendall Betts Horn Camp, we welcome solo selections from all ends of the spectrum, of all difficulty levels, everything from traditional standards to new compositions. If, however, you’d like to solo on a participant concert and need help deciding what to play, the following is a list of horn solos that are already within our faculty accompanist’s repertoire:

  • Beckel, Glass Bead Game
  • Beethoven, Sonata for Horn and Piano
  • Brahms, Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor
  • Borroff, Sonata
  • Bozza, En Foret
  • Bozza, Sur les Cimes
  • Cherubini, Sonata No. 1
  • Cherubini, Sonata No. 2
  • Dukas, Villanelle
  • Glazunov, Reverie
  • Gliere, Concerto
  • Gliere, Intermezzo
  • J. Haydn, Concerto No. 1
  • J. Haydn, Concerto No. 2
  • B. Heiden, Sonata
  • Hindemith, Sonata for Horn and Piano in F major
  • Hindemith, Sonata for Alto Horn
  • Jacob, Concerto for Horn and Strings
  • Mozart, Concerti
  • Naigus, entire repertoire
  • Nelhybel, Scherzo Concertante
  • Neuling, Bagatelle
  • Pils, Tre Pezzi
  • Planel, Légende
  • Saint-Saëns, Morceau de Concert
  • Saint-Saëns, Romance
  • Schumann, Adagio and Allegro
  • Schumann, Fantasiestücke
  • F. Strauss Concerto
  • F. Strauss, Noctorno
  • F. Strauss, Thema und Variationen
  • R. Strauss, Concerto No. 1
  • R. Strauss, Concerto No. 2
  • Wilder, Sonata No. 3
 
You may also consider the following unaccompanied solo repertoire:
 
  • Arnold, Fantasy
  • Bach, Cello Suites
  • Berge, Horn-Lokk
  • Buyanovsky, Four Improvisations
  • Frackenpohl, Three Movements for Solo Horn
  • Hill, Three Soliloquies
  • Krol, Laudatio
  • Louel, Invention
  • Messiaen, Appel Interstellar
  • Persichetti, Parable