Principal horn with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for 25 years, Julie Landsman is a distinguished performing artist and educator. She received a bachelor of music degree from The Juilliard School in 1975 under the tutelage of James Chambers and Ranier De Intinis, and has served as a member of the Juilliard faculty since 1989 to 2024. Her appointment to the faculty at USC Thornton School of Music began in 2020.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Landsman achieved her dream of becoming principal of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 1985 and held that position until 2010. She has also shared her talent with many other ensembles within the city as a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and having performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic. Additionally, she has performed with numerous groups outside the city, including her co-principal position with the Houston Symphony, substitute principal position with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra as Associate principal horn, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

She has recorded for RCA, Deutsche Gramophone, CRI, Nonesuch and Vanguard labels, and is most famous for her performance of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle as solo horn with the Met Opera under the direction of James Levine. Landsman has performed as chamber musician at numerous festivals and concert series, including the Marlboro Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she appeared as a guest artist with the Guarneri Quartet. In the summers she currently performs and teaches at the Music Academy of the West, the Sarasota Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival.

World renowned as a master teacher, Julie Landsman held faculty positions at The Juilliard School and Bard College Conservatory. Her current position is adjunct professor of music at USC. She has presented master classes at such distinguished institutions as The Colburn School, Curtis Institute, Eastman School of Music, Mannes College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, USC Thornton School of Music, Cal State Long Beach, Rowan University, University of Oklahoma, and University of Southern Mississippi, to name a few. She was a visiting master teacher at the New World Symphony in Miami. Her international presence includes master classes in Norway, Sweden, and Israel. In 2016 Landsman was an honored jury member at the ARD horn competition in Munich, Germany.

Her students hold positions in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Opera and Ballet Orchestras, Washington National Opera Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Nova Scotia Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and the American Brass Quintet. She recently received the “Pioneer Award” from the International Women’s Brass Conference and was a featured artist at the International Horn Society Conference in 2012 and 2015. She was featured in the International Musician magazine in February, 2022. She was interviewed by Local 802 in 2013.

Her series of Carmine Caruso lessons on YouTube have led to further fame and renown among today’s generation of horn players. Landsman currently resides in Santa Barbara, CA.

Jennifer Montone joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as principal horn in 2006, and is currently on the faculties of The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School. She was formerly St Louis Symphony principal horn, Dallas Symphony associate principal horn, New Jersey Symphony third horn, and performer/faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Named the Paxman Young Horn Player of the Year in London in 1996, she won an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2006 and a 2013 Grammy Award for her recording of Penderecki’s Horn Concerto entitledWinterreise. She has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, WDR Cologne, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She performs regularly at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Classical Tahoe, La Jolla SummerFest, Strings Festival, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and coaches at the New World Symphony. Ms. Montone was in the National Symphony Fellowship Program studying with Edwin Thayer, and is a graduate of The Juilliard School as a student of Julie Landsman.