Alec Frank-Gemmill

Alec Frank-Gemmill has been Principal Horn of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra since September 2009. He is also frequently invited to play 1st horn with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic and the Philharmonia. Before moving to Edinburgh in September 2009 Alec was Principal Horn of the Tiroler Symphonieorchester in Innsbruck, Austria.

Besides orchestral work, Alec is much in demand as a soloist and in chamber music.  As part of both the Making Music Young Concert Artists and Countess of Munster Trust Recital Scheme he  gave dozens of recitals throughout the UK.  His concerto repertoire includes both Strauss concertos, all four Mozart concertos and lesser-known works for horn by Telemann and Weber.  In 2010 Alec appeared with the Fitzwilliam String Quartet in St. Andrew's and also played the fiendish Ligeti Horn Trio in Freden, Germany (broadcast on Deutschlandradio).  In February he performed the Britten Serenade for tenor, horn and strings with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. 

After reading music at Robinson College, Cambridge, Alec completed a Masters degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where his teachers were Hugh Seenan, Jeff Bryant and Richard Bissill.  Subsequently he spent a year as an apprentice in the horn section of the Zürich Opera Orchestra studying with Glen Borling and Radovan Vlatković.  Since then he has been taught by Marie-Luise Neunecker at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin.  

What is your most memorable concert? (either playing or listening)?

The Huelgas vocal ensemble performing works by Michelangelo Rossi in Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, Saintes, France (July 2008)