About me - William Jones Homepage
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About me
I was born on October 4, 1956, in Houston, Texas, USA. Typical for Texas, my father was in the oil business and a graduate of Harvard University. My mother also attended a prestigious college in the northeatsern USA, although she was born in Illinois. There are four in my family: my older brother, and two yonger sisters.
I grew up in Pearland, Texas, where I attended the Pearland High School. I joined the high school band and owe my passion for the horn to my high school band director, Jack Ferris.
I attened the University of Houston from 1974-
In the fall of 1976 I moved to New York City to continue my studies at the Juilliard School, where my horn teacher was Rainier DeIntinnis. I took a one year leave of absence from Juilliard in the fall of 1978 to play Assistant Principal Horn in the Houston Symphony. The contract was only for one year while Jay Andrus was away on a leave of absence, and I returned to Juilliard in the fall of 1979.
I joined the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria in the summer of 1980 at the invitation of long time friend Jerome Ashby. Later that same year I was invited to Vancouver, Canada, to become Assitant/Associate Principal Horn with the Vancouver Symphony. I remained there until 1983. When the orchestra in Vancouver began to have finacial difficulties I looked elsewhere for a new job.
In 1983 I moved to Taipei, Taiwan, to join the Taipei City Symphony as Principal Horn. I had been a geust soloist with the orchestra on numerous occasions in the past and was familiar with Taipei. Moving to Taiwan was exciting for me.
Through the inviatation of the German conductor Lutz Herbig I made a trip to Germany and won the audition for Solohorn in the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz. I have been in Mainz since 1984 and joined the faculty of the Peter-