Kazimierz Machala

Bio

A native of Poland, Kazimierz Machala is an active performer, composer, and teacher. He studied horn at the Janacek Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in the Czech Republic. Machala, who was the first horn player in Juilliard’s history to receive the Doctor of Musical Arts degree, received third prize at the 1974 International Music Competition for Woodwinds and Brass in Prague.

During 1989-2009 he taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and currently is the Professor Emeritus of Horn.
He performed on numerous occasions with the New York Philharmonic and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has been a member of the American Woodwind Quintet, the University of Illinois Brass Quintet and the Australian Wind Virtuosi. During 1994-1996 he performed with the St. Louis Brass Quintet. He also has served as principal horn with the Cracow Radio Symphony and was principal horn with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia for seven years.
Machala’s Intuitions for Horn Quartet, published by Phoenix Music Publications in Holland, have been recorded by the American Horn Quartet on MSR label. His arrangement of the American Folk Suite for Woodwind Quintet, published by Shawnee Press, has been frequently performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet and released on the ensemble’s compact disc Summer Music on the BIS label.

Machala appeared as a soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Cracow Radio Orchestra, the Masan Symphony Orchestra in South Korea, Sinfonia da Camera and many other symphonic ensembles. He appeared at the International Horn Workshop in Lahti, Finland, performing with the Horn Choir of the Eastman School of Music. In September 2002 he premiered his own Concerto for Horn, Winds and Percussion with the Wind Symphony at the University of Illinois. He has taught and performed at the Cambridge Music Festival in New Zealand, Tidewater Music Festival in Maryland, Domaine Forge Festival in Québéc, Canada, Lugano Horn Workshop in Switzerland,  Daytona Beach Horn Workshop in Florida and the Prague Horn Festival in the Czech Republic.

For several years Machala has been arranging and transcribing. Only recently he started writing his own music. In 2008 Machala received the Excellence in Composition Award at the International Brass Chamber Music Festival in Louisville, Kentucky for his Brass Quintet No.1. HisConcerto for Horn, Winds and Percussion received numerous performances on five continents. His arrangements for various ensembles and transcriptions for horn and piano are published by International Music Company, G. Schirmer, Masters Music Publications, Shawnee Press, and International Music Diffusion in France. Virtually all his original compositions are published by Capo Tasto Music and distributed by Carl Fischer and Theodore Presser companies.

Currently he is a visiting Professor of Horn at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland.