BSO's Childers, Winter to Horn Faculty

New England Conservatory is delighted to announce that Boston Symphony Orchestra horn players Rachel Childers and Michael Winter ‘07 will join the Conservatory faculty beginning in the 2015-16 academic year. With their appointments, NEC can proudly claim the entire BSO brass section as members of the studio faculty.
 

Rachel Childers, who occupies the John P. II and Nancy S. Eustis Chair, joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as Second Horn at the start of the 2011-12 season. She was formerly Acting Assistant Principal/Utility Horn of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with the San Diego Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Marin (CA) Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, Greater Lansing Symphony, and the Birmingham Bloomfield (MI) Symphony.

Childers received both bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the University of Michigan, followed by an Artist Diploma from the Colburn School in Los Angeles. Her teachers included Soren Hermansson, David Jolley, David Krehbiel, and Louis Stout. She was a Los Angeles Philharmonic teaching artist, one of a select faculty of freelance professional musicians who present and teach music in the LA Philharmonic's partner schools.
 

Winter, who occupies the Elizabeth B. Storer Chair, joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as Third Horn in September 2012. Prior to his appointment with the BSO, he was acting principal horn of the Buffalo Philharmonic and principal horn of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra for several seasons. He has also performed as guest principal horn with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra on several occasions.
Winter was born and raised in Southern California by a musical family. He began his horn studies with his grandfather, respected horn teacher Dr. James Winter, and later studied with Jim Thatcher and John Mason. Mr. Winter then moved to Boston to pursue a degree at NEC, where he worked as an undergraduate and graduate student with Boston Symphony members Richard Mackey and Richard Sebring. In New England, Mr. Winter has performed regularly with the Boston Ballet Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Boston Philharmonic, Boston Pops Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra.