UA Horn Player Receives International Recognition

From the September 2019 Desktop News | First-year graduate student Matthew Meadows has continued the legacy of Alabama’s French horn studio by placing second in the university level of the nation’s largest and most prestigious horn competition.

Meadows, who is studying French horn performance, competed against dozens of other horn players from North America, Asia, Europe, and South America in the International Horn Competition of America at the university level. Over three rounds of performances, Meadows proved himself to be one of the best horn players in the country.

“I felt completely honored to have been there around all the horn players that had competed,” Meadows said. “They were all really great players, so to even just have my name put up there with them was really special. And to be able to represent the University is a huge honor for me, because I feel like I’ve gained so much out of being here. It was really great to be able to represent UA.”

This win follows Meadows’s first place performance in the amateur section of the International Horn Symposium’s quartet competition as part of the Capstone Horn Quartet. Although he has had success in his career thus far, he plans to work harder than ever before to become the best horn player he can.

“I feel like I can always keep learning new things,” Meadows said. “There were players from all over the world, and just to hear them come out and play was an amazing experience. It gave me the extra motivation to just keep on working.”

As Meadows continues to strive towards perfection, he gives credit to those who came before him, such as Cynthia Simpson, who took second place in the university division of the competition in 2015, and Joshua Williams, who placed first in the 2017 professional division. He believes that the sense of community in UA’s horn studio, as well as the leadership of Dr. Skip Snead, the head of the program, have shaped it into the world-class studio that it is today.

“I really attribute a lot of the success of the horn studio here to Dr. Snead and the culture that he’s built here,” Meadows said. “He helps us become better horn players, but he also teaches us how to be the best people we can be. The studio here is just top-notch. I still can’t believe that I have the opportunity to be a part of it.”