Music, Theatre, Dance Faculty & Staff
Last Name
Bianchi
First Name
Colin
.jpg)
Email
bianchco@gvsu.edu
Title
Visiting Professor, Horn
Website
About
Colin Bianchi is a French horn player with an active career as both a performer and educator. He is the Principal Horn of Detroit Opera and teaches horn at Grand Valley State University and Aquinas College.
Colin grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and began studying the horn at age fifteen with Denise Tryon. He completed his studies at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University, working with Adam Unsworth, Gail Williams, Jon Boen, and Bryan Kennedy, and spending additional time learning from Karl Pituch. After his formal education, he traveled to Norway to study with renowned hornist Froydis Ree Wekre at the Norwegian Academy of Music.
He has performed with ensembles including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. A dedicated chamber musician, Colin has appeared with a wide range of ensembles, highlighted by a guest artist recital with soprano Kristine Goerke. As a soloist, he has performed Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 1 with the International Symphony Orchestra.
Colin lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his cellist wife, along with their Australian shepherd, Coda, and their cockatiel, Frosty. He performs on a Karl Hill Schmidt horn with a Strachan CV mouthpiece with an 18.5mm silver-coated brass rim by Houser.