Horn Professor Joshua Michal Releases First CD

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Assistant professor of horn, Joshua Michal, has just released his first solo CD, titled “Ekphrasis,” on MSR Classics. The CD’s title is taken from a work of the same name composed by music and dance department chair, Salvatore Macchia, that is featured on the new release.

Macchia's piece and the other four works on the CD are all premiere recordings that feature music for horn and electronics. Those selections include Tyler Ogilvie’s “Zero Point for Horn and Multi-Effects Pedal,” Mark Oliveiro’s “Thunor’s Gate for Horn and Electronics," Gordon Green’s "Music for Horn and Backing Track,” and Peter Van Zandt Lane’s “Persistent Tracings for Horn, Violin and Electronics.” All electronic music on the recordings are performed by Jazer Giles; Michal's wife, Allyson, plays violin on “Persistent Tracings.”

According to a review on the MSR Classics website, “The combination of virtuosic horn playing by Joshua Michal and a kaleidoscope of electronic sounds - the sonic backdrops and performance manipulations are stunning - makes for a truly remarkable listening experience.”

Michal maintains an active career as a soloist and ensemble musician. He is a member of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Hartford Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, Columbus Symphony, Albany Symphony, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Charleston Symphony, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Le Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne.

Michal can be heard on the Resound Label with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Bernard Haitink performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, and on the Analekta label with L’Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne as solo horn for Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4. He has also recorded with the Cincinnati Symphony and Albany Symphony. A member of the University of Massachusetts faculty since 2014, Michal is also a faculty member at the Interlochen Summer Arts Academy in Michigan.