Sunderman Conservatory of Music

Prof. Kenneth Bell, adjunct instructor of horn, is a native of Buffalo, New York, and a resident artist member of the Sunderman Woodwind Quintet.

He is principal horn with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, with which he has made recordings and toured China. He performs regularly with the Harrisburg Symphony, the Richmond Symphony, and the newly formed Pennsylvania Philharmonic.

Bell has performed regularly with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 1997. His primary assignment is assistant principal, and he has also played all parts, including Principal Horn on several occasions. He worked under Music Directors David Zinman, Yuri Temirkanov, and Marin Alsop, including two American and two European Tours, three Carnegie Hall appearances, and several recordings. Earlier in his career, he often played with the Buffalo and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestras, and the National Symphony.

Bell was a member of two premier military bands, The United States Marine Band, and the Army Field Band. In the Marine Band, he wrote and performed educational concerts and recitals with the woodwind quintet. As first horn with the Army Field Band, he performed college clinics across the United States.

Besides his orchestral and military band touring, Bell toured the U.S. and Europe as principal horn with several Broadway shows, including CATS, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Weber, and West Side Story. He has recently performed as solo horn at the Hippodrome in Baltimore on the Sound of Music and Phantom of the Opera.

As a chamber musician, he has performed at the Library of Congress and the National Gallery of Art. He has been an active arranger and publisher of music for horn and chamber music for over 20 years, and a brass repairman for seven years.

Bell has taught students of all ages, from college students at Catholic University and the College of Charleston to beginning horn students in his own private studio. He wrote and produced an interactive history of the horn, as part of “BSO on the Go” at Strathmore Hall.

His teachers have included John Park (Buffalo), Roy Waas (Cleveland Orchestra), Milan Yancich and Verne Reynolds (Eastman), Ted Thayer (National Symphony), Julie Landsman (Metropolitan Opera), and Denise Tryon (Philadelphia Orchestra). His teaching is based on strong fundamentals, and reflects the philosophies of Philip Farkas, Carmine Caruso, Arnold Jacobs, and Milan Yancich. Literature is chosen from the standard solo and orchestral literature, as well as etudes from Kopprasch, Gallay and Maxime-Alphonse. Horn ensembles from duet to large horn choir are a regular part of the curriculum.