The International Horn Society has announced the death of Lowell Greer, principal horn in Mexico City, Antwerp, Cincinnati and Toledo and a soloist with around 50 other orchestras.
He played on both natural and modern horn, built his own instruments and made numerous recordings.
He is already music director of the Metropolitan…
The tenor Ian Bostridge shocked Symphony Hall Birmingham…
The conductor continues his agitation for a new…
The ARD competition has sacked Liang Wang, principal…
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.
Great player. R.I.P. indeed.
I met Lowell after I had been in the Pittsburgh Symphony for
three years. He and I were contestants in a concerto competition.
He won. That is where I met Lowell. He was such a nice and
pleasant guy that day.
Through the years I heard him play with orchestras
and it was always so musical. More than most horn players, he
his solo playing reminded me of Dennis Brain, the first hero of the
horn for most of our generation. Then he started doing hand horn
and those Mozart’s are just remarkably beautiful.
We would get together when he was in New York and he was just
so happy, funny, joyful to be with. I really enjoyed him equally as
a horn player and a person.
I am very sorry to hear that he has passed.
What a wonderful artist. RIP, Lowell. May your memory be a blessing.
Lowell and I were friends in the 1970’s Detroit Symphony. He followed my lead and rented an apartment above a business so he could play into the night. As Assistant Principal horn and a fine player, he always wanted a larger slice of the playing pie. He loved the horn as much as life and also loved to talk. Rail thin in the early years, his addiction to copious amounts of Dr. Pepper caused him to “fill out” as the years went by. His membership in the DSO ended when he could not return in time for the season’s first rehearsal because he was in Europe for a horn competition. I left for the Cleveland Orchestra in 1981 and he taught at the U of Michigan. He married a Dutch lady, had a child, divorced, and she returned to Holland. Lowell set out on several of his life’s adventures, Mexico, and elsewhere ending up in Toledo, Ohio where he played Principal Horn. He and a lovely oboist from the orchestra bought an historic house and ran it as a B and B, where I spent an enjoyable night. Sadly, we did not keep in touch for many years, but after his oboe partner passed, Lowell became a pastor, following in his father’s footsteps. Lowell had a great number of triumphs in his life and his fair share of hardships, too. Let no one say he was a boring person, with his zest for life and love of the horn. I hate it that’s he’s gone.
Phil Austin, bassoonist