Benjamin Jaber
Principal Horn
Orchestra since May 2009, serving the same capacity since 2008 on an
acting basis. He has also performed with the IRIS Orchestra, the
Louisiana Philharmonic, the Houston, Richmond and New World
Symphonies, and the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra. As a soloist, Mr.
Jaber received first prize at the university division of the 2003
American Horn Competition and was the winner of the Aspen Music
Festival's 2004 brass concerto competition. He was also a featured
artist at the first-ever Conservatory Project series held at the
Kennedy Center in Washington. He has spent his summers at the Aspen
Festival, the National Orchestral Institute, the Pacific Music
Festival, and the Marlboro Music Festival. He has also been active as
a freelancer in the recording studios of Los Angeles, adding many
different projects to his credit. Mr. Jaber received his training at
the Interlochen Arts Academy, Rice University's Shepherd School of
Music, and the Colburn Conservatory where he was the first hornist
ever to be graduated from the school. He studied with William Ver
Meulen, John Zirbel, David Jolley, and Bruce Henniss. He performs on a horn by Daniel Rauch of Norway.
During his undergraduate years at Rice, Ben developed an
infatuation with traditional Irish music that has since become a
full-blown obsession. He is completely self-taught on the Irish wooden
flute, tin whistle and uilleann pipes, and has been active as a
session player in Houston, Philadelphia, New York, New Orleans and Los
Angeles. He is recognized as one of the most accomplished on the west
coast, and has also been fortunate to get to play music with some of
trad Irish music's biggest names, including Paddy Keenan, Kevin
Crawford, Mick Moloney, Isaac Alderson, Eileen Ivers, Darren Maloney,
Máire Ní Ghráda, David Power, and Eliot Grasso. Other major influences
include Matt Molloy, Michael McGoldrick, Ronan Browne, John McSherry and older
players such as Seamus Ennis and Liam O'Flynn. He plays whistles by Overton, a wooden flute by Michael Grinter, and uilleann pipes by Kirk Lynch.