Born in Chicago in 1946, Thomas Bacon is in the highest echelon of hornists today.  He has held principal horn positions with the Syracuse Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Houston Symphony and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestras.  He has also performed as "guest" principal with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, and many other orchestras.   As a soloist he performs all over the world in concerto, recital and chamber music venues.

   He is a founding member and vice president of Summit Brass (America's Premiere Large Brass Ensemble), and is also a member of the Saint Louis Brass Quintet, The Golden Horn, and Opus 90.  Recent tours have taken him to Japan, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Mexico, Canada, and all across the United States.  Widely sought after as a horn and brass pedagogue, Bacon has taught master classes at hundreds of colleges and universities around the world.

   Mr. Bacon is equally at home with the classics and with modern music, having performed the premieres of hundreds of new works, and he has inspired the composition of 50 new works by various composers.   Bacon has made dozens of recordings for Pro Arte, London, RCA, Telarc, Crystal, Centaur, CBS, Gasparo, Vanguard, A & M, New World, and Summit Records.  He is also editor of The Complete Hornist a series of music for horn published by Southern Music Company.  Thomas Bacon is a Yamaha Performing Artist.

Selected Discography:

"Voices From Spoon River" - The Golden Horn Plays the Music of Mark Schultz. Thomas Bacon and James Graber, Horns and Narration with Phillip Moll, piano. CD on Summit Records, DCD 243, released January, 2000.

"A Cool Brassy Night at the North Pole" - Thomas Bacon, horn; David Hickman, trumpet; Sam Pilafian, tuba; with the Chuck Marohnic Jazz Trio in holiday favorites.  Summit Records DCD 223, 1998.

"A Brassy Night at the Opera" - Thomas Bacon, horn; David Hickman, trumpet; Sam Pilafian, tuba; with orchestra conducted by Timothy Russell. Favorite opera arias and duets by Mozart, Rossini, Strauss, Verdi and Puccini. Summit Records DCD 190, 1997.

"Nighthawks" - The complete music for horn and piano by Alec Wilder. Thomas Bacon, Horn with Phillip Moll, piano. Produced by Thomas Bacon. Summit Records DCD 170, 1994. Awarded Summit Records Producer of the Year - 1994.    Chosen in Top Ten CDs of 1995 by American Record Guide reviewer Barry Kilpatrick

"Dragons in the Sky" - Thomas Bacon with other artists in contemporary settings for horn and horn ensemble by various composers. Produced by Thomas Bacon Summit Records DCD 135, 1992.

"The Flipside" - Tom Bacon jazz horn solos, with Houston composers and jazz artists. Summit Records DCD 102. 1989.

"Fantasie" - Thomas Bacon, horn; Phillip Moll, piano in Romantic music by Rossini, Kuhlau, Moscheles, Lorenz, and Franz Strauss. Crystal S379. 1984.

Visit his website: www.hornplanet.com/

Press Quotes about
Thomas Bacon

"Preeminent horn soloist..."
   --St. Louis Post Dispatch

"...earned highest praise for consummate playing..."
   --Salzburger Volksblatt

"One revels in the clear, musical, unflawed playing of Thomas Bacon's French horn."
   --Houston Chronicle

"...exquisite..."
   --Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin

"The disc is filled with extraordinary playing, by Thomas Bacon and eight other hornists...seldom have horns conjured up so much excitement."
   --Fanfare Magazine

"...exhilarating tour de force..."
   --Sarasota Herald-Tribune

"Britten's Serenade opened the concert...with horn soloist Thomas Bacon performing brilliantly on both the valveless and conventional French horns..."
   --The Arizona Republic

"...beautiful dreamlike playing..."
   --Die Welt, Berlin

"(In Mozart's 1st Concerto) he played with a robust beauty of tone and technique, and his buoyant interpretation, especially of the jaunty Rondo, had a heraldic 'hunting horn' quality. This exuberance of spirit made the Strauss Concerto even more joyously penetrating. Bacon's tone took on the liquidly incandescent color and texture of honey just warm enough to pour..."
   --The Miami Herald