biography

Thomas Hundemer , principal horn

Thomas Hundemer, principal horn of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra since 1983, and a native of Bogalusa, Louisiana, has performed with many orchestras in the U.S and Mexico, among them the Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa in Mexico, and the Quad Cities Symphony (Iowa-Illinois). He is also principal horn with the Longview, Marshall, and Texarkana Symphonies, as well as 3^rd horn with the Cabrillo Music Festival Orchestra in Santa Cruz, CA, 3^rd Horn with the Des Moines Metro Opera orchestra, solo horn with the Shreveport Symphony Woodwind Quintet and co-founder of the New Friends Chamber Players (Shreveport). Mr. Hundemer is Instructor of Horn at Centenary College in Shreveport, and was the 1997 recipient of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council’s Artist Fellowship in Music, as well as a 1999 and 2001 individual artist grant. He has been a frequent soloist with orchestras in the region.

Mr. Hundemer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in composition from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Master of Arts degree in horn performance from the University of Iowa. As a composer and arranger he has had numerous performances of works for chamber ensembles and choir, including his orchestral pieces Spring Rains (1992), and On Highways & Byways (2003) commissioned for the Shreveport Symphony’s commemoration of the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase. Grooves & Vamps for flute, viola, and cello, was commissioned and premiered by the Roussell Trio in 2002.  Recent commissions are a piece for the natural (valveless) horn, Gently Weep, (2004) as well as music for horn and strings, O for the touch of a vanish’d hand, (2004) written for the Marshall Symphony. He is married to Shreveport Symphony principal flutist Sally Horak and they have two children, Greg and Gretchen.