Stephen Stirling – soloist and chamber musician, Professor of Horn at Trinity College of Music in London.[1]
As a student he was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra; he studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and went straight into the Hallé Orchestra for three years when he left college in 1979. From there he went to the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE) for the following ten years. He still regularly appears with COE as guest principal, and can be heard in COE’s recordings of Mozart’s entire output of wind music.
Gary Carpenter’s Concerto (nominated for a British Composer Award) was written for Stephen Stirling and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Baldur Brönnimann,[2] and given its world and broadcast premiere in April 2005. Other world premieres have included solo works by Stephen Dodgson and Martin Butler – Hunding (2004)[3]; the latter was again performed by Stephen Stirling in the very first moments of the grand opening of Kings Place in London in 2008.[4]
Stephen Stirling has a world-wide reputation as a chamber musician and can regularly be heard at festivals in the UK and abroad – he has performed in Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia and the Americas. He is a founder member of Endymion, the Fibonacci Sequence, the Audley Trio, Arpège, and the New London Chamber Ensemble. His recording of the Brahms Trio, with the Florestan Trio, was nominated for a Gramophone Award.
Having studied with Ifor James and later with Julian Baker, and citing Alexander Schneider, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Sándor Végh[5] as some of his own most formative influences, Stephen Stirling also greatly enjoys teaching and coaching and is on the faculty of the Yellow Barn Summer Festival in Vermont and a seasoned participant at the Dartington International Summer School.