James Thatcher is an American hornist.

Early career

Thatcher began his professional career at age 16 when he played and studied in Mexico City with his uncle, Gerald Thatcher, former principal hornist with the National Symphony of Mexico. Subsequent instructors have included Fred Fox, Don Peterson, Thomas Greer, Wendell Hoss, James Decker,

Vincent DeRosa Vincent Ned DeRosa (October 5, 1920 – July 18, 2022) was an American hornist who served as a studio musician for Hollywood soundtracks and other recordings from 1935 until his retirement in 2008. Because his career spanned over 70 years, duri ...

and master classes with Hermann Baumann. He also earned a bachelor's degree at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

. Thatcher has been a member of the Phoenix Symphony, the

Utah Symphony The Utah Symphony is an American orchestra based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The orchestra's principal venue is Abravanel Hall. In addition to its Salt Lake City subscription concerts, the orchestra travels around the Intermountain West serving c ...

, the

Pacific Symphony The Pacific Symphony is a symphony orchestra located in Orange County, California. The orchestra performs at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall as a part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. From 1987 to 201 ...

and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Career

As of 2016, Thatcher is principal horn of the Pasadena Symphony, the New West Symphony and the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, but principally he is a studio player, a recipient of the Most Valuable Player Award from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences and "arguably the most often heard horn player in the world" due to his performances on some 70 to 80 films per year for the last 20 years. Thatcher was a faculty member the

USC Thornton School of Music The USC Thornton School of Music is a private music school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1884 only four years after the University of Southern California, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Los An ...

as the co-professor of Horn.

Selected filmography

Thatcher has the enviable position of being the favored first horn of multiple-Oscar-winning composer John Williams performing in such films as '' Always'', '' Jurassic Park'', '' The Lost World'', ''

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'' (in which he received an on-screen credit), ''

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'', '' Seven Years in Tibet'' and '' The Patriot'' as well as the fanfare for the 1992 Olympics. He also has worked regularly with other Hollywood greats

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, James Newton Howard, Randy Newman, John Barry,

James Horner James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American composer. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements, and for his frequent use of motifs associated with Celtic music. Horner's first film score was in ...

and

Alan Silvestri Alan Anthony Silvestri (born March 26, 1950) is an American composer and conductor of film and television scores. He has been associated with director Robert Zemeckis since 1984, composing music for all of his feature films including the ''Ba ...

, as well as many others. He can also be heard in the tracks to '' Glory'', ''

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'' as well as '' Independence Day'', and the ''Star Trek'' films. In 2010, Thatcher was principal horn on James Newton Howard's soundtrack of '' The Last Airbender'' directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

References

External links

*
James Thatcher's biography at USC Thornton

See soundtrack jim Thatcher played on
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thatcher, James Horn players Living people University of Southern California faculty Year of birth missing (living people)