Block M Records - Adam Unsworth

artists - adam unsworth

Adam Unsworth

Before coming to Michigan, Adam Unsworth served as Fourth Horn of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 1998 to 2007. Prior to his appointment in Philadelphia, he spent three years as Second Horn of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He also served as a guest Principal horn with the St. Louis Symphony as well as Principal horn of the Colorado Music Festival. A former faculty member at Temple University, Unsworth has appeared at many universities throughout the United States as a recitalist and clinician. He has made several solo and chamber appearances at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. Mr. Unsworth received his formal training at Northwestern University, where he studied with former Chicago Symphony Orchestra members Gail Williams and Norman Schweikert. He continued with graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Douglas Hill. He later recorded Jazz Set for Solo Horn, released in 2001 as part of Thoughtful Wanderings, a compilation of Hill's works for horn. In 2000, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music named Adam Unsworth their Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. In 2006, Unsworth released his first jazz CD entitled Excerpt This!, which features five of his original compositions for jazz sextet and three unaccompanied works.

Daniel Schnyder is a saxophonist, improviser, and perhaps the most extraordinary composer, writing brass music that is unfamiliar to most horn players. His music is highly technical, challenging, edgy, and as rewarding as it is difficult. His unique musical palette, consisting of contemporary, classical, jazz, Latin, renaissance, and parlor music influences, results in compositions that are universally compelling and distinctly "Schnyder." His music has tremendous depth and complexity with a wide audience appeal. Schnyer possesses a rare gift among modern composers: the ability to write uncompromising contemporary music that effectively reaches an audience on first hearing. This quality is what first attracted Adam Unsworth to Schnyder’s music and inspired Unsworth to continue researching and performing Schnyer's compositions, culminating in Adam Unsworth’s newest CD, Just Follow Instructions.

Just Follow Instructions is available for purchase from the iTunes Music Store. Previews of all selections are also available in the BlockM Records catalog.