Stewart Rose: Principal Horn, Orchestra of St. Luke’s & Guest Artist, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
- Debbie Brenner Shepardson
- Nov 3, 2025
- 2 min read
Stewart Rose has spent decades at the top of American orchestral playing. He’s principal horn of Orchestra of St. Luke’s, a frequent guest with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and a former guest principal with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. His work shows up on major recordings, festivals, and even film scores. In this conversation, he talks about the unseen decisions and discipline that shape what audiences actually hear.
Audiences hear the horn but never see the real work. What part of your process stays deliberately unseen?
The routine daily practice that goes into maintaining and improving the fundamentals of playing — tone production, range, endurance, and artistic considerations — isn’t meant to be seen by the audience. It’s like the prep work behind a great meal, except sometimes it takes weeks or months to prepare a specific piece or the technique needed for it.
Horn playing involves constant micro-adjustments. Which ones define your sound but never register to listeners?
Most of the micro-adjusting is physical and sometimes mental. Checking in on the list of positive requirements for a good performance includes sitting position, breathing awareness, and embouchure balance, along with a few other factors. All of it is just creating the conditions needed for an inspired performance, even if none of it registers for the listener.
Conductors guide, but you still make judgment calls. What tells you a line should sit forward or stay recessed?
It’s usually best to know the balance of a work before ever getting in front of a conductor. That comes from score study and listening to several recordings. A conductor will then ask for adjustments to fit their interpretation or to match the acoustics of the performance space. In unconducted ensembles like chamber music, that responsibility falls to the musicians and their own judgment, intuition, and musicianship.
Teaching exposes patterns you don’t see in yourself. What did students show you about your own playing?
Students bring talent and inspiration, but they also show up with playing problems that need attention. Figuring out how to strengthen weak areas and solve those problems is individual work, and it often means reframing concepts to apply them successfully. Those discoveries end up informing my own playing.
Looking back, what shaped you the most that never appeared in a program note or performance?
The music itself is my greatest inspiration. Great pieces are like old friends you get to spend quality time with. After enough experiences with a particular work, you start to discover new things and get a better sense of what the music is really about. Bringing it to life can be joyful, especially after the long journey endured to get there.
When Stewart talks about performance, he isn’t describing technique for its own sake. He’s describing years of habits, corrections, and choices that quietly hold everything up. For him, the work isn’t about being noticed. It’s about creating the conditions where the music can do what it’s meant to do.
Learn more about Stewart at:
• Website
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