Biography

Vernon James MacDonald is a freelance professional French Horn player, educator, and conductor from Ontario, Canada who has enjoyed many successes in a wide variety of musical activities over many years of music making.   He has performed with TSO, COC and National Ballet orchestras, as well as those of Kingston, London, NACO, Kitchener, Windsor, Mississauga (principal horn 45 years) and many others. When he started teaching horn at York University in the mid 1970’s, it was a different musical landscape. At that time, he co-founded the York Winds, a woodwind quintet that became active in performances, broadcasts and tours of Canada and Europe. An alumnus of the Boss Brass (6 Junos, 2 Grammy Awards, and a dozen recordings and many tours over 26 years), he currently works with the Rex Hotel Orchestra, which in 2011 won a Juno award for the CD “Our First Set” Tours of Scandinavia, Britain, France, Checkoslovakia and other countries were also part of his long career.  In 2000, the Radio Orchestra of Frankfurt invited him to tour seventeen cities of Japan, and across Germany, performing Mahler’s first symphony. His 2006 solo CD recording “French Horn sans Frontières” displayed styles from classical to jazz and beyond. On February 10, 2012, James arranged the successful “International Horn Day” at York University, which attracted amateur and professional musicians from across Ontario and beyond.