The Mark Woolman Horner Music Education Fund
The Mark Woolman Horner Music Education Fund was
established through the generous donations made by friends, family and
community in Mark’s memory after his tragic death in San Antonio, Texas,
December 14, 1998. Mark was a gifted musician and had been principal
trombonist in the San Antonio Symphony for the previous two years.
Born in Bar Harbor in 1973, Mark loved music from an early age, studied
trombone with William Whitener throughout elementary and high school
here on Mount Desert Island, and played in award winning bands and stage
bands under Richard Ordway. By age 15, he was spending summers
at Tanglewood Institute and looking toward a future in music.
In 1990, Mark was accepted into the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra.
The MDI community provided the financial support to help him attend
rehearsals every Sunday in Boston from September to May. Area
scholarships helped Mark to attend the prestigious Juilliard School,
where he studied under his future mentor and guiding spirit Joseph Alessi,
principal trombonist of The New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The
night of his graduation in 1995, he was invited to play with the Philharmonic
at Avery Fisher Hall. At the time of his death at age 25, Mark
Horner was considered one of the foremost trombonists in the country.
Presenting Possibilities ~ Encouraging Excellence
The overall goal of the Music Education Fund is to
present possibilities to talented young musicians in the MDI community,
and to encourage excellence in their musical pursuits. In that
effort, fund organizers held a very successful benefit concert in September
1999. “The Art of the Trombone” featured four prominent
trombonists from The San Antonio Symphony, The Boston Symphony, The
Philadelphia Orchestra, and The New York Philharmonic. Many area
music students attended the concert, where they had a chance to meet
and talk with the musicians about their work, and how they achieved
success.
In March 2000, The Music Education Fund sponsored
a collaborative effort with The Juilliard School’s outreach program
to bring a brass quintet to MDI for a week. Five Juilliard graduate
students spent the week living with area families, teaching, mentoring,
and playing music with MDI students and teachers in the elementary and
high schools. The highlight of the week was a concert performed by the
Juilliard quintet and MDI students.
Mark's father, Bill Horner, had a vision to create
a summer brass festival and presented the idea to the trombone players
during the first benefit concert in 1999. Matt Vaughn accepted the
challenge and created the first Bar Harbor Brass Week in August 2001.
Contributions
If you would like to support the Mark Woolman Horner
Music Education Fund, checks can be made payable to Mark Woolman Horner
Music Fund and sent to:
Mark Woolman
Horner Music Fund
c/o Maine Community Foundation
245 E. Main St.
Ellsworth, ME 04605
All gifts
are tax deductible
