Horn
Eli Epstein joined the Cleveland Orchestra in 1987 and became a horn instructor at the Cleveland Institute of Music two years later. He has appeared several times as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra, and as a chamber musician has performed at Severance Hall, Tanglewood, Philadelphia's Academy of Music, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Kennedy Center, and the Music Academy of the West. Mr. Epstein left the Cleveland Orchestra in 2005 to devote more time and energy toward educational and creative endeavors.
Mr. Epstein is a faculty member at the New England Conservatory (NEC), Boston Conservatory, and the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he has served as principal horn of the Aspen Chamber Symphony since 2000. At NEC he chairs the brass department at the Preparatory School and School of Continuing Education, is an NEC at Walnut Hill faculty member, directs the NEC Youth Brass Ensemble, and serves as seminar director of the Abreu Fellows Program and El Sistema USA. Mr. Epstein also has conducted ensembles at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Music Academy of the West, the Longy School of Music, and Boston Conservatory.
Advocating the idea that music can be a meaningful and uplifting force in society, Mr. Epstein has created and presented many "Inside Out" programs designed to help people actualize their own potential to enjoy music by accessing their memories and activating their imaginations. In 2009 he was awarded the grand prize in the Entrepreneur the Arts Contest for "Inside Out," and was interviewed by William Shatner and Doug Llewellyn on Heartbeat of America.
He has been a Music Academy faculty member since 2005.