Her story
Haley Hoops is an internationally recognized French horn performer and coach. She has been a member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 1999 and has been teaching at Southern Methodist University since 2000. Haley has a passion for enriching lives through the power of music on and off the stage. Her mission off stage is to inspire and guide students of all ages and skill levels in their journeys to master the French horn.
Haley Hoops began her horn playing career at the age of 10 years old with a Holton single F horn. Her first teacher was Corbin Wagner of the Detroit Symphony, and later Bryan Kennedy, also of Detroit. At the University of Michigan, Haley studied with Lowell Greer and was also fortunate to have been in the large and small ensembles of both H. Robert (Bob) Reynolds and Gustav Meier. In the summer of 1992, Haley performed with the All-American College Band at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. It was there that she met Richard Todd, a Los Angeles-based horn player, whom told her that if she wanted to play professionally, she could, because “there’s always room at the top”. Having a great affinity for California, Haley returned the following summer of 1993 and studied with David Krehbiel at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. In 1994 and 1995, she attended the National Orchestral Institute in College Park, Md., and in 1996 and 1997, she attended Tanglewood.
Haley’s first performing jobs were as a Fourth Horn player with the Ann Arbor and Lansing Symphony Orchestras while she was working on her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Michigan. After graduation, Ms. Hoops moved to Evanston, Ill. to pursue a Master of Music degree at Northwestern University with Professor Gail Williams. Two years after graduation, she was named Second Horn player of both the Grant Park Festival Orchestra in Chicago and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in Richmond, Va. Five months in at Richmond, Ms. Hoops won her current position as Second Horn of the Dallas Symphony, where she has been since 1999.
Haley Hoops has had the pleasure to collaborate with many fine principal horn players including but not limited to: Andrew Bain, Jonathan Boen, William Caballero, Nicole Cash, David Cooper, Jasper De Waal, Jeff Fair, Elizabeth Freimuth, Daniel Hawkins, David Heyde, Gregory Hustis, Erik Ralske, Roger Kaza, Benjamin Jaber, Lin Jiang, Julie Landsman, Jennifer Montone, Karl Pituch, William VerMeulen, and Gail Williams.
Haley performs on a Kortesmaki small bore Geyer style horn custom made by Karl Hill and a Geyer style horn custom made by Steve Lewis.
